In high school, you had to attend class.  If you skipped class without a valid excuse, you and your parents could get in big trouble.  It's not like that in college.  College is voluntary, so no one will force you to show up.  When you do attend college lectures, no one will force you to pay attention or even to stay awake.  You're investing a great deal of time and money for your college education, though, and the lectures are a huge part of that education, so go and do all you can to make the most of them.


1.  Attend every lecture, unless an emergency forces you to miss it.

    I see this as the #1 difference between my students who succeed and those who don't.   Because my classes are fairly small, I know who attends and who doesn't.  My "A" students attend.  It's easy to think that you can just read the textbook and do fine, but so much goes on during lecture that you can't get from a book.  In my anatomy and physiology class, for example, we often apply information about the structure and function of the body to real life examples in medicine.  Most of my students want to work in health care, so I think those discussions are very valuable.  After all, someday my students will be responsible for the health of real people.

    Professors often give important information about tests and assignments during lectures, too.  They have even been known to say things like, "Pay special attention to this, because I'm going to ask you a question about it on the test."


_____2.  Don't use lecture time to text your friends, read your e-mail, get caught up on your sleep, or work on assignments for this course or any other course.  

    If you are do these things in class, you might as well stay home because you're not paying attention to the lecture.  Professors don't like it, either, so it doesn't help your relationship with them.   The ultimate insult to a professor--the student who's rocking out to his iPod during class.  No joke--it occasionally happens!


_____3.  Sit in the front of the class.

    It will be easier for you to pay attention, and you'll be less likely to engage in the activities I mentioned in #2


_____4.  Sit with other serious students.

    Make peer pressure work for you, not against you.  If you sit next to a goof-off, you'll find it more difficult to keep your focus.  On the other hand, if you sit next to a student who's also putting in a good effort, the two of you can keep each other motivated and maybe even become great study buddies.


_____5.  Do the reading assignments before coming to class. 

    The lecture will make a lot more sense to you if you have some background coming into it.  You'll also have an idea of what questions you might need to ask if a particular topic is especially difficult.


_____6.  Take good notes, even if you have access to lecture outlines or power point presentations.

    Sometimes publishers have detailed outlines of lectures available to students, or professors give handouts with much of the information already written down.  I make my power point slide presentation available to my students.  However, these aides are no substitution for taking good notes yourself.  When you take notes during a lecture, it forces you to stay alert, and sometimes that's hard to do.  Also, just the act of writing information down will help you remember it.  I found that, when I was in PT school and some of the information was quite complex, taking notes helped me know when I really didn't understand something and needed to ask a question.


_____7.  Consider using the Cornell method of note taking.

    Using this method will help you organize your lecture notes for maximum use of your study time.  You can take notes with this method during the lecture or rewrite your notes in this format after the lecture.  

    To learn more about this method of note taking, and other ways to maximize use of lectures notes, visit the Web site below.  It uses a Power Point presentation to explain more about taking great notes.

http://www.regionvavid.org/user_docs/Resource/Cornell%20Notes%20Student%20PPT.ppt


_____8.  If you find there's something in the lecture that you just don't get, and one or two questions don't clear it up, set up a time to meet with your professor during her office hours.

    Professors are usually more than willing to meet with students during that time to help them understand the material.  A word to the wise--they'll be a lot more willing to give you their time and effort if you've made a consistent effort to come to class. 


_____9.  When you get home, go over the lecture notes for that day's classes.  

    Reviewing material shortly after it's presented will help put it into long term memory.  Many students find it very helpful to rewrite their lecture notes in outline form.   Other students make a list of possible test questions that could come from the lecture and practice answering them.  


    This last tip is one way to help you really learn the material presented in lecture.  We'll discuss other ways to make the most of your study time in the next section.