College Strategies

Lesson 3: Going to Class; What to take, What to do, What to know

What to take to class

Generally it is obvious you need to take some sort of paper and writing material. However I would recommend you just take lined paper and pens in the first lecture. Some professors love hand-outs and they are going to seem like a paper mill throughout the year. If you are in one of those hand-out intensive classes it would be better to have a binder instead of a notebook. You can add the hand-outs in with every lecture when you got them. That way you have all the information in the same place when you need to study it, and there will be no need to cross reference and look stuff up. If you get too many hand-outs and just stick them in your note book it’s asking for them to get lost. They will fall out at some point and it will be a disorganized mess. You cannot afford it and you probably are not one of those people who get pleasure from organizing and reorganizing their files endlessly.

Experiment with different ways of note storage; some people use file folders, others use binders and some people cannot stand anything but notebooks. You will have to find what works best. In general if you are one of those students who doesn’t feel like adding their lecture notes into the appropriate binder as soon as they get home, then you should definitely stick to notebooks to have everything organized and together. Not putting your notes away right away is a recipe for disaster; they will be misplaced.

Also always date your notes, you never know how useful that can be until you actually need it! If you for example miss a class you can say I missed the class on such and such a date, because that date is missing in my notes. Or if you loose notes it will be easier to notice and therefore easier to borrow them off someone and copy them. Some professors also indicate which weeks will be relevant for the test, if you do not date your notes it will take a long time to figure out what you need to study.

If you are living on campus don’t be afraid to roll out of bed and go to class in PJ’s. You will not be the only one! However the unspoken rule is: PJ bottoms with a sweat top. Don’t wear PJ tops, that is just wrong and then people will actually look strangely at you. Don’t bother going to class dressed up as if you were going to a pageant; nobody will really notice and the habit wears off two weeks into class. That is also the most solid way to spot freshmen; they put a lot of effort into their appearance. Not to say that senior students don’t, some people are like that and there is nothing wrong with it. Just don’t feel like you should. During exam week is where the sweatpants and PJ-bottoms are most popular. Dress in whatever is comfortable, because you need it if you are running around from class to class.

There is often a “no food, no drinks” policy in lecture halls. Just observe the first few lectures how tightly they adhere to it, which also depends on the professor. In general I’d say if you need your coffee take in your coffee, just be careful not to spill it down someone’s neck or on the floor. A small snack is also not a general problem, as long as you don’t carry in a complete pick nick or fast food meal. Besides; you should not have time to be chomping away on a burger if you have to take notes. If you are really hungry have a snack, but wait to have a meal after class. It is also a common courtesy to your fellow students. Also avoid to litter, it seems like a tacky thing to say but students can be pigs. Don’t be one of those and set the right example. You’d hate to sit in a sticky chair or put your bag in a puddle of coffee yourself, wouldn’t you?

Generally people wear comfy clothes to class, sometimes temperatures can be a little strange in lecture halls, so make sure you wear something underneath your sweater in case it gets too hot. If you notice the opposite happening, then take a jacket next class.

It’s good to have highlighters and pens in different colors. They can be really useful when drawing diagrams or for headings. It makes studying later on easier. This is a very personal thing, but generally people who are very picky with their notes end up benefiting from being overly neat. Sometimes and with some courses it is just impossible, but if you have a minute after class try and rewrite them or underline important things while it is fresh in your memory. Having good notes will save you time in the end!

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