Sometimes early in the semester, you have classes that have not caught your interest yet. Whether they lack structure, they are not challenging, or the instructor is not good at communicating what they want. It is crucial to have a strategy to deal with classes that don’t interest you because you are still paying for the course and you still need to do well in the class.
1. Go to class
The class may not be fascinating, but you still need to come to class. Going to class helps keep you engaged with the material you are learning, and ensures that you do not fall behind. If you fall behind in a class you deem boring you are setting yourself up for failure because you will not have the motivation to do the work. Lastly, going to class may make the class enjoyable because you may learn something that interests you that you did not learn from the readings.
2. Do the Work
You are still receiving a grade. You do not want your GPA to drop because of a class that you did not like. Also keeping up with the work gives you something to look forward to for the next class meeting because you will be prepared to discuss the material. If you do the work you will be more likely to engage in class discussions, which can help alleviate boredom because you can learn something new. Apathy is not an excuse to be a slacker.
3. Participate in Class Discussion
Class participation helps make a class fascinating because you can enter a dialogue with the professor and other students. This dialogue will help elucidate concepts and give you a new view on the subject you previously thought was boring. You will be less bored in class if you participate because you will feel that you have something to gain and you won’t be tempted to surf the web.
4. Wait it out
It is still early in the semester, and the professor is still trying to get organized. Once the first few weeks of the semester pass, the class will get more interesting because you will be learning new concepts instead of reviewing. Do not give up because the first few weeks are uninteresting because the class will usually become more interesting as the semester progresses.
5. Don’t Drop the Class
Dropping classes is a bad habit to acquire because you will start doing more often. You may think that you will drop a class one time but then it becomes a habit for whatever reason. If you drop a class because it’s boring you will become more likely to do it again because dropping is the easy way out. However, that class you find boring may be a required class for your major or minor, and in any major or minor you will encounter boring classes. Dropping ensures that you will have a harder time getting your degree.
