The Student Room Group

Does anyone else really not like seminars?

:eek: I find them a bit of a trauma, am no good at the whole contributing/arguing/discussion/questioning bit (pretty much the whole lot). Bit of a problem as i do politics - lots of contributing/arguing/discussion/questioning needed. Am thinking of changing to a less seminar focussed course. But it's a hard decision because it seems like a bit of a coward's way out and i'm good at the written work, it's just the participatory part (which is actually a big part of the course + more so in 2nd and 3rd years). Anyone else also struggling in this way, have any tips,any views etc? Anything welcome

Cheers

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Reply 1
its probably just down to confidence, try and build up your confidence around people or become more familiar with the other students. also it maybe that your not fully prepared for the seminars and thus have nothing to say
Reply 2
I've been preparing a lot for them just in case i have to contribute but even when i know could answer a question i fail completely to do so. It sounds pretty lame i know. My confidence is generally low at the moment though, but i have put that down to the seminars, the course focuses on the bit of my personality that it is a bit crap with very few essays etc which i can do.
Reply 3
thing is its obviously a minor problem when putting things into context that can be overcome with effort and growing confidence. even a new pair of trainers makes me more confident!! so I would try and work towards building confidence and improving your social interaction with other people your not familiar with.
Reply 4
yeah am going to think it over at easter and try to get some perspective. At the moment it feels like a pretty fundamental problem and my confidence has been going down not up. But i am crap at the social interaction bit aswell so if i couild improve it would be good generally (maybe crap is a bit strong- i do have friends but i'm no social butterfly).
I'm minoring in Politics so have 1 lecture & 1 seminar for it a week. I'm lucky that within my class there are 2 or 3 gobby people who usually thrash things out amongst themselves so the rest of us stay silent.

I presume you know in advance what the subject of the seminar is going to be, if you do some general reading aruond it or even just the newspapers (assuming there is some contemporary relevance in your course) then you'll at the very least be able to agree with someone in the class. You don't have to throw out some ground breaking idea but even a "yeah I read that in the the Times last week" or "and if you read in Chapter 7 it gives examples" at least you'll have made some contribution.

Not everyone is into "public" speaking (I hate it lol) but seminar tutors know that so even a few words every seminar or second seminar shows you're making an effort.

(PS: If your tutors haven't pulled you up about it by now they must not be that bothered by it either)
Reply 6
We get marked on our seminar contributions for some modules. I don't mind them if I know I have the correct answer etc, and there are a fair few quite people in my group so it is usually me who has to do a lot of the talking anyway!
Reply 7
I quite like most of mine. I'm not really into public speaking on the whole but in my seminars we sit in groups of about 4 or 5 and discuss amongst ourselves so its much better that way.

I hate one of my seminars - not because I have to speak but because I dont like anyone in the group and hate the seminar leader. So Ive only been to one this semester hehe. I catch up on the work in my own time so I'm not behind but I feel I should go to them but dont want to :frown:
Reply 8
I have a seminar today and usually like them, but since I haven't prepared for this one then I am not really looking forward to it. Anyone an expert on tumour immunology? :wink:
Reply 9
hahhaah

don't start til september and don't know if there'll any on my course, but I'm sure a big crowded seminar would scare me to death :eek:

do maths courses ever have seminars?
I hate them. I don't usually contribute, but neither does the rest of the group, it's too quiet! No one has ever done the reading. I used to before i kind of gave up on the course, so i knew all the answers, but i never voiced up. The total lack of motivation for the course is probably the reason why i don't talk in them.

Next year my new course doesn't really have them, so looking forward to that.
Reply 11
I really like my seminars but i think thats because i have become really good friends with everyone in them. I think if i didn't know everyone as well as i do, i would hardly say anything.

xx
Reply 12
I hate them. I never do the reading so I just sit there hoping I can get by without contributing.
Reply 13
I hated them in first year cause I'd never done the reading, so would sit there n fear of being picked on, and cause no one else had done it either, so they were generally boring and useless. They're better in second year cause more people have actually done the reading (including me!) so we can get a good discussion going and they're quite interesting.

I still don't think they're a particularly effective learning tool though...
Reply 14
It's good to see that some other people also don't like them! It's so annoying because i'm good at the exams, good at the essays, but having to do these seminars everyweek is making me feel crap about the whole thing. The only ongoing feedback you get is from the seminars through raising points etc but if you don't do that you don't really know where you stand. I've spoken to my tutor and he said it was just a small part of the course, concentrate on the other bits, just make a one comment in each one etc but that doesn't really fit in with the way the course is structured. e.g lectures aren't compulsory (some modules don't have any in the 2nd/3rd year), Seminars you have to attend, Seminars are 2 hours long in the 2nd/3rd years, all of the module descriptions say that you must be "a full participant" in every seminar. All of this makes me feel that i should be doing another course, because this will be three years of trying to get through it rather than enjoying the course.
Reply 15
gianthead




do maths courses ever have seminars?


no they have tutorials instead which just mean the teacher goes over the problems in front of the class and usually requires very little input from students
Reply 16
I don't like them as it usually involves listening to a bunch of the same old loudmouthed and stupid people talking crap.
Reply 17
Seminars make me feel physically sick and I tend to miss as many as I am allowed within the rules. I HATE speaking about anything in front of a group of people, but more than that I just can't think of anything to say. I cannot argue coherently when in a formal discusion situation and end up sounding like a ****** Eurgh. They're awful. I'm much better in writing though and get some of the best marks on the course (I think), so it's slightly frustrating that I have such a problem. The worst is when you have a seminar tutor who insists on you contributing, and there are some who don' seem to understand that some people simply cannot manage it. I really don't think it's something that can be worked on with practice / confidence etc., after all we've had a good 15 years of schooling in which to perfect the skill, and if we haven't managed it by now I doubt we ever will. I guess some people just have the gift of the gab and others don't. On the other hand, there are ways of getting round it and I would suggest to the OP a couple of tricks I use to get by:

- Thoroughly prepare for each seminar and try to pre-empt the questions that will be asked (usually you have some idea of what will pop up) and try to prepare an answer to it - not learned by heart or you'll sound like a ****, bt a snappy point with snappy example that won't lead to a sweaty convulson if you're promtped to take the point further.

- Try to say something early on in the seminar so that they notice you've made a contribution and hopefully won't pick on you later on for not speaking.

- Asking questions is a great way to get out of it > make it relevant, and when they or someone else answers, look interested, nod and furiously scribble notes so you look like a good little student.

- And last of all, develop a healthy contempt for all in your seminar group, so that you really couldn't care less what they think of you.
Reply 18
I don't like them as it usually involves listening to a bunch of the same old loudmouthed and stupid people talking crap


Haha. Exactly. That's also part of the problem. A lot of the time I can sense what they want me to say, but it's often such *******s that I just let someone else do it for me. It sounds so arrogant, but when a tutor and all the students take a literary text to the extreme and see things in it that appear ridiculous to me I can't bring myself to say it - it's so degrading.
Reply 19
Well i have 2 today includig a presentation so will have plenty of chances to try these tips. Will let you know how they go...