Learning from Lectures

Sleep

It can be very difficult to stay focused and energized in a lecture when you aren’t interacting with a teacher personally. Make sure to get a good amount of sleep before lectures. If you find yourself nodding off, take a bathroom break and wash your face with warm water. This can help to stimulate your mind and wake you up.

Eat Well

If you are depleted it will be hard for your mind to function at its fullest. Always make sure to eat three meals a day and a snack before your lectures start.

Set Out Your Materials

Keep your materials well-organized in your backpack. If you have to scramble to get all of your supplies out of a backpack, you may miss the beginning of a lecture. Before a lecture starts set out all of your books and tools in front of you, and wait for further instruction. Make sure you have sharpened pencils so you don’t have to get up and distract the whole class.

Keep Up On Reading

If a teacher assigns a reading before class it is essential that you keep up. If you don’t have reference to the context of lecture, it will be really hard to understand the nature of the conversation your teacher is trying to have about a subject.

Sit Up Close

If you have trouble seeing or hearing, sitting up close is a really good idea. The closer you are to your instructor the more likely you are to absorb information about the subject they are trying to teach.

Use Short Hand

Instead of writing out each sentence that a professor says you can highlight the most important parts of a lecture. Look for the most crucial bits of information. Write down your notes in an outline form and organize information into manageable blocks.