If you’ve just started college and are already tempted to skip classes, I suggest you change your mind. Let’s find out how to follow university lessons and why it is so useful.

I know, you’d want to start practicing the international sport so dear to the jumping students of the lesson, but before becoming an Olympian I recommend that you evaluate what I will tell you in this article and why it is not the best sport you can practice if you want to successfully graduate.

So let’s see without further delay the benefits of following the lessons and a method to obtain great results that will make your study easier and faster.

Why Attend University Lectures

I know this may seem like a nerd attitude to you, but it’s actually a smart tactic because it will benefit you to speed up your study. Let’s see them!

Taking university lessons helps you study with an edge. Listening directly to what the professor says allows you not only to better grasp the concepts that may not be so clear in the textbook but above all it allows you to see how the teacher behaves, what he explains, and useful information for carrying out a reasoned study targeted and without wasting time. 

The Advantage of Knowing the Professor

Do you want to know what it is? Well, what could ever be more effective in passing an exam than answering the professor exactly what he wants to hear? Teachers (at least in most cases) are certainly not renowned for their imagination in asking questions or varying topics. This awareness is your trump card to study with an edge!

You have to get to know the professor, find out what his favorite topics are (which he will certainly ask you at the exam), the concepts he deepens, and those that he may leave in the background. All notions that you will need to prepare yourself in the best possible way and that you will certainly not be able to learn from the sofa at home.

Trust me: if you follow the lesson and don’t understand something you can immediately raise your hand and ask questions.  Not to mention that teachers often project slides to facilitate the explanation. Missing all these things is not wise at all, it will only help make your study longer and more difficult.

He also calculates that at university it can often happen that the lessons of the courses to be followed overlap, so in reality, you may be forced to have to skip some of them by force. In these cases there are not many alternatives: if you have two courses at the same time you have to choose which one to attend. In this case, I suggest you do some research and ask around those who have already attended the lessons in question and taken the exams. Once this is done, I suggest you take the course that proves more difficult. 

How to Follow University Lessons

Having said this, however, it is not that to live on the income you just need to get up from the sofa and go and warm up the classroom chair; just as getting to know the professor does not mean observing him with narrow eyes like a zoologist studying chimpanzees. You must take notes because following the lessons without taking notes is the same as not following a damn thing!

The Cornell Method

I’ve already given you a lot of tips on how to take notes, but in case you forgot, today I’ll share the Cornell Method, one of the best!

All you need is a white sheet, like a printer, without lines or squares. I recommend that you use these because they allow you to take notes freely, and creatively. You don’t have to worry about pulling straight lines or writing in beautiful handwriting. At first, you will certainly be a little unsure, but you will see that with practice you will improve.

Once you have your paper, you need to divide it into 3 main quadrants:

• A quadrant on the left, not too big, where you will insert, in the end, the fundamental concepts, and the keywords that will refer you to the notes written alongside.
• A larger one on the right, where you will go to take schematic notes, using abbreviations as in messages, avoiding writing long sentences, but only what is strictly necessary.
• Finally, one at the bottom of the page, where you can enter the questions to ask the professor, the notes on the things to be explored, the reflections, and other similar things.

Always remember to mark the date on the paper so that you can always keep all your notes in order. Don’t think about getting home and copying your notes as you might have done in high school. At university, the rhythms are more frenetic, the amount of information greater, so copying your notes every time at a certain point will no longer be sustainable. It will waste your time and you will not get any benefit!

Keep the notes you take in class as good. I assure you that with a little practice they will become more and more orderly. What you can do at home is to integrate your notes with topics that you have missed or that need to be explored.

Studying Is Not Specifically Doing All the Boring Tasks

Studying should be fun and engaging. However, if you’re met with boring assignments that add nothing to your education, then go to a pro assignment writer and say “Write my essay!” This way, you’ll be able to focus only on the most interesting aspects of learning.