"Do I have to actually attend the lectures?"

Hey Veeky Forums

I thought it was some kind of meme or just a joke when people would mention studying by themselves and then taking the exam and passing the course that way.

I didn't believe it was even a thing until I was looking at David Malan's CS75 lectures and about 50 minutes into the first lecture someone asks if it is mandatory to attend class and he tells them it isn't.

cs75.tv/2012/summer/

>CS

you must be 18+ to post here, i'm going to have to ask you to leave

Meh. I got through most of my courses this way, always got somewhere between A and A+ (85% or above.) For some reason it worked for me (pure math and statistics), though I'm sure I could have done much better if I attended class. I wouldn't recommend it in general.

If you go to some bottom tier state school, then no, you shouldn't need to attend class

But if thats the case then you are probably a brainlet anyway and have to attend class.

Try doing that as a p hysicist op, guarentee uou will fail if you try to understand physical chem/QM by urself

First 1-2 years: fuck no, common activities with unfiltered scum are a waste for time.
Later years: depends on the lecturers. Keep in mind that even at the top schools at most 20-25% of the teaching staff aren't worthless hacks, so do your research and plan accordingly. You should aim for about 2 days per week spent on campus.

I go over the lecture slides beforehand. Then, if i understand the lecturer, i attend.
If i dunno wtf is he saying, i self study.

I would not miss lecture if not necessary. When the teacher is good, you get more of it, than from self study.

In Europe you don't have to attend lectures, they give you a list of recommended books at the first lecture and you can just show up at exams. It's not always a good idea not to attend.

I attend class because it's enjoyable

I would feel out the lectures a bit first.

If they're the kind of teacher who drops exam hints throughout the semester you may rather attend. Do they have a schedule for tests? Some lectures conduct multiple choice tests.

After getting a feel for it, you might get away with it if the lecture meets certain criteria, and you can show up for a few classes before exams for reviews or etc. Or if everything is posted online, even better.

You may or may not be taking a chance skipping lectures.

I know that's not much of an answer, but that's the best I could do.

>going to a shit state school to take advantage of scholarships and end your bachelor's with a net profit of money, continuing to a top graduate school (obviously fully funded)
>this is somehow brainlet behaviour
found the brainlet

I don't remember a single course at my university that tried to track your attendance or penalized you for not showing up to lectures. Assessing scores is what exams are for.

if it's hard for people at top schools to get into top graduate schools imagine how hard is it for someone in a shit uni, like it or not, if you want to apply for grad school the name of your institution is important

This. Mandatory attendance is a high school thing. It doesn't belong in universities.

I don't go to lectures if there aren't in-class quizzes and I have a 4.0. Mechanical engineer

Depends on the course. Sometimes attending isn't necessary, sometimes it's really beneficial.

At my uni, attendance was not mandatory, but very few people (maybe one or two) studied on their own. Overall, I think Veeky Forums has a very much romanticized view of how good math students work. I did masters in one of the best unis in my country (yuropoor) but everyone in my class was pretty normal in that respect: they took (more or less thorough) notes, attended classes, asked questions, did their problem sets.
Some were very quick, other had side projects and all but overall when it came to classwork, they was nothing crazy happening

In the us I would say it depends. I had all kinds of teachers. I had one that gave out bonus points for the final on the day before football games just because so many people would skip and then make the final unpassable, essentially fucking everyone that skipped.

I also had teachers that just skimmed their slides, which were in turn, skimming the book. You'd been better off just sitting at home with a cup of coffee, reading the slides, then the chapter review, then the chapter and then working all the problems you have answers to. Cutting the class for more personal study time or more sleep so you would be better rested for the personal study time.


The real problem I see with skipping class is that most stem people are easily distracted. So you might tell yourself that you are going to skip to do personal study, but you're really going to sleep late and then play on the web for 2 hours.

user, I have been in classes where the only participant was me and another guy (the banter with the teacher was awesome tho)

And in other classes I have been taking the classes from the goddamn door because there weren't enough chairs.

So why instead of being a turboautist you ask your fellow classmates that might actually know the difficulty of the classes and tests and get a more usefull answer?

What kind of answer you expect here? This board is filled with intelectually insecure people that have to constantly reafirm their intelligence and will say "no" adding several reasons about how they are so clever and getting 200k, 9/10 wife starting life.

If you go to a shit tier uni, then attendance usually isn't required. If you go to a good uni, attendance is usually part of the final grade and usually lectures are on stuff not on the textbooks since the profs have PhDs and can jewpill you without the help of the textbook

i think the biggest reason you should attend every lecture you possibly can is that your professor is not a robot. they are a human being. they have an ego. lecturing is their job and it's very, very unlikely they genuinely do not give a fuck if you show up or not.

if your professor knows you attend every lecture and sees that you're diligently taking notes and not swiping through your phone, and can put your face to your name on exams/quizzes, they are more likely to be lenient on grading you. if they know you haven't gone to any lectures it's very possible they will even grade you more harshly.

i also think posters like are completely full of shit. be wary of anyone who says they make 4.0s never attending lectures because they either are getting their own personal tutor or attend some shitty university with poor accreditation. or more likely just lying about their gpa like everyone else on sci

there's 0 guarantee what will be on the test unless you attend lectures. this should be enough of a reason for you to show up.

>check the archives for old tests

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW

This. Have had several courses where having a decent relationship with the professor resulted in more lienient grading. In life it generally pays to not be a fucking asshole

Check out this brainlet. I almost never attend lectures and have aced every single course so far. I'm also far ahead of my peers who started at the same time because I can just take the exams whenever I want, instead of having to wait for the course to be held.

Not trying to discourage people from attending lectures, but by no means are they necessary if you don't hate self-studying.

I'm in 3rd year and if the professor is shit or the class consists or regurgitating algebra from the book I don't go to class and I understand things easily. I'm not one of the best students but that's because I'm lazy (or a brainlet)

>i think the biggest reason you should attend every lecture you possibly can is that your professor is not a robot. they are a human being. they have an ego. lecturing is their job and it's very, very unlikely they genuinely do not give a fuck if you show up or not.

This is true, but you wouldn't know it. Skimming the high notes via a powerpoint isn't exactly showing you care.

>WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW
>implying their are archives

well, well, well, someone just admitted they were in a frat. Brave thing to do on Veeky Forums

What kind of a shit uni doesn't have either official archives for old exams or unofficial archives made by students?

Honestly curious about this.

>What kind of a shit uni doesn't have either official archives

most of them, dingus?

Why not?

>shit university because i can't memorize exam solutions instead

god these freshmen from shitty state schools 1 year from dropping out really irritate me sometimes.

>Why not?

because half the faculty is too lazy to change their test each semester and is terrifed you will just memorize the methods or answers, learning nothing and get an A?

Short answer, they're worried you will cheat.

I mean sure, most engineering students do cheat before they graduate. But that is the concern.

And somehow this makes my uni shit when they actually do bother to make original tests where you can't cheat by memorizing old tests? At most you get a general idea about what the profs in the past deemed to be the absolute key points of the course so you can focus more on those topics when reviewing the material.

How do they prevent students from archiving the tests?

it should never be mandatory to attend lectures
if you don't attend a good class you're probably fucked

>How do they prevent students from archiving the tests?

They don't. Hell, I had a teacher that was so stupid that you could find their tests by typing various words from the lesson into the search bar of the department

Uni was just one big cosmic joke, really.

I only attended half. What me and my friend did was that in year 1 and 2 he attended half the courses and I attended the other half then we meet together and teach the other their missed lecture and give them nots to copy and help out.

Also our jobs were braindead as fuck so simply just doing that shit during work as well helped a lot.

One Japanese prof at a good school In Japan taught a course using the EXACT same lecture slides for 30+ years. That is maximum not giving a fuckatude.

To add what other anons are saying, this is very true. Not only does it leave a good impression, but it comes time for letters of recommendation for grad school, you have someone who may help you out. In my case, I wanted to take a course that the prof was teaching next semester, and he talked to the department head which allowed me to register for the course even though it was closed/full.

Yeah but learning from your profs and doing research with them is great for experience and graduate school. School isn't just memorizing notes and taking exams, it's also about networking and building relationships. You ever wonder why your classmate who got C's on everything has a better job than you?

Now I do know that many profs don't have industry experience and literally went from PhD -> professor. Still, they're people too and showing up to lectures, attending office hours, and just shooting the shit with them are all things that help you get through uni.

>Justifying being shit with money
found the real brainlet.

I go to every lecture because my professors are wonderful people and I enjoy talking to them beforehand and afterwards, hearing them speak, and absorbing their excitement for mathematics. It's also partly what you're paying for.

It's not that important. All of the graduate admissions interviews I've read say recommendations is the most important, followed by projects/papers, followed by gpa/school prestige

>skip most classes
>A- in thermo 2
>A- in fluid mechanics
>essentially never attended kinetics
>C- in kinetics

Maybe I could have done better but Im not disappointed. Research took up a fuckload of time.

Why would you pay money not to attend your lectures?

so they can look up all the answers on chegg and then brag to their peers about how they spent the whole semester getting high and playing league while making As and Bs in every class. it's funny because they'll end up with zero connections and probably shitpost on Veeky Forums in a few years saying their degree is oversaturated because they can't find work.

sounds ok, but...
we only have written exams, and professors obviously don't grade them themselves, and even if they did, they don't know my name, and even if they did, exams are often signed by your number, instead of your name.
so, even if you suck somebody's dick, they will not give you a better grade

How do I not fall asleep in math classes? It's always just senseless proof after proof. I've never seen something so boring.

literally you

You have those in the US too? Takes me back.

i have kids like this in my fucking courses at Uni and I try to remind them that there's no legal obligation to stay in class if they don't want to and to stop being fucking morons

I attended every lecture last semester(junior EE) and got decent grade. what are u niggas even doing when you're skipping class? i basically only studied during the lecture.

I'm not convinced that Veeky Forums is as good at self study as they say they are. It definitely depends on the class/uni, but for at least 50% of classes not going to lecture makes life a lot harder.

(((for-profit higher education)))

>paying for uni

Found the brainlet

with """"free"""" uni you should still try to make the most out of it. it takes up years of your life and it affects the rest of your entire life

>(((lectures)))

The absolute worst way to "teach" ever constructed.

lol so this is not just a commieblock thing?

I tend to agree. Listening to someone explain shit for 2 hours is a good way to delude yourself into thinking you've learned something instead of actually learning something. Most students end up either dozing off or just mechanically scribbling down tidbits they don't really understand.

Read the material before attending the lecture. Lectures should elaborate on the textbook material and flesh out details not present in the text.

That's entirely too much effort for the brainlet engineering degree I'm doing, user.

Hey dumb dumb, the lecture expands upon the material and gives the students a chance to form a dialogue.

that's what tutorials are for
lectures are supposed to be mainly one-way unless you have questions

>form a dialogue
Most professors don't like smartasses asking difficult questions. As I said, brainlet engineering degree. We're not meant to understand anything so I just learn in my own time.

I don't attend any lectures at all. I'm doing CS and I already know most of these things from studying on my own in HS and while doing hobby projects and working. Even if I wanted, I wouldn't have time for lectures, I work full time.

My professors doesn't give a fuck. I'd say they like me since they praise me for being active on exercises and score high in labs.

I prefer always going to my lectures because I found it good for my self-discipline to get off my ass and go somewhere scheduled.

Didn't go to a single lecture last year and got the highest mark in the final exam. That being said i'm doing a very brainlet degree (medicine)

I just take all classes online. Don't most universities offer that?

Usually only for under-grad courses.

Go to lectures in your first semester to get a feeling how shit works at university. After that you can freely decide if its your cup of tea.

Reasons for not attending:
- shitty lecturers (there are plents of those)
- scheduling problems/unreasonable long commute

Reasons for attending:
- can ask questions (and you should do so)
- may know better what the lecturer focuses on in the exam
- discussions with other students

Especially for higher courses attending lectures held by active researchers are usually well worth it.

I skipped class so many times because commuting is a bitch, especially because it's colder than fuck

This is wrong and I am living proof. I actually did the best in my cohort.

I literally got a math degree with an 8.3/10 grade without going to a single lecture (except like 4-5 times in the first semester).

I wouldn't recommend it though. I could have met many more people if I was attending. I actually regret not attending.

How the fuck is he supposed to connect your name and your face? Do students wear name plates at your uni?

Not all classes. But yeah, especially the past 5 years, most professors upload stuff.

What university do you go to where professors grade exams? Isn't that what TAs are for?
Also unless your university is super-small I don't see how anyone would keep track of whether you're there or not. I was in university over a decade ago and even then you were in a sea of random people filling up a giant auditorium in most courses, probably even more overpopulated today.

It's just brainlets trying to rationalize their actions based on wishywashy daydreams.

Why didn't you not attend, but then attend social gatherings too?

That seems like it would be the efficient solution.

I went to exactly 0 of my classes last semester (except for exams) to work on research projects instead, and got A or A+ in all classes. Not everyone can do it (it helps if you have some prior experience with the material), but it's definitely possible.

How do you meet people in class? I don't get it? Aren't you supposed to just sit there and listen? How can you talk to your neighbor mid lecture without looking like a retard?

how are you supposed to get invited to social gatherings by sitting alone instead of going to lecture

SeeNobody wants to talk to you in lecture. People don't want to talk in most public places. So you have to be at a social gathering to get invited to social gatherings, you end up getting ghosted by the world.

how do I get invited to the first social gathering?

Idk man like I said, I ghosted all my my friends so I can focus on shit and now I have like no friends. People don't just invite you to shit, even people that you know
Try meetup, I managed to go clubbing with randos through that app it was pretty lit

>go to every class, listen, take notes, ace every course
>still terminally autistic and can never make myself known to profs for research and references
worst feel

>anecdote with a sample size of 1
>living proof

Lectures and q-and-a are uniquely important in the humanities because they effectively do what experimentation and practicum do for stemmies. Lecture comes from the Middle Ages, when the research and lived experience of the lecturer would be a primary source of unique information, and is largely replaced or made redundant by textbooks and class research. Problems: lecture allows teachers to tailor material (although in the age of textbooks nominally specific to one class this is hardly an excuse) and colleges like to use lecture attendance as a metric.

>I thought it was some kind of meme or just a joke
It's real but only for brainlet classes.

Generally speaking, the main educational component of any college (especially the good ones) is the library system.

The only other relevant components of an education in college are office hours, seminars or seminar-like classes, and research opportunities.

But make no mistake, if someone goes to college, never attends a lecture, never submits a page of homework, never attends office hours, never set foot in a lab, but just spent all 4 years diligently (or even half-assedly), they would receive a far better education than the inverse.

You learn despite academia, not through it.

Aw, sounds like somebody doesn't like GROUP WORK.

I don't like group work if it's a lab. If it's a presentation or paper I'm ok it with it.i don't trust other people to do it right.

>I attend to all lectures
>I barely pay attention. I just take mindless notes and study by my own at home

I can't pay attention to the teacher. After 25 minutes I fall sleep. What is wrong with me?

>85% is an A+
What the actual fuck

>You should aim for about 2 days per week spent on campus.
>not doing reserach

if ur in math u can do research in ur room. Vnless u got married and had kids, then there's a screaming baby.

I go to Purdue and we had around 200 people in one of my classes and by the end of the semester there were only like 20 people who were still regularly attending lecture. If you are not a brainlet, you may find yourself able to teach yourself for some of your easier classes, thereby making it so that you can wake up later in the day.

'murrica

Any professor who doesn't like smartasses asking difficult questions, is in the wrong profession.

This is typically the case in "hard" classes that are a requirement for a 4 year degree, such as bio/chem/phy 120

The average in those classes will float around 65, and you don't want them all having to retake the course because of a D since they usually aren't interested in it.

Does David Nichols still work there?