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Does anyone actually absorb anything in lectures?

I've only recently started university and for some reason, I find that in lectures I just don't seem to absorb anything. I'm not sure why, I seemed fine to absorb stuff at school.

I also find myself just giving up halfway through the lecture on taking notes, because I'm not really writing detailed enough notes down that would be worth me reading back over.

My plan is to attend lectures, then after the lecture, combine what was discussed during the lecture with the textbook to make my own set of notes. But I'm just curious to the extent that people actually absorb and understand information from lectures?

Thanks
oh my goddd !!!! finally that is exactly me seriously i have only started university now and i feel exactly the same i have no idea sometimes the purpose of the lecture like some things they say you dont need some you do im like mannnn im so confused tell me what im meant to know
I'm like this too. All my lecturers do is read through the powerpoint and this powerpoint is online anyway so there's no point of going to lectures.
Reply 3
Avatar for UWS
UWS
21
I absorb a lot of sleep.
nope, i legit sit there thinking 'id rather be in bed'

on the plus side at least you could say you went, instead of feeling guilty about not going :biggrin:
Original post by UWS
I absorb a lot of sleep.


Our lectures are so easy at the moment, so me and my friends use them to read ahead of everyone :smile:
Reply 6
Avatar for Profesh
Profesh
20
Ennui, mostly.
It's totally different to school.

University lectures are there to give an overview of a subject. The student needs to fill in the detailed background information for themselves.

i.e. university is about you reading up on the subject extensively outside lectures. The library is your friend.

Treat lectures as an introduction for topic scope and as a broad overview with occasional forays into depth. On the whole lectures are not there to teach you. You have to learn under your own steam.

Here's a good guide to get the best out of lectures: http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ld/resources/study/making-most-of-lectures
(edited 6 years ago)
No, but I took in a lot less when I didn't go so...:tongue:
Reply 9
Avatar for Jarred
Jarred
18
Obviously it depends on the person but for me they’re more or less useless unless the lecturer drops special hints about the exam during them.

There’s only one module I went to every lecture for, because the bloke was amazing and the content was extremely interesting. It’s my worst score by a mile, a whole 20% lower than my average!

Everything else I manage to go to only a few and I come out with ~85%

I have started treating lectures as structured working time. I will go to as many as I can, and just do coursework during the session. I can be very productive this way.
Original post by lolllllllllsa
I've only recently started university and for some reason, I find that in lectures I just don't seem to absorb anything. I'm not sure why, I seemed fine to absorb stuff at school.

I also find myself just giving up halfway through the lecture on taking notes, because I'm not really writing detailed enough notes down that would be worth me reading back over.

My plan is to attend lectures, then after the lecture, combine what was discussed during the lecture with the textbook to make my own set of notes. But I'm just curious to the extent that people actually absorb and understand information from lectures?

Thanks


University doesn’t teach you anything it’s all about reading yourself.

It’s odd paying 9k a year topped up by government funding for a library card and a slide show isn’t it?
Original post by lolllllllllsa
I've only recently started university and for some reason, I find that in lectures I just don't seem to absorb anything. I'm not sure why, I seemed fine to absorb stuff at school.

I also find myself just giving up halfway through the lecture on taking notes, because I'm not really writing detailed enough notes down that would be worth me reading back over.

My plan is to attend lectures, then after the lecture, combine what was discussed during the lecture with the textbook to make my own set of notes. But I'm just curious to the extent that people actually absorb and understand information from lectures?

Thanks


I'm not too bad when I just have 1 lecture then a break before the next but when you have several in a row you have no chance.

It's kind of ironic that lecturing for 50 minutes goes against everything we know about how the brain learns and yet it's the predominant method at universities!

My method was to make sure to have done the core reading before the lecture that really helped. Then for notes just take down the key themes and I try to write something up about the lecutre a few days later.
Original post by paul514
University doesn’t teach you anything it’s all about reading yourself.

It’s odd paying 9k a year topped up by government funding for a library card and a slide show isn’t it?


It must be painful but I enjoyed my time at uni so it was all worth it and I didn't take out any loans :h:
Reply 13
Avatar for Wimbs
Wimbs
9
If lectures were judged on OFSTED criteria for school/lesson colleges they would get a straight 4! As stated, the human brain is not designed to sit and listen for an hour! One of my lecturers in Physics admitted that it was pointless to stand and lecture for an hour and after 25 min going through the material, set us questions that he came round and helped us with!
Yeah, I haven't found them to be particularly useful so far. I don't find listening to a bloke read off a slide show very interesting, i've fallen asleep in like 50% of my lectures so far.
If the lecturer is engaging then I tend to absorb more than lecturers that just read off the slide. With most of my lectures being 2 hours long I can find myself losing concentration in the second hour most of the time.
3 years at uni and still find lectures pointless I just pree pengtings in my lecture and give them a rating
Your idea sounds great.

If it is a boring lecturer or that I come into the lecture unfocused, then I will not pay attention at all and the most attention I spend is on telling myself to stay awake!

But if your lecturer provides some kind of lecture prompts or you know what that lecture will vaguely be on, you should try and do some light reading before the lecture to keep you motivated. That way if you come into something new or already known you're most likely will have an interest because you're learning something different or in greater depth.

Good luck!
My attention span is about 45 minutes after the break I might as well not be there. So after the lecture I’ll go back through the slides and see what he was going on about and skim through the core text book and summary
Original post by lolllllllllsa
I've only recently started university and for some reason, I find that in lectures I just don't seem to absorb anything. I'm not sure why, I seemed fine to absorb stuff at school.

I also find myself just giving up halfway through the lecture on taking notes, because I'm not really writing detailed enough notes down that would be worth me reading back over.

My plan is to attend lectures, then after the lecture, combine what was discussed during the lecture with the textbook to make my own set of notes. But I'm just curious to the extent that people actually absorb and understand information from lectures?

Thanks

Do not worry at all I felt exactly the same when I started uni. My advice (this is what I do anyway) is to write extra notes on the lecture slides/handouts and do what you said- combine it with your own notes from the textbook as it is important. You will do fine, I got a first from doing this. Good luck in your studies.
(edited 6 years ago)

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