im a senior working on my college applications right now, and i have so many questions about how college actually works.
when students talk about how they are constantly skipping class or have attended barely attended class, how is it that you can still graduate or get credit for this class or even pass the class without hearing the lectures? i dont understand that concept because speaking from a high school perspective attending class is most of work you have to do, its where we recieve our assignments and where we learn everything and it would be near impossible to pass without attending class
what do lecture hours mean, when it says u need 15 lecture hours to pass a semester does that quite literally mean you need to be in person in class for 15 hours in total by the end of the semester?
how many lectures are there for each class every week? with a semester being a few months long 15 total hours of class time sounds short unless each class only meets bi weekly or something
if a student wanted to could they attend every single lecture? or is that something that virtually no one does
In: Other
More than likely your guidance counselor could answer these questions but:
1. Some classes are recorded and/or you can borrow notes from friends. Some classes have weekly assignments, some classes don’t – for example a course could have their entire grade split between a midterm and a final. Some classes (say first semester single variable calculus) the curriculum is so standardized you can watch youtube videos to fill in the gaps. Some people skip all their classes and still make a passing grade by either cramming from textbooks and cobbled notes. As you get into higher level classes this is rarely feasible though, as less people you know will be taking the class, the information is far more specialized, and generally discussion/participation becomes a bigger part of the class.
2. Lecture hours are basically a way for the college to measure the credit a student receives for a course. It’s not always 1:1 reflective of the hours you’ll spend in class nor is it reflective of the effort you’ll need to spend. The college just needs a way to say that all students have had a large curriculum of courses they’ve taken and its a simple way to measure that.
3. Lectures can be weekly, bi weekly, or even every day. Some classes will have a large lecture class and a separate discussion class in smaller groups. It really just depends on the nature of the course (intro language classes, for one, generally meet every day).
4. The recommendation is to attend every lecture. But generally you’re going to miss here and there a few – sickness, too tired, need to cram for another exam, other life stuff.
Other than exams, many college courses will post copies of all assignments on an online course page (often Infrastructure’s Canvas, D2L, or similar platform). This is especially so in a post pandemic world where many professors are used to offering a hybrid instructional style.
Credit hours referred to by the school are usually an approximation of the length of instructional time per week. For example a 3 credit hour lecture course will often either meet 3 times a week for an hour, or 2 times for 90 minutes. (Lab sections are usually just a single credit hour despite much longer in person time requirements)
Personally, for general education classes and a few introductory courses, it could be possible to get by skipping an occasional lecture and self studying the material. When you get into upper division classes though, losing out on instructional time can quickly become fatal.
So this varies a little bit from institution to institution but I’ll try and explain it simply.
A class in college is worth so many “Credit Hours”. Usually somewhere from 3-5. Typically a 3 credit hour class meets three times a week for an hour per lecture.
To be a full time student you have to be enrolled in 12 or more credit hours. So in one typical week you’ll have about 12 hours of lecture/class to be considered full a full time student. My college made you get written approval from your advisor if you wanted to have more than 18 credit hours.
Lecture and classwork is the smallest time obligations for a college student. At my school for every credit hour you could expect 3-5 hours of homework a week on top of your actual class time.
Now as for how can you skip class and still pass? Well attendance isn’t typically taken in college courses, especially lectures. At the beginning of the year you get your syllabus with the lecture schedule, test schedule and your homework/etc assignments as well as the weighting of your grades.
Many of my classes homework was 30-40% of your grade and your tests including your midterms and finals are the other 60-70% of your grade. If you learned the material and did the work you could easily pass. Learning alone is the hard part.
Most, if not all, of your grade in college comes from tests, usually one midterm and one final. Some professors might have assignments or attendance be part of the grade, but this is less likely for those 200-person intro classes.
Those classes are full of people only taking it to fulfill a requirement, they’re way harder to take attendance or grade assignments for, and the professors themselves usually care much more about higher-level classes with students who care about the material, or their grad students who they spend way more time with.
Many large classes will have a *discussion* or *lab* component, that meets in much smaller groups, and is led by a TA. It’d be hard to pass a class never coming to those.
Whether you can pass by skipping all your lectures is a class by class basis. I’ve had profs who will fail you if you miss more than 10 class periods, no questions asked, and profs who don’t grade or care about attendance at all. All you need to pass and graduate is to get passing grades on your transcript, so if a prof doesn’t grade or care about attendance then you could technically pass without ever going to lecture.
It is not rare or even uncommon for people to go to every single lecture. Some people skip often and likewise some people never skip. How many people regularly go also heavily depends on the class. I’ve had one class where only ~20% of the class regularly attended lecture b/c the prof didn’t grade attendance and recorded lectures and I’ve had classes where 100% regularly attended (usually smaller, higher level classes, for example an upper div math major class, where everyone who is in the class wants to be there. Or a lab, where effectively 100% of your grade is attendance).
People who talk about constantly skipping all their classes are honestly just a loud minority. Its not like people brag or complain about *not* skipping class.
You really should try to attend every lecture, even if attendance is not required. Like others said you may miss a couple times if you’re sick or you procrastinated on an assignment and have to skip a class to finish it in time, but generally try to go.
More than that, also get to know your profs. Talk to them after class, ask questions during lecture (only when appropriate though. Dw, you’ll learn what that means), and go to office hours.
My recommendation is to attend every class you can. I found that by reading the textbook (assuming the class has one) before the lecture, then going to the lecture, then re-reading the textbook after the lecture is a solid method of doing really well in a class. By reading the material first it gives you a basic understanding of the material that the professor will cover – his lecture will reinforce what you have already picked up by reading the text on your own. Then when you re-read the text after the lecture it solidifies everything. If there is something you still don’t quite get after that second reading – hit the professors office hours and have them explain that part to you. This method also teaches how to learn material on your own which is a valuable skill to have. Do this and you will have good grades throughout your studies. I found by dong this I never really had to study for any exams because I just really knew the material.
Professors have a lot more leeway in determining how the grades for their classes will be allocated. Some make attendance or participation a significant part of your grade, some offer more leeway, and some say “it doesn’t matter as long as you turn in your assignments and pass the exams.”
And that number is lecture-hours per week, which is generally a 5 class course load (3 lecture-hours per class). Classes tend to meet a few times a week, like every Monday-Wednesday-Friday for an hour, or every Tuesday and Thursday for 90 minutes.
Latest Answers