The start of the fall semester always has a unique energy to it. Most students, after promising to stay productive throughout the summer, come to Dal with excitement for what’s to come. “It will be different this time”, they say (at least I do). We enter the new semester with hopes to stay on top of schoolwork and go to every class. Unfortunately, it often turns out to be the academic version of your New Year’s resolution. You say that you’ll stay on top of your work, only to see it gradually pile up as the semester goes on. This post will outline some of the tips that helped me most to keep up with those hard courses throughout the semester.

Go to class, even if you don’t understand anything

The urge to skip lectures creeps up on all of us, but making it a regular habit can mean missing out on key information for your assessments. Even for the instructors that only seem to read off the slides, they are the ones that make your exams, believe it or not. This means that their opinions, problem-solving approaches, and communication skills that they display in lecture will also be expressed in the assessments. Going to class gives you more exposure to the way that the instructor thinks and how they convey their message. This can mean the difference between accurately comprehending what a question is testing you on versus misunderstanding and getting a zero.

This may sound mean, but the bar truly is on the floor. I think profs really appreciate students that take the time to go to class and engage with the material. If their passion for teaching hasn’t been snuffed out, they will most likely pose questions to students throughout the lecture. Just answer them, it doesn’t have to be correct or even close, it just has to be a genuine effort. Profs often take note of the students that are taking part in lecture, because they’ll assume that they’re genuinely trying when they need help during office hours. If you seriously can’t fathom speaking up in class, sitting consistently in the front of the class will work as well. Also, this means that they’ll drop hints throughout the semester to reward students for actually taking the time to come to class. This can be anything from what’s coming on the assessments, unique ways to think about a problem and deriving a solution, and additional resources that you may not have come across otherwise.

There is one thing that is not talked about, but I truly believe exists, and that’s student comradery. Going to class on a regular schedule means that you’re seeing the same faces regularly. Even if you never speak to each other you are becoming aware of each other’s existence. If you often see a face for long enough, it will be much easier to go up and talk to them later on if you need to ask a question, for example. Most times I’ve approached a student before class starts to ask a question I would not even need to introduce myself. They’ve seen me and already know who I am, a student struggling to understand the course just like them.

Go to office hours!

Spooky, I know. Going to office hours has been the main motivator for staying on top of my course work. Take note of when the instructor holds office hours, and make it a point to go each week, if you can. Be sure that you have one to two questions concerning the current or previous week’s material that you would like to discuss further. By doing this, you’re forcing yourself to do a mini-review of the lecture material, then you’re asking the instructor one-on-one about material that you might have missed or went over your head. The instructor will definitely take a different approach to explaining the concept than when they did it in class. First, they know that if it didn’t work the first time, it won’t work again! Second, they’ll probably have more time during office hours to go in-depth on the topic should they need to.

When explaining complex topics to a class full of students, the instructor often has to explain in a generic way to reach as many students as possible. However, if the explanation did not quite click with you, going to office hours regularly can give the instructor time to understand what methods of instruction work best for you on a personal basis. If you have gone to office hours regularly, the instructor most likely has an idea of what helps make the material click for you. Make a habit of going to office hours as it is especially important if you don’t understand what’s going on in the course.

It’s important to note that going to office hours throughout the semester when not understanding the course material is quite different that showing up for the first time the day before the final. If the instructor has never personally met you, they will have no idea on how to actually help you. So, it is completely fine to show up being completely lost about the material, as long as you’re not showing up at the last possible opportunity. Second, be sure to not ask question regarding the course that can easily be found in the syllabus. If you have a question regarding the course policies, make sure to check the syllabus first to get the quickest possible answer and not waste your own time. Show that you’ve done the work beforehand.

Take note(s)…

When in class, I always prefer to take notes with pen and paper. It is just simpler. There are no distractions, and it forces you to pay attention to what is being discussed in class. You shouldn’t be keeping note of every word being spoken. Instead, I keep notes about the lecture not what is being lectured. For example, what did we spend most of our time on? Was there any topic in the lecture that the professor seemed to really stress on? Etc. Taking notes and thinking about what you should be taking notes on mean that you’re actively engaging in class. If you go to class and simply watch a stream of a chess match, I’m sorry to say but I don’t think you’ll gain any of the benefits one would expect from this advice…

To conclude, the things that have helped me the most are to go to class and office hours regularly. I’m sure it sounds dumb to some, but these are the two things that ensure that you get exposure to the material more than once before you even begin studying for an assessment. It also helps build closer connections with the instructor and the students in your class. These two habits help create a major change in how you interact with the course material throughout the semester, which will result in a lot of improvements. It is often the students that aren’t afraid to ask questions and resolve any issues they have with the material that end up doing well in the course.