Skipping Lectures: How To Ditch Class And Get Good Grades

Skipping Lectures: How to ditch class and get good grades

Studitonious loves 8am lectures. Every day he cartwheels to class, radiant with the joy of acquiring new knowledge. Morning coffee? Ha! That’s for uncultured plebeians. He has no need for caffeine when he has his daily shot of morning eDUCATION!!!

Here’s the thing - Studitonious doesn’t exist. Or if he does, he needs to get some serious help. Yet, there seems to be a common misconception that a “perfect student” must emulate this model.

Getting up at the crack of dawn? Well, you don’t need to get up if you never go to sleep… #lifehacks. Oh, there’s a blizzard outside? No biggie, the cold never bothered me anyway. Everything is worth it because getting good grades is all. so. wonderful. Right?

Well, here’s a thought. What if you don’t have to attend all your lectures to get good grades? What if instead of forcing study habits that work against us, we develop flexible routines that work for us? What if we began studying smarter, not harder?

Let’s get one thing straight - not all lectures are created equal. There’s a big difference between ditching class to binge your latest Netflix obsession vs. ditching class because it’s counterproductive to your learning. Here are a few factors to consider:

Is attendance compulsory?

Does participation contribute to your grade? Do you have any in-lecture assessments?

If the answer is “yes”, then go to your lecture. The mark may only be worth 5%, but would you rather have 5% added or deducted from your grade?

Are your lectures recorded?

At my university, all lectures are automatically recorded due to Access & Inclusion policies but this isn’t the case across the board.

If there’s any lecture-exclusive content (i.e. content discussed in lectures but not in the slides, group activities etc.) and your lectures are not recorded it’s a good idea to attend.

Is the content actually helpful?

Does the lecture aid your learning in a way that other mediums (reading lecture slides/the textbook, attending tutorials/labs etc.) do not? For instance, if your lecturer just reads off the slides, you can save time by looking at them yourself.

Is your subject more “hands-on”? For courses that are more heavily based on solving problems, I often find doing the problems myself way more helpful than watching my lecturer solve them.

How dense is the content of each lecture? Sometimes, there is simply too much to absorb in the given time slot. E.g. I once had a flipped class that had a brief 1-hour intro lecture to a week’s worth of content. Since it just briefly skimmed over everything, it was more worthwhile to study the concepts in detail myself.

Do you actually pay attention to the lecture?

Are you actually awake? I once had a friend tell me he attended all his 8am lectures despite always falling asleep because he “just felt like he should”. Bro, sleep.

How engaging is the lecturer? Obviously, you shouldn’t skip a class just because the lecturer is “boring” but there is a certain point where the line is crossed. In first year, one of my professors took long pauses between every second word and spoke very s l o w l y. Needless to say, he was much easier to listen to at 2x speed.

Note: there is a significant difference between a bad lecturer and just being distracted. If it’s your meme addiction, not the quality of your lecturer that’s making you lose focus, turn off your phone.

Other factors to consider:

Do you have any other commitments (e.g. other courses, work etc.) at the same time? While it would be nice to try and re-arrange your schedule sometimes things just don’t work out.

Are you sick? If you’re feeling rough mentally or physically, you should consider taking a day off.

Ok, so you’ve decided that you’re better off not attending your lecture but what should you actually do instead? How do you deal with this newfound flexibility and freedom?

Develop a study routine (and stick with it)

The key to skipping class successfully is just doing consistent work. If your lecture is 2 hours long, pencil in a 2-hour study session.

It’s important to maintain a sense of regularity and routine. Treat your study sessions like a compulsory class - do them at the same time each week. It may even help to study at the intended lecture time.

The most common pitfall is to go “Oh it’s easy, I’ll just skip my lecture and do xyz instead”… but never do xyz.

Identify the lecture’s problems and provide solutions

Why exactly did you decide to skip your lecture? How are you going to make your independent study more effective? If you don’t do something more useful with this “free time”, you’re just wasting it. Be specific.

Here are a few examples:

Problem: Lecturer speaks too slowly. Solution: Watch the lecture recordings at a faster speed.

Problem: Lecturer just reads off the slides, providing no new content. Solution: Read the slides yourself, making your own notes and saving yourself time.

Problem: The lecture is too theoretical in comparison to the assessment scheme. Solution: Do more practice problems instead of just going over abstract concepts.

Find a study group

Having friends who take the same course can honestly make the experience so much better.

It can also help increase accountability. For instance, you would probably feel more guilty ditching a group vs. solo study session.

However, this can be a double-edged sword. Sometimes my “study sessions” with friends will just dissolve into us looking at memes for hours. Make sure you’re actually going to study!

Banter is great, but remember when to have fun, and when you need to focus and get shit done.

Unpopular truths you should keep in mind!

While most of the studyblr community is really empowering, uplifting and inspiring, there are also ideals and misconceptions that are really harmful, so please always keep in mind:

You don´t need straight A´s. In some subjects, or basically in life, passing is sometimes enough. Don´t expect yourself to get only straight A´s and destroy yourself for these grades.

Your health, physical and mental, is more important than your grades.

Not everyone enjoys studying. Some studyblrs may be there because they try to motivate themselves, not because they love studying.

You don´t need expensive stationery. Cheap ones are more than enough.

You don´t need to wish for stationary for christmas or your birthday. Wish for something your really want and what brings you joy.

Staying up all night and having only 4 hours of sleep is not healthy!

Drinking multiple coffees per day every day is very bad for your stomach and heart!

Being productive can mean lots of things. It means something different for everyone, and while for some of us it means studying 8 hours a day, for others it may mean 2 hours, or maybe just organizing and sorting out stuff.

Not every day is the same. While today may be wonderful and productive, tomorrow may be not so productive. You are a human being, not a machine.

Honestly, being 100 days in a row productive is more harmful than helpful. Take that day off if you need too!

Your bullet journal must not be perfect or artsy. As long as it helps you organize your stuff and as long as you are happy with it, everything is fine!

You don´t need to do calligraphy to be a studyblr or a good student.

You don´t need to rewrite all your notes. As long as you know how to learn from them, that is enough.

Your handwriting doesn´t need to beautiful. You (and your teachers) should be able to read it without problems, that´s all.

Studying too much can make you depressed. But that is normal and will pass.

Just because others may find a class easy does not mean you have to. Everyone has weaknesses and strengths.

Ambience and piano music is not for everyone. It is totally okay if you listen to heavy metal while studying, as long as you can concentrate.

Getting up early is not always good for being productive. If you are not a morning person, you might not be able to concentrate.

Your background does not have to be white.

You do not have to study on your bed or wrapped in blankets. There are enough people who get tired by doing so.

Your desk will be messy more often than not, and that is totally okay.

Everyone is procrastinating sometimes.

Planning your whole day or week, including every single minute, does not make sense. You will have moments where you will just sit there and stare, you may want to eat an unplanned snack or whatever. Don´t try to plan every second. Give yourself some freedom.

Enjoy your breaks. Don´t minimize them down to just 5 minutes. Take breaks as long as you need them to be in order to feel well and to focus again.

Don´t revise in your head as soon as you´re not studying. Give yourself times where you don´t think about it at all.

You don´t have to revise on your way to school. There are many other productive things you can do, even if it is only waking up and mentally prepairing yourself for the day.

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plantsandstudy

5 years ago

“I’m gonna let out all my anger in the form of kissing you.”

“I… well, I guess that’s one way to vent.” They paused. “…That I’m really down for.”

1K notes View Post

plantsandstudy

5 years ago

Hey, it’s me

So, I’ve been hanging around the studyblr community for a couple of weeks now, and it hit me that I’ve never done an introduction or anything. So, here’s a little bit about me.

- Alex

- Australia

- Highschool

- Slytherin

- In my third year of learning German and am planning on going on exchange soon

- I play trumpet

Uh, and yeah, that's about it really, I’m kinda boring but it’s fine. Have a nice life!

OH! message me if you want to be friends or something.

How can 30 minute change your life?

Hii. I found out this method recently and want to share it with you. It seems pretty easy, but it is really working.

If you ask me what is the main reason of all failures I would answer — absence of patience. The reality is success takes time. And the bigger success takes more time. Richard Branson didn’t become a millionaire in one night. Madonna didn’t wake up being a queen of pop. David Beckham didn’t turn into the one of the best footballers in a few training.

However, there is a trick that working for everyone and every time. Most of the people know about it very well, but never use it. It’s called a 30-minute theory.

Try to spend 30 minutes on something every day and once you get used to it make it 40 minutes, then 50 etc. One of the advantages of this method is it suits absolutely everyone. For example, you want to read more books. Find 30 minutes in your day on reading. Easy, isn’t? Therefore, in one year you can read almost 24 books.

Use 30 minutes every day to create a dream come true. Get more information about what you must interested in. Always wanted to learn Spanish? Or maybe want to know French? Do what you have always been putting off. In six months you will look back and remember what you have started with. You will be amazed how you succeed because of the 30 minutes in one day.

Don’t blame yourself if you deviate from schedule and missed a few days. Just go back to studying and continue where you stopped. Remember: you are doing more than a lot of people.

Be patient. Don’t expect the results on the next day. You need a time. The more ambitious goal you have, the more time you need.

P.S. Happy New Year to everyone !! I hope 2019 will bring all of you happiness, love, success and happy memories.

P.S.S. I hope this was useful. And i also hope you will use it in your beginnings.

3K notes View Post

plantsandstudy

5 years ago

Writing an essay without any structure is like trying to find your way around an unfamiliar place without a map; frustrating, ineffective, and a bit of a garbled mess. Structure gives your essay a clear voice and coherency and makes marking a lot easier for your teacher or tutor! Here are a few general tips I often use when writing essays to maximise the effect of my argument and achieve the best results I can both in high school and university.

Text structure While the content of essays varies, the skeleton structure never changes. In order to clearly articulate an idea, an essay needs a beginning, middle, and an end.

Introduction

Start with a macro sentence - use an interesting quote, fact, or idea which gives the reader a broad sense of what your essay will cover. This is the reader’s first impression of your essay and can determine their whole attitude while reading it, so make it effective!

Briefly outline the main ideas and thesis - in absence of an abstract, your introduction will need to show the main ideas you will be covering so as to support your thesis, or answer the essay question. You will need to clearly express your position and how you intend to argue the point.

Set the limits - sometimes, the scope of an essay question can be very broad, or perhaps there’s a focus to your thesis not all ready indicated. Define the limits of your essay, whether they be a set of years for a history topic, or looking at specific artists who contributed to an art style.

Define key terms - if a term is important to the understanding of your essay, or perhaps you’ve taken your own approach to its meaning, be sure to define it in your introduction!

Body

Separate each idea into a paragraph - ideas can generally be separated chronologically or conceptually. The section below explores this in more detail!

Start every paragraph with a topic sentence - introduce what the paragraph will discuss and how it relates to your thesis. Signpost it with critical words to make it easier to understand exactly what you are addressing. Ensure it is clear and to the point!

Make a claim and the support it - like in reality, when you make a claim you need to provide evidence to support it so it can be taken seriously. Make your claim early on in the paragraph, generally in the topic sentence, give relevant detail and explanation, analyse it, and then justify it with authoritative quotes, sources, examples, etc.

End every paragraph with a linking sentence - refer back to your thesis or question and make sure what you set out to cover in the paragraph actually addresses it! This is an opportunity to draw a link between this paragraph and the next.

Conclusion

Do more than just restate your points - your conclusion is more than just a rehash of your introduction. Link ideas together and demonstrate how they are interconnected on a less superficial level. An English teacher once told me, your essay is like a mountain. You put in all your hard work to climb it in your introduction and body paragraphs, your conclusion is a chance to look back, make connections where there were none before, and solidify your argument.

Establish the overarching theme and idea - what idea underlies all the points you have made? How does it relate to your thesis?

Draw a profound and insightful conclusion - what are the implications of this? Is there relevance today? This can transform a standard essay into a more profound and overall, more interesting essay.

Don’t introduce any new information - your essay is complete! All your information should have been expressed in the body paragraphs, so nothing new should be introduced here.

Reaffirm your thesis - restate it with some finality! Your body has provided all this evidence to support it, remind them of this.

Chronological or Conceptual? For the most part, an essay can take one of two approaches; a chronological approach, where each body paragraph follows the text, history, etc., sequentially, or a conceptual approach, where the main idea is broken down into its constituent elements, each addressed in their own paragraph(s).

In my experience, conceptual essays usually score higher, showing a greater sense of understanding of the topic and its inner workings. You can demonstrate a funnel effect more easily, where each element funnels down from its body paragraph to the conclusion, contributing to the overall idea of the essay. A chronological approach, however, can be easier to follow and is occasionally implicit within the essay question. Choosing which approach to use depends on which you are comfortable writing with, the demands of the essay or your teacher, and can vary from essay to essay.

Continuity and Cohesion Something I think is highly underrated, yet critical to holding an essay together, is transition words and phrases. They create continuity and cohesion between ideas and paragraphs, and serve as a bridge of sorts within your overall structure. Here are a few posts which have comprehensive lists of transition words and phrases:

Transition Words for Essays - @staedtlers-and-stabilos Essay Transition Phrases - @study-like-you-mean-it Transition Words For Your Essays - @soniastudyblr

I hope this can help with structuring your essays and getting the best marks you can! Please message me if you have any questions :)

Other essay writing posts: How to reduce your word count Understanding the Question How to Write a Killer Unprepared Text Essay