Am I hurting myself by not going to class to catch up on studying for upcoming tests/quizzes, doing assignments? I feel I can teach myself although I am losing out on iclicker questions....Can someone share their experience on skipping classes...often...to catch up or to study?

a prof once told me that for every hour of lecture you skip, it takes about 5 hrs. do learn the material on your own

Skipping almost always results in an overall negative effect of not having those classes (some restrictions apply, ie. bad teacher)

The biggest thing is it reinforces you to maintain the bad study methods you had that resulted in the need to skip

Well I don’t wanna give you the wrong advise/picture… but to answer your question yes you can…last year i used to skip a lot of classes to catch up, but you have to be smart at it and organize your time in a way that will make you catch up quickly and be on the same page as your professors.

Also I felt that I could have learned all first year by myself, because it was mostly review..

The one downside to skipping classes is that some people might become lazy and that’s very dangerous because then you’re gonna fall behind in your classes even more and then good luck with catching up !!

If you feel that you can stay at home/rez and study/ catch up then go for it, but never become lazy because that’s very dangerous.

If you are in first year , you should have one goal and that is to GET OUT of first year as soon as you can , most people don’t really know what it means, but first year is meant to weed out students, so my advise to you is try to develop good study habits, and try to develop EXCELLENT time management skills..you will thank yourself later on for doing so.

Good luck with school

Originally Posted by aw07

Am I hurting myself by not going to class to catch up on studying for upcoming tests/quizzes, doing assignments? I feel I can teach myself although I am losing out on iclicker questions....Can someone share their experience on skipping classes...often...to catch up or to study?

I skipped a lot of class first semester of last year, almost always because I had something else more important to study for. If you can use the time effectively and then catch up on the material you missed, then it can definitely be helpful. Just make sure that you're not going to sleep away the time that you can gained by skipping.

If you can manage your time properly then skipping class and putting off work in favor of more pressing work can be a good, strategic way to do well, even though it may not seem like it.

One other thing: If your prof is a very good teacher and it'll take you a lot longer to learn the material on your own, then don't skip.

I'll say don't do it. The fact that you've already fallen behind means that it is possible for you NOT to be very effective when learning on your own.

go to class, I have at least 2 big assignments due every week, what i said to myself after this week, was I am going to make a specific time of day (at the end) everyday where I make an effort to answer the assignment questions that I can.

Unless you have an assignment that's do within hours of the lecture you plan to skip OR your professor teaches really slowly there is really no purpose in skipping class, because the hour of class you skip, you're probably going to have to spend another hour (if you can learn the material that quickly) at another point to learn what was taught.
So, I think it's better to simply use the time that was allotted and learn what is being taught, and then catch up on whatever you need to do before/after.

Additionally, you may not get all of the material that was taught. Especially now that I'm in second year, 5/6 of my profs DON'T follow what's in the textbook and only one of them record the lectures so if I skipped class, I would have to trust a classmate, to have taken notes that I hopefully would understand. So I think it's better to simply get in the habit of going to class.

I find its much easier to sit in a library and work for 5 hours than split it up with classes. Unless its a class you can't catch up with on your own (ie hand written notes) I usually won't go. Never hurt me in grades either.

Well for starters, if you can help it, never Skip Classes! I made the mistake of doing that to a few courses in my first year and I've gone to regret those actions dearly.

The only times I could ever condone skipping is if you absolutely know the material backwards and forwards, can get lecture notes from a good friend from the class (cause asking on the Undergrad E-mail is really not cool [with notable exceptions here and there, of course]), or know this class will be absolutely no benefit to you.

Oh, and being sick is a big exception in and of itself. I don't think going into class with a high fever, coughing and barely holding onto dear life will benefit you in any way. =P

I think it depends on the course, I almost never went to cell bio and I did very well.

Yeah, depends on the course.

Also worth noting is that I wouldn't miss iClicker classes - you're losing potential points added to your final mark every time. That could be the difference between a 9 and a 10.

However, the idea that "skipping 1 hour of class is worth 5 hours of your own time" is preposterous - usually the professors are slow as balls until third year classes, so it's more like skipping 1 hour of class is worth 30 minutes to one hour of your time. In fact, in the biology classes and biochem classes I used to skip I would cover the same material within 30 minutes on average, so that I actually saved 30 minutes per day not going to class and still being caught up with the class.

That being said, I would avoid skipping unless you're quite certain you can get a 12 by yourself.

Originally Posted by Alchemist11

However, the idea that "skipping 1 hour of class is worth 5 hours of your own time" is preposterous - usually the professors are slow as balls until third year classes, so it's more like skipping 1 hour of class is worth 30 minutes to one hour of your time. In fact, in the biology classes and biochem classes I used to skip I would cover the same material within 30 minutes on average, so that I actually saved 30 minutes per day not going to class and still being caught up with the class.

You also have the professors who repeat themselves constantly, or describe figures because clearly university students can't decipher figures :\

Originally Posted by aw07

Am I hurting myself by not going to class to catch up on studying for upcoming tests/quizzes, doing assignments? I feel I can teach myself although I am losing out on iclicker questions....Can someone share their experience on skipping classes...often...to catch up or to study?

Usually no, especially as a first year not even out of their first month. Don't sacrifice one course for another.

In my opinion, it completely depends on the course. Some profs will just read their Powerpoint slides, word for word, then post them online. There's not much point is going to those classes everyday. I skipped an entire month of one course (in second year) and ended up with a B+.

BUT there are lots of other courses where the prof talks a mile a minute, doesn't have any slides, and posts nothing online. It can be a real pain to skip those classes.

You just need to judge how much time it will take you to catch up on the class you missed. It might only take you 10 minutes, or it might take you a few hours.