<p>I've heard that it's very important to take notes during class since the lecture material is entirely different from the book. I'm worried about math though, I've always been horrible at listening in math classes for some reason. Will there be things taught in my Calculus class that aren't even in the book?</p>
<p>most likely, yes</p>
<p>Usually that applies to upperlevel classes. All of my freshman courses went by the book.</p>
<p>I'm in the social sciences (IR), and for the majority of my classes the lecture material is different from the book. But I don't think it's like that in math; I haven't gone incredibly far in math, but in all the classes I have, the lectures are generally over the book.</p>
<p>It's like that for a lot of classes which is why attending lectures are important. Most professors may use the book a fair bit but won't rely on it as the only teaching tool. And as far as math goes, in the worst case scenario just get a tutor or someone else to assist you (or even the professor). Just remember that if you don't take good notes in there that it will make things that much more difficult for you when it comes time to do assignments and study for tests. That should motivate you to listen a little more.</p>
<p>when you fail the first exam because you didn't pay attention, you will become motivated in a huge effort to attempt to salvage your grade.</p>
<p>They move pretty quickly in the college calc classes so you don't really have time to zone out. Most of what the say is either proofs or examples which they put on the board so just make sure to copy everything. The generally follow the book, but no book is perfect so a lot of times they'll add things in or skip around so you'll be lost if you don't pay attention. If you're really having a hard time paying attention in class try to get involved in a study group with other people from class before the tests to go over everything so you make sure you have everything you need to know in your notes.</p>
<p>There is a book I recommend every student should own. Its called What Smart Students Know by Adam Robinson, written by one of the founders of the test prep service Princeton Review. I have never seen a better explanation of the steps you need to follow to really <em>learn</em> the material, and if you've learned it well you will have no trouble with grades. The book goes over how to study & take notes for different types of classes (eg history, math, sciences, etc), how to take notes, etc. </p>
<p>You can also find info on the web, such as <a href="http://com.pp.asu.edu/classes/jerryb/howimprovegrades.html%5B/url%5D">http://com.pp.asu.edu/classes/jerryb/howimprovegrades.html</a> or <a href="http://www.stthomas.edu/academicsupport/helpful_study_skills_links.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.stthomas.edu/academicsupport/helpful_study_skills_links.htm</a></p>
<p>As a side note, whoever told you that "the lecture material is entirely different from the book" has misled you. Lectures should explain the text material and augment it. When "augmenting" the prof may present new material that isn't in the book, but the savvy student has prepared before the lecture by reading the assigned material, and therefore has a framework in which to understand and integrate any new material. If you go into class cold, then the prof will seem to be rambling on about something you've never heard, and furthermore you may not find it in the texts when you later get around to reading them. Sure you may hit a prof who DOES give unrelated material, but when you hear someone say that in general the lectures are unrelated to the text, it means you've found someone who isn't preparing properly for college classes.</p>
<p>I too have had trouble listening in math classes...for some reason, numbers and symbols just go in one ear and out of the other, no matter how hard I try to keep it all in. Creating a list of important formulas and equations went a long way in helping me - I knew where everything was and how to use it all. Professors tend to do a lot less "number chugging" than my teachers in high school did, and that helped me a lot. If you stay up on doing your homework, you should be fine...professors typically don't pull things on tests that weren't on the homework. Ask professors or other students or TAs for help, possibly by showing you how they worked out a similar problem (rather than "lecturing" how to do it).</p>
<p>Well obviously mikemac attends a different school than I do, but the general consensus of my professors is that one should be able to read by the time he or she reaches college, and my professors aim to use lectures to supplement the book. This is not to say that students can't ask questions about the text -- they're quite welcome to -- and the text is quite often a central feature in the discussion component of the class. The lecture, however, is usually separate. Instead of insulting mikemac, however, I will assume that he studies a subject or at a college that works differently from mine. And, as anyone who has read the thread about maintinaing a 4.0 in college knows, I show up to class quite prepared. :-)</p>
<p>mikemac, SSV said this was the case in social science often, not in math.</p>
<p>Calc is Calc is Calc, there's not really much "wiggle room" there. However, if you take a class on "Ancient Greek Culture", the class could be completely different depending on the angle the professor takes. All Calc classes will be more or less the same.</p>
<p>SSV, I didn't mean to sound insulting; actually I wasn't replying to your comments. The OP wrote "the lecture material is entirely different from the book" which I interpreted to mean "unrelated". And the bottom part of my post was meant to reassure the OP that what she/he hears in class will not be some random stuff unrelated to the text, but material that either explains it or augments what is in the text.</p>
<p>An example might make this clearer. In econ, the text may discuss Pareto optimality. A prof might augment this by discussing what this tells us about Cournot-Nash equilibrium. Take 2 students. The first has read the text and understands the concepts of optimality and the criteria Pareto used. Cournot-Nash is new material, but it fits into the framework already laid out in the text. </p>
<p>Student 2 hasn't read the text; since the prof doesn't spend much if any time going over optimality or Pareto's criteria (assuming, like SSV says, that students can read by the time they're in college) he is completely lost when the prof applies information he hasn't even learned to new material.</p>
<p>The easiest way to stay engaged in math class is just to copy down what the professor does - even if they give you pre-printed notes, take your own. </p>
<p>And I have never been in a math class (and I took them at the U of MN for four years cumulatively) where they go exactly by the book. We always just use them for problem sets - the ways they present how to do most math procedures are so confusing and redonkulus it isn't even worth it. Do the math the way the professor tells you and you will be fine.</p>
<p>yeah.. what prettyfish said. copy down what the professor does. In high school we don't even use our books haha.. because they're usually more confusing -_-</p>
<p>ok so in math whether or not you go buy the book or not depends on the professor. First semester last year I had calc I and the professor literally read straight from the book to teach us which made it kinda hard to motivate yourself to go to class and pay attention. Second semester I had calc II with a professor who didn't like the way the book explained things so she never used it. She taught us how to do the math we need to know for calc to but I honestly couldn't tell you what chapters we were covering. It all depends, if you're not the best at math I would advise never missing a class in college though. They move a lot faster than high school, which to me actually made it more interesting and a lot easier to pay attention</p>
<p>If you go to a lecture and find that you don't understand it and that the topic isn't covered in your book, you can look it up on the internet provided you know the exact topic. If you're good at teaching yourself from textbooks or internet lessons, then that works pretty well when you're lost.</p>