This is my first year in University and I know it is very different then high school but what is the policy in missing (skipping) class? Would it be bad to miss a week of classes? How about just one class? I don't want to get into the habit of missing class I was just wondering. If it helps I'm in communication studies. Thanks!

**haha, i realized after I said year, when I ment week. ops. thanks for all the tips though!

I didn't go to a lot of classes and I still got great marks - mostly for chemistry and math where everything can be learnt from the text.

In humanities it seems to be more important to go to class - a lot of the material from lectures is often tested and they might point you to essential parts of readings.

I would say that you should try to make it to all of your classes until at least your first round of midterms. After that you will probably be able to tell which courses you need the in-class style learning from and which ones you can handle from the textbook. Sometimes sleeping in or staying home and doing some reading can serve you just as well as a lecture.

It depends on the class and how you learn best. Unless the class is a complete waste of time, you'd be wasting like $20 for every hour you don't go to class.

For tutorials and some smaller lectures, some profs note who skips (for attendance/participation marks) so don't miss those for sure since those are easy marks. You shouldn't get into the habit of skipping classes though, it'll be hard to fix afterwards.

There are labs and tutorials that often have "participation marks", which means you get marked on whether or not you go. They can be up to 20% (maybe more). As for most lectures, no one knows or cares if you attend. It's fine to miss lectures every now and then, but you generally need to go to them.

As Sara said, it works out to be $20-$30 per class. If you want to avoid skipping, just think of all the money you'd be wasting (if you would just otherwise be sitting around, doing nothing)

i have some classes that state that if you don't attend at least 80% you'll get an automatic F, and plus as someone said, you're blowing money when skipping class.

Skipped a lot of one class last year, got bad in the course... most don't have attendance, but the only person you're screwing over is yourself if you don't go

i skipped all my morning classes 2nd term cuz i slept in
I studied the material by myself using textbook and still ended up with a good mark

For me Ryan said it!

I think you should go to all your classes. Going to class is never going to unhelpful.

But some people say, "I have no idea what's going on in class...I'll just figure it out from the textbook".

In that case, you should do the reading/practice problems before you go to class...and you will find this super helpful.

During class prof's sometimes give hints/tips on what's going to be on the midterm. Or they tell you this slide won't be on the midterm...so less information you know you need to study.

Also, even in big lecture halls profs have an idea of who attends class regularly or not.
So when you go to ask for help/office hours before the midterm, they are more likely to be nice to you/help you if they know you put in the effort to come to class regularly.

Originally Posted by mediagurl

Would it be bad to miss a year of classes?

Well, not unless you have 7 grand to burn.