How to survive the lecture
I know that attending the lecture is not always the most fun thing, but it is one of the key aspects that will influence your academic success. So have a nice breakfast/lunch, grab a coffee, put on a “Legally Blonde” attitude and get your head in the game.
How to prepare before the lecture?
- if you know what will be disscused, read the material before attenting the class
- write down any questions you have and keep them close to you during the lecture, because they might get answered; if they don’t, ask them during the seminar
- if time, take notes and bring them to class
- if you are provided with a power point presentation or with lecture notes, also bring them with you
- if you have little time before the lecture and you haven’t took the time to read/take notes, skim through the material at least to get a sense about what the teacher will be talking about
What to do during the lecture?
- punctuality is a great skill to have – so always show up on time, make sure you have time to take all your stuff out, to open your device, open word etc.and when the professor comes you will be fully prepared
- sit in the first 2 rows to avoid distractions
- if you don’t understand something, write down the questions you have -> if the teacher accepts questions during the lecture ask them right away or at the end, but if the teacher doesn’t accept questions, wait until the seminar to bring them up
- don’t focus on the teacher, focus on the topic; the topic is all that exists while you’re in class, nothing else
- examples are really important – concentrate on them and try to imagine how they work; write them down
- don’t spend time trying to take pretty notes, you can rewrite them later or edit the document later
- when writing things down, I personally believe that is better to write a bit more than just the key points if you don’t have any extra sources to rely on; I think it’s important to “capture” as much information as you can, because your notes will make much more sense this way
What to do after the lecture?
- summarize your notes, make them pretty, read the chapters in the book, add more notes; this will provide you the exam notes
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