How often do/did you skip lectures?

Abi

I've read most of the replies to this thread, and this kind of shit makes my fucking teeth itch. Heres a novel idea, why don't you give your college place to someone who wants to actually be there?

TPD

Skipped a fair few in first year, only did about 4 full weeks that year I think. Probably missed more in second year. In third year a week and two days and I've yet to miss a class!

Vinta81

I'v never purposefully skipped any of mine.

crushproof

I was always being told by my lectures to come on more often, you're missing out on vital info blah blah blah

In my 4th and final year I had the proud attendance record of 32%. The lowest attendance record for 4th year in our course since it began. The lecturers and fellow students alike hated me for my laid back attitude.

Did I fail? No. Did I ever fail a single exam since 1st year? No. Did I ever do bad in an assignment? No. Did I get what a wanted? Yes, a second class honours. Did I drive the others in my course who went in day in day out insane? Yes...they hated me! :rolleyes:

The majority of lectures are drivel. I learnt that in my first 2 months of 1st year.

Save your weekday morning for your hangovers and sleep

Abigayle

Abigayle wrote: »

I've read most of the replies to this thread, and this kind of shit makes my fucking teeth itch. Heres a novel idea, why don't you give your college place to someone who wants to actually be there?

oh, i wanted to be there all right
not my fault that 1st year was an easier version of the LC, though

xxxLoueeZxxx

Was in 1st year last year missed 5 straight weeks after Xmas and rarely went in every other week... never did a full week in the entire year

obviously enough i failed the majority of my exams and then failed 2 of my repeats...

back to 1st year now again and believe me it's been a hard lesson learned.. and an expensive one...

Abigayle

Abigayle wrote: »

I've read most of the replies to this thread, and this kind of shit makes my fucking teeth itch. Heres a novel idea, why don't you give your college place to someone who wants to actually be there?

What happens if you still do well in your degree?

Tar.Aldarion

well that's how i winged it, give me notes of any exam, a few days and it's allll gooood

MmmmmCheese

I'm two weeks in to first year now and I've already missed about a third of my lectures, most of which have been the 9 o clock starts.

Wasn't worried about it but now I'm startin to fall behind a bit i think.

Abi

Deleted User wrote: »

What happens if you still do well in your degree?

But can you really afford the gamble?


My course work is based almost entirely on continuous assessment. I can say with all honesty there would have to be a limb hanging off before I'd miss a class, regardless of how 'easy' or unimportant it seems compared to the other modules.

I'd rather not take the gamble, if it means that theres even a minute chance I wont have to repeat exams. I've paid for the course from my own pocket, and intend to get what I've paid for. You bet your bottom dollar I'm up front in every class, and I wont let a lecturer continue if there is anything I don't get the first time around. So with that in mind, the amount of class skipping here leaves me catching flies

Sofiztikated

When I went to the "Tech" I missed a lot. Young, thought I knew everything, felt I didn't need to go. Just about scraped through it.

Went to DIT, to do Hospitality Management and pretty much went to every class, apart from when I was too ill to make it. It was one day a week, so didn't see the sense in not going.

If I was to go back now, again, I'd go to every class. Sure, I could just go to the exams, and probably get through them, BUT what you actually LEARN is in the classes. There is a wealth of information that you can learn that won't show up on any exam.

Plus it gets you into a routine, something you'll need to do for WORK. You know, the thing you are learning to do.

Abi

xxxLoueeZxxx wrote: »

Was in 1st year last year missed 5 straight weeks after Xmas and rarely went in every other week... never did a full week in the entire year

obviously enough i failed the majority of my exams and then failed 2 of my repeats...

back to 1st year now again and believe me it's been a hard lesson learned.. and an expensive one...

Quoted for recognition, and fair play to you for admitting it. I hope it works out for you this time around

JohnCleary

I had 90%+ attendance, for various reasons:

I lived close to college (on campus accomodation)
I liked my course
Small class to lecturers knew if you were out
Never knew when the 'sheet' would come around to sign-on for the grant
I didn't like the college town, there was little to do... so better to be in college rather than just sit at home
We also had a dissertation to do so any spare time was spent on that, so we were pretty much in college all day anyway

Mind you, got a 1.1 First Class Honour Degree so I guess it paid off. Kinda proud of myself since I was a total dosser in school, did sh1te in my LC and was told by numerous teachers i'd be a bum

loveissucide

About 60% don't go.
I didn't go to Soc'n'Pol at all last semester,and English 3 times

Azureus

I was ****e at attendance in 1st yr and twice as bad in 2nd.. missed massive chunks of class to go on trips with friends, and attended architecture seminars twice.. all year..

3rd yr i showed up way more, and exams were hella easier as a result-didnt get the pre exam time panics!
Going into final yr now and intend being an absolute angel

DoireNod

A few of my foreign friends reckon we Irish are pretty bad when it comes to actually going to college. I wonder is there any truth to that?

I've missed a few lectures, but it's not the end of the world.

The_Kew_Tour

I say i missed about 50% of my classes in college.

Did not stop me getting my degree though:D

aaa to be student again:(

rainbow kirby

Depends on the year. I was good in 1st year, 4th year and now as a postgrad I'm pretty disciplined, but all the years in the middle (I technically did both second and third year twice because I changed courses after third year) were a bit shaky. I wish I'd been less lazy in the middle years...

grenache

I think i went to 30 lectures in all last year. The rest i was in bed for. Lack of motivation is a bitch. No surprises i'm repeating one subject this year.

DoireNod

grenache wrote: »

...Lack of motivation is a bitch....

Too true. Good luck with your repeat.

df1985

i went to id say 50% of them.tutorials i found were of far more benefit.

plenty of people in my degree went to feck all lectures and came out with 1.1's and 2.1's.

DoireNod

df1985 wrote: »

...plenty of people in my degree went to feck all lectures and came out with 1.1's and 2.1's.

I hate to say it, but were these people extra close to the lecturer?

hudsonriver

Id love to know what courses/colleges some of ye are doing, Id say Im at about 5-10% miss rate just started second year!

Kalashnikov_Kid

It depends what you do really. You could take certain Arts subjects and miss about 50% of the lectures throughout the degree and still get an honours.

I remember taking 'Northern Ireland' at second year as a politics elective in UCD, as a non-politics student. The introductory lectures were an absolute joke - real politics for dummies stuff. I missed about 90% of the lectures after that and still got a B in the written exam.

I did a similar third year history elective called 'Sport and Modern Society'. Again it was an absolute joke of a course.

Do Arts at UCD if you like skipping lectures!

turkelton

when i was in first year i was awful bad for skipping lecture! i missed every second lecture untill xmas then i was going to 1 a week after that, yep i failed!!

SoupyNorman

JohnCleary wrote: »

I had 90%+ attendance, for various reasons:

I lived close to college (on campus accomodation)

Living right next to the college was a huge reason for my non-attendance early on, it was so easy to just walk home between classes and play playstation, sleep or do pretty much anything but study.

By year 3 I had moved to within a 15min walk, just far enough that I could walk but too far to warrant going home at every free hour. I'd goto college at 9am and not come home until 6 or 7...kinda realized that the free hours between classes could be used to actually learn stuff!

JohnCleary wrote: »

Mind you, got a 1.1 First Class Honour Degree

How long have you been waiting for an excuse to drop that :pac:

hinduhamster

I did a 1 year postgrad diploma course. I went to 3 weeks of lectures from mid Sept - Early Oct. My reason was that I could not stand my lecturers.

For me, they just could not teach and did not care. Instead I paid outrageous cost of the books, did the work myself and I got the diploma. I'd love to be able to claim that I did nothing and got it but if you do the work you can make up for time absent.

In my opinion.

rex-x

Skipped alot of lectures and had fun!
The college only reccommended 80% attendance and to all those giving out that the place should be given to someone who wants to be there, show me the person who's been to every lecture


college is not just about the lectures, what you learn you will likely forget most of, the experience is far more beneficial than what is learned IMO

SoupyNorman

Abigayle wrote: »

I'd rather not take the gamble, if it means that theres even a minute chance I wont have to repeat exams. I've paid for the course from my own pocket, and intend to get what I've paid for. You bet your bottom dollar I'm up front in every class, and I wont let a lecturer continue if there is anything I don't get the first time around. So with that in mind, the amount of class skipping here leaves me catching flies

Thing is Abi, the majority are fresh out of 'High School'. In the space of a year they go from the regimented school system under the watchful eye of teachers and parents to a Utopia of freedom, booze and sex...It's a sensory overload.

I was 21 when starting my degree so I'd pretty much done all the drinking malark but out of the 200 in my class, 180 were 'off the leash' for the first time, no matter what way you try and paint the importance of attendance they wont listen(sure in most cases the parents are paying for the accomodation, food, fees and the rest so it's the parents money they are gambling). I didnt even listen to myself for the first year as I partied hard and had to repeat one subject, however this one repeat was a huge wake-up call to me and I reined myself in (while still have a real good time).


I think it's a tad too far to stand aghast at all the skippage and proclaim for all the poor oul divils who didnt get into college, the reality is that if you want to goto college you will get in...somewhere, yes not everyone gets a place in the college or course they want but it's nothing like the states here where college is an epic privilege.


I, like you paid for college myself (I'm still paying my loan) and I got a nice oul degree at the end of it...every exam result from 1st - 3rd means nothing as long as you passed it as far as I'm concerned, the only result that counts is the last one.

JohnCleary

SoupyNorman wrote: »

How long have you been waiting for an excuse to drop that :pac:

First time i've mentioned it on boards, actually I didn't see the big deal, tbh I think a 1.1 should be a requiriment to get a degree. Come on, it's only 70%+ at the end of the day, easily obtainable, esp at 3rd level

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Mark200 wrote: »

You can count the amount of lectures I've missed with your fingers. I'm going into second year now.

I don't see the point in getting the Government to pay several grand for you to go to college if you're not going to make an effort.

As well as that, don't forget that there were probably people who wanted to do the course but missed out because they got less points than you. If you're not going to make an effort then don't do the course and let someone else take your place.

Take a chill pill there, yea? Big deal if the op missed a few lectures... you would swear it was the end of the world...

OP, don't worry about it too much, if you have labs or tutorials, definately go to them. Depending on your course, most other lectures are easy to catch up on.

Handsome Bob

I think I honestly went to less than half of my lectures for my degree over 3 years. I'm trying to curb that now though for the Masters, 3 weeks in and haven't missed a class. It's a personal record. :pac:

brummytom

I'm currently in a music class doinh my composition

Schism

laoisforliam wrote: »

never went to a full week , had bout 12 hours average for three years made about 7.

for masters tho upped my game considerably to bout 18 hours out of 21 a week.

Out of interest what were you studying?

I'm awful at going to lectures. Overall I'd say I make it to about 60% of them, not very good.

kiss103

repeated 1st year in college and went to 1 lecture in whole year

K-Ren

I hate missing lectures to be honest, unless I'm sure it's of no good to me, and after the first week or two is over, I don't think there'll be too many useless lectures going.

Plus with money the way it is now, who honestly wants to repeat a year- I'm trying to get in and get out before the government goes a' butt-rapin' with retro-active fee mumbo jumbo.

Abi

SoupyNorman wrote: »

Thing is Abi, the majority are fresh out of 'High School'. In the space of a year they go from the regimented school system under the watchful eye of teachers and parents to a Utopia of freedom, booze and sex...It's a sensory overload.

Sure, its to be expected of course.

I was 21 when starting my degree so I'd pretty much done all the drinking malark but out of the 200 in my class, 180 were 'off the leash' for the first time, no matter what way you try and paint the importance of attendance they wont listen(sure in most cases the parents are paying for the accomodation, food, fees and the rest so it's the parents money they are gambling).

See thats the thing. Quite a lot of them are getting cash handouts from the government under the 'free fees' scheme. Granted, it looks like this will be stopped in the near future. But in the mean time their college fees are covered by the government as well as maintenance money to assist with other things such as books. I'd be willing to wager that they'd take their classes more seriously if the money was coming from their own pockets.

somewhere, yes not everyone gets a place in the college or course they want but it's nothing like the states here where college is an epic privilege.

Maybe when the free fees initiative is gone there might be a change in attitudes here..

I, like you paid for college myself (I'm still paying my loan) and I got a nice oul degree at the end of it...every exam result from 1st - 3rd means nothing as long as you passed it as far as I'm concerned, the only result that counts is the last one.

Congrats on getting your degree. I would believe that each year is as important as the others though, because without having done well in the first three you mightn't make it to year four.

I'm in my first year of science at the age of 30, so obviously that explains how strongly I feel about the matter. I just don't want any last minute panic over exams, or having to repeat. It just annoys me to see some students having this opportunity dropped into their laps, and then be so flippant about classes.

Pygmalion

Just about to start, really not sure which way I'll go.
Have basically been told by both students in higher years and I think one lecturer (who I've met a couple times before) that i'll fly through at least first year on what i already know.
That would pretty much turn you off going to lectures to sit and listen to eays stuff you already know.

But I'm also thinking that the lectures I skip, with my luck, will be the only interesting ones, or the ones containing the stuff I don't already know.
At the very least it'd be harder to put the effort in in later years.

SoupyNorman

Abigayle wrote: »

Maybe when the free fees initiative is gone there might be a change in attitudes here..

You really think? It'll be the parents paying on the majority. The people who are paying for themselves will for sure though.

Abigayle wrote: »

Congrats on getting your degree. I would believe that each year is as important as the others though, because without having done well in the first three you mightn't make it to year four.

Thanks.

What I believe (as I seen it) is there is no need to exert yourself in year 1-3(just make sure and pass). There were people getting distinctions left right and centre in years 1-3 on my business degree...One person got 1.1, 2.1 and 1.1 for years 1-3 respectively and then got a Pass degree in year 4. A lecturer, whom is now a very good friend of mine was one one who told me the above (now, he did tell me this in Y4 btw so he wasnt advocating that I should not study :P)

Abigayle wrote: »

I'm in my first year of science at the age of 30, so obviously that explains how strongly I feel about the matter. I just don't want any last minute panic over exams, or having to repeat. It just annoys me to see some students having this opportunity dropped into their laps, and then be so flippant about classes.

Fair play and best of luck with the course, college is great. I'm starting a H.Dip in Computer Programming next week as it happens part-time so that should be fun.

I totally fall in line with your way of thinking HOWEVER, I dont work myself up about it as it will be those people who suffer in the end.

Epicurus

I'm just starting out the whole college thing in Derby, England and we have to attend every lecture/tutorial/lab session. If we miss three or more during the course of the year, the university apparently contacts the education authorities and funding committies regardless of whether getting loans etc who then get you kicked out.

Not sure how thorough they are with that, was just told today but not wanting to try it either.

Call Me Jimmy

Mark200 wrote: »

As well as that, don't forget that there were probably people who wanted to do the course but missed out because they got less points than you. If you're not going to make an effort then don't do the course and let someone else take your place.

boo-frickedy-hoo!

Maybe you should advise those people to try harder then. Instead of lecturing ( teeheehee lecturing see what I did?!) someone who earned their place there fair and square. If he manages to go to **** all lectures and get by, it's his life. He has more time to enjoy himself before the 50 odd years of hellish work that's in front of him before he croaks.

GLaDOS

Going into second year now. Didn't miss many lectures really, probably 80-90% attendance. Skipped a good few tutorials but for the most past they weren't that helpful anyway. Didn't miss a single lab.

Dardania

SteveDon wrote: »

Went to about 6 lectures in the whole of first year, about 4 in 2nd year.

Made it to my third year with a pretty good GPA.

Economics and politics is piss easy tho.

This, ladies & gentlemen, is our future...:rolleyes:

Ostrom

Missed one my final year.

That_Guy

I've missed about 3 so far. Should've gone to maths yesterday though. Doh.

SoupyNorman

SoupyNorman wrote: »

What I believe (as I seen it) is there is no need to exert yourself in year 1-3(just make sure and pass). There were people getting distinctions left right and centre in years 1-3 on my business degree...One person got 1.1, 2.1 and 1.1 for years 1-3 respectively and then got a Pass degree in year 4. A lecturer, whom is now a very good friend of mine was one one who told me the above (now, he did tell me this in Y4 btw so he wasnt advocating that I should not study :P)

I would have agreed on this until I was applying for PHDs and everyone wanted to know my results from 1st-3rd. If you just want a degree, then they don't matter (which is the attitude I took). If you want anything further, you'll want high marks all the way.