Article: Why don't university students attend lectures?

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Original post by somethingbeautiful

In 1st year I attended them all. Second year much less so and by 3rd year I was attending the minimum amount in order not to be dragged before a progress panel.

Personally, I went to uni to learn more about a subject that fascinated me but found myself just studying for exams and having no time to learn for the sake of learning. I felt very pressured to learn quickly and get 60%+. I favored passing my exams and coursework and getting a 2.1 over absorbing the content of each and every lecture (in reality, that's impossible).
In 2nd/3rd year I chose carefully which lectures/seminars to attend based on how much I judged them to be beneficial to me. Most of them were accessible online and it was quicker to skim read online notes and glean only the most important info from them than to sit through an hour lecture plus travel time there and back. I could get more done in an hour at my desk in the library than in the hour in most lectures.

I got my 2.1 and wouldn't have done it any differently, however, for my next degree I'll be attending every lecture/seminar because I actually want to learn and not just pass the exams. I lost interest in my first degree and I was just doing it for the piece of paper. I'm actually interested in my 2nd degree and want a career from it and I'd like to be knowledgeable at work since I'll be treating patients.

So yeah, for me it was a totally practical thing - I was just cutting the fat off the meat and skipping straight to the most useful stuff and ignoring everything else. Worked for me.

Yeah but you got a 2:1 (Which is still pretty good), but you might have been able to get a 1st otherwise, no?

Reply 61

somethingbeautiful

Original post by The_Internet

Yeah but you got a 2:1 (Which is still pretty good), but you might have been able to get a 1st otherwise, no?

A 1st in Philosophy would have been just as useless to me as a 2.1 so I didn't think it necessary to exert myself. All I was interested in was getting a respectable final grade and I walked away with just that.

Reply 62

The_Internet

Original post by somethingbeautiful

Fair nuffs :smile:

Reply 63

TimmonaPortella

A law student's perspective:

I selected 'some'. I made the effort to go when there was a particularly good lecturer, but if someone was unclear or otherwise unexceptional then I always preferred to get an extra hour of sleep and then just get stuck into the reading.

I think they can be a hopeful overview and guide, but they're just that. Missing some lectures shouldn't be a big issue because you should be reading through all the stuff covered anyway.

Reply 64

epic within

I wouldn't be able to not go to my lectures knowing that I paid 9k for a just a couple powerpoint slides

Reply 65

Kiytt

Why pay £27k for tuition you're not even going to show up to...

Reply 66

CAElite

I try to attend everything. But at the same time if I have something important to attend or if im ill its not the end of the world if I miss one or two.

Reply 67

sr90

Volunteer Team

Original post by The_Internet

Yeah but you got a 2:1 (Which is still pretty good), but you might have been able to get a 1st otherwise, no?

A first is meaningless unless you want to continue in academia. How many grad jobs do you see asking a for a 1st?

Reply 68

The_Internet

Original post by sr90

A first is meaningless unless you want to continue in academia. How many grad jobs do you see asking a for a 1st?

No sr90, a first means a lot to Asian families apparently :biggrin:

It's a way to say "My son/daughter got this grade" :biggrin:

But seriously, I wanted a first as well, because I find that if I aspire to x%, I usually get 10-20% below that

Towards the end, I was "OK" with getting a 2:1, much to my dad's disappointment. So when I got a first, it was kinda like this (just the dad bit)

[video="youtube;gOJeVcRJSq8"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOJeVcRJSq8[/video]

Reply 69

LiquidGold

I skip more than I attend if I'm honest. Most of the ones I do attend are pointless anyway, usually the time could be better spend actually doing work directly relating to the coursework (as that's all they care about). Whereas quite a lot of the stuff they teach in the lectures doesn't end up being relevant.

Reply 70

queen-bee

Biomed lectures could put you to sleep and sometimes the material was irrelevant in the end but I attend most of them if I was well enough

Reply 71

username987675

The only time I've skipped a lecture is if it's something like a problem class for the homework and I feel like I already understand the homework. Otherwise I generally go. Gives me a reason to get out of bed - otherwise I'd probably just be in bed all day contemplating when I should get up to catch up on the lectures I was missing. I may as well just go the the lecture.

Reply 72

DisguisedToast

I tend not to go to lectures when it's just a lecturer literally reading word-for-word a PowerPoint presentation that's available online. It's pointless!

Reply 73

TimmonaPortella

Original post by sr90

A first is meaningless unless you want to continue in academia. How many grad jobs do you see asking a for a 1st?

It can be pretty weighty across the professions.

Reply 74

UWS

Original post by sr90

A first is meaningless unless you want to continue in academia. How many grad jobs do you see asking a for a 1st?

Does it not help though? If they see that first on your CV, would that not boost your chances of getting a job?

Reply 75

UWS

Several reasons:

•

Boring content

•

Boring lecturer

•

"CBA"

•

Too hungover

Reply 76

Illiberal Liberal

Meh, of the 5 modules I do this year I only really go to the lectures of 3/5. For the other two, my time is better spent sleeping.

Reply 77

The Blue Axolotl

Somewhere between some and most of them.

Some are too ridiculous, others are quite interesting.

Reply 78

Reue

By the time I got to 2nd and 3rd years I was easily bunking a large majority of the lectures.

Sitting in a room being talked at for 2 hours at a time was not going to teach me anything.