How to Pass a Small Discussion Class When You Have No Idea What’s Going On
All right, so. You signed up for a class, maybe in your major, maybe not. The class description looked super interesting. There are only 10 people in the class. You figure it’s gonna be chill. You get there, the professor starts talking….
…And realize you truly know nothing about what he’s saying. And oh my god, you’re in this class for a whole semester.
Unfortunately, this has happened to me, lol. I took an advanced class in my major about Ancient Macedon, and not only did I actually know next to nothing about the course material, but the professor was ridiculously unorganized in his teaching. And, while he clearly knew his stuff, he didn’t really know how to teach it to us. But somehow, I still pulled an A- by the end of the semester. Here’s how I managed that:
1. Participate AT LEAST ONCE per class.
Usually, a large portion of your grade in a small discussion class is based on class participation, because the class is based on continuous, back-and-forth discussion and debate between you, your professor, and the other students. You will do very poorly if you never talk, and the professor will notice, and might even call on you unprompted if you’re always quiet. Even if you have literally no clue what’s being discussed, try to wiggle at least one question into each class. I always went for questions because it makes you seem intelligent and like you’re totally following along, but you don’t have to make a confident statement on something you don’t know about.
At the beginning of the semester when I realized how truly in trouble I was, I actually went to the professor and explained how out of my depth I was but that I wanted to learn about the material, and what should I do to help myself? He recommended me some books covering the history of Macedon that I could read a few chapters of every week. Professors aren’t there to make you feel dumb - they’re there to help you; you just have to have the courage to ask. Use your resources!!
In that same vein, if your prof holds office hours outside of class, go! Doesn’t have to be every week, but they will notice if you put in the extra effort to come chat about anything you might have questions on. Plus, they’ll often count that as class participation, too.
4. Write your papers on stuff you know.
Usually in a small discussion class, the other big component of your grade will be a final research paper, or possibly several papers. Usually, you get to pick the topic (as long as you clear it with the professor). My final paper was worth over 60% of my grade, which was terrifying. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to pull off a 15-page paper on something I literally had no idea about, so I searched until I found something I actually knew about. My class was about Ancient Macedon. I knew not very much about that, but I did know something about ancient tombs and tomb art, and I did know something about the Ancient Etruscans who lived around the same time. So I dug and dug and dug until I actually found an Etruscan tomb that was modeled off a Macedonian one. Then I wrote a whole paper comparing and contrasting Macedonian tombs to Etruscan ones - that was something I could do, easily! Find something in the course material or something related to the course material that you know even one iota about, and expand on that. Don’t try to learn a research paper’s amount of material in 2 weeks at the end of the semester if you don’t have to.
5. Ask for help, ask for help, ask for help!!
Sorry, just thought that was important enough to put twice. Don’t forget to ask for help if you need it! Ask your prof, ask your fellow students, go to the library and ask the librarians. Help you help yourself.
And that’s how I somehow pulled an A- in a class where I was honestly lost 99% of the time! Go forth and pass!
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