Should I Skip ALL Lectures in 2nd Year?

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I barely learnt anything in lectures, I learn better when i go through it myself later on. So i only went to like half the lectures and still passed :h:

But i know some people do find them useful and make lots notes - it all depends on the indvidual OP

me too!

Reply 21

HelenaS88

Why are you asking the question if you are so set on not going? Just to show off?

Reply 22

butter_god

I feel for the op, I didn't attend the lectures of a certain subject and my highest grade was in that. In a different class I couldn't comprehend most of what the lecturer said for most of the year, and when I studied on my own (the one month before exams) I did understand it so much better.

What I will be doing this coming year is working more on my own without going to all the lecturers as self study seems to work better for me. Obviously for the first month I will see if the lecturers teaching style is decent- if not, I'll be working on my own.

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Reply 23

SophiaKeuning

Original post by dj1015

I love it when I got to the end of the last year. Looked at my percentage. Looked at the percentage of others who failed to attend lectures, tutorials etc. And laughed.....

Some people might get away with poor attendance and attitude. But it will catch up with most. I for one will not fall victim to that, as I attend 100% at uni.

I bet you never missed a day of school right?

Reply 24

samiz20891

I would say it depends on how well you know that module and how determined/ willing you are to study outside the lectures. I found in the first year, I didn't attend my core macro and micro modules as I had studied most of it before or already knew it. However, in the second and third year, I attended everything as for modules which I was weaker in such as econometrics, just by being in the lecture, I was learning a certain percentage of the module and also I found by not going into the lecture, I just slept in. However, if you are focused to do the work outside the lectures, fair enough but for me, even though some lectures were dull, I am sure I picked up a lot of knowledge subconsciously and the revision lectures were brilliant at the end. This for exam technique but also some model answers.
I am sure this help my final grades were I got a first class economics degree with 16/23 modules being firsts.

Reply 25

Aeschylus

Original post by oj234

This reminds me of our maths lecturer who encourages all students to attend an optional class weekly where students congregate and help each other with maths problems they have trouble comprehending. The maths tutor shows us a comparison in grades of previous students; those who attended the optional weekly class, and those that did not. Those who did, on average, got higher grades. I did not attend the optional weekly class because I chose not to make use of that resource, and I ended up with well over 90% for that module. Most who attended the optional weekly class got nowhere near that.

Poor attendance to pointless lectures =/= bad attitude. You should think about developing a more independent attitude. Not all of us need to attend lectures, we can work independently and gain higher marks by doing so.

If you can do that, then obviously you are a talented individual.

If I'd tried that I'd have ended up with a 2:2. Nothing comes 'naturally' to me like that.

Horses for courses. Work in the way that's best for you

Reply 26

George Agdgdgwngo

This is my story. Take from it what you will.

[Scottish student so 4 year degree]

1st year: attended most lectures/tutorials - average mark: 76%
2nd year: got complacent, attended about half of the lectures/tutorials - average mark 72%
3rd year: got even more complacent, attended hardly any lectures/tutorials - average mark 48%
Honours year: got my act together, attended most (90%+) lectures/tutorials - average mark 69% + Biochemistry research prize for thesis.

I got complacent thinking I could wing it by not attending lectures, then third year happened, where the standard, quality and quantity of work required was massively higher than the previous year.

Whatever you decide to do, please make sure you don't get caught out by the above scenario. My third year made up 25% of my degree, meaning it almost certainly cost me a first class honours.

Reply 27

MagicNMedicine

Original post by oj234

Let's do a simple cost-benefit analysis...

Scenario 1: Attend all lectures weekly (approx 15 hours), which I don't really learn from and subsequently take quite some time reading and taking notes on the topics from lecture slides and relevant course book (Approx another 15 hours a week)

Scenario 2: Attend zero lectures, instead use the time more efficiently by reading the lecture slides and course book and taking notes on the topics that were being lectured on each week (approx 15 hours) ... I have now saved myself an additional 15 hours, with that time, I could read over my notes.

The cost of losing 15 hours per week reading up on my notes is not worth the "benefit" of attending lectures which I find pointless.

BTW, it takes more motivation doing private study than sitting in a lecture hall.

Not replying to the troll anymore lol

If you have got such a strong case why did you ask a bunch of random students on the internet, if you should go to your lectures or not.....its obvious that most were going to advise you to go to lectures.

We all have the odd module where the lectures are not that good but if your entire course has crap lectures then you are being trolled mate if you're paying thousands of pounds in fees.

Reply 28

Solid.Snake

I think it's a silly idea especially considering that you're paying for this education at university :rolleyes:

Reply 29

Ben_Dover

Original post by oj234

....

Lecturers occasionally give hints as to what is likely to come up in the exam....if you miss the lectures, you're going to end up revising everything, which will prove to be too much.

Reply 30

qgujxj39

In my second year, I fell behind in every single course for which I missed lectures.

Reply 31

stefl14

Original post by dj1015

Good luck with that. I shall be here this time next year when you tell everyone about the soft 2:2 you for your second year.

You are a moron. Lectures are not needed for success at university I'm afraid. For some people they aren't worth going to.

Reply 32

superpig22

Do what you want but do remember that on most (out lecturers showed us about 10-15 examples) references which your lecturer wil be asked to fill in by potential employers it asks about attendance....the majority will ask for the exact % of attendance over the time at uni (our uni was kind and only uses second and third year)......I highly doubt that any employer would employ someone with close to 0% attendance!

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Reply 33

QwertyG

What uni do you go to?

Reply 34

oj234

Original post by samiz20891

Will defo take what you said into consideration because I also do economics. Thanks.

Original post by George Agdgdgwngo

Thanks

Original post by MagicNMedicine

Tbh I think I'm going to attend lectures at first, see which ones aren't very helpful, then attend only those that are. I was just comparing a scenario where one attends no lectures at all, with another where one attends ALL lectures.

Original post by superpig22

1) Attendance for lectures aren't compulsory
2) A register isn't taken
3) None of my lecturers write my reference, my academic adviser does
4) Tutorials/seminars monitor attendance, of which I attend 100% (miss the odd day or two once in a blue moon)

Original post by QwertyG

What uni do you go to?

Manchester

Reply 35

zaliack

Original post by Solid.Snake

I think it's a silly idea especially considering that you're paying for this education at university :rolleyes:

In the end, he's paying for a piece of paper which says what grade he got. It's in his interest to get that grade as high as possible, and if that means missing lectures, then that's what he should do.

OP, as most people have said, it all depends on your style. Personally I miss a lot of my law lectures because they are basically just introductions to the subjects, and we are expected to do a lot of reading on top of it. Most people who just go to the lectures and look at the slides/revision books won't get much further than a 2:1. And for what it's worth, I skipped most of my Contract II lectures and I got the highest grade in my class for it :smile:

. Just make sure you go to the revision lectures, and look over the slides afterwards to see if anything is different from your textbook.

Reply 36

cdoyle

Attend one from each module different weeks to check your on the same train of thought.

Reply 37

dj1015

Original post by SophiaKeuning

I bet you never missed a day of school right?

relevance?

Reply 38

Millie228

In the beginning of last semester, I attended ALL the lectures, so did most people. After a while, people started to drop lectures.

In particular in Management Accounting. The lecture was at 8am, and we had a hopeless teacher who basically just read whatever was on his slides. He was incapable of answering questions as well. I just realized I failed Management Accounting ( :frown:

) and have to retake it next semester. I sincerely hope I get a better teacher.

Of course it is relevant how much output you get from the lectures. When it comes to Accounting, I just have to study a lot more - it's not my field at all, I have no interest. But in general, the more classes you attend in a subject, and the more attention you pay, the better you'll perform.