Managing Missed Classes: Don't Let Your Grades Suffer

For one reason another, you’ll have to miss class at times—notice the difference between

“miss” and “skip.” Skipping class is voluntarily not going, despite the perhaps hundreds of dollars you’re spending for each educational session. You’ll probably find yourself guilty of that on occasion too, but missing class can happen for all sorts of legitimate reasons: you have an event with one of your extracurricular clubs that day; you had to head home for a few days; you’re sick, which given dorm living’s close quarters, getting sick will inevitably occur.

All’s not lost when you have to miss some classes, and that A should still be within reach. But like all aspects of college life, it’ll take some effort. If you’re going to be away from your school or preoccupied with some club’s event for the day, you know ahead of time you’ll miss class. This gives you the advantage of preparation. During the first week of most classes, your instructor will give you the class syllabus outlining the class-by-class or week-by-week schedule. Don’t lose this handout! With it, you can see exactly what you’ll be missing and do your best to actually pay attention to the textbook reading corresponding to that missed class.

We all know it can be tough teaching yourself form only a textbook, however. So try asking someone in the class if you can borrow his or her notes. Some students take notes continuously as professors speak; others sit back and soak it all in … or daydream. If it’s a class where you don’t have any friends whom you can ask to borrow notes, keep your eye out for students who look like good notetakers. Those students who bring laptops and type up their notes are great candidates; sharing notes is as easy as sending an email … that is unless they were secretly playing computer games the whole time.

Especially with smaller classes, teachers prefer to be notified that you’ll be absent from a class. This shows that hey, you actually care about the class and are politely informing the teacher you’ll be gone—without notification, that teacher might well think you’re skipping out! He or she can give you any handouts and briefly tell you what material you’ll be missing. Since most teachers have open office hours, your teacher might suggest you stop by to catch up on what you missed. All of this takes a little extra time and effort, and yes, it’s easier to just not show up for a couple classes and pretend it never happened. But it’s that little bit of extra effort that will keep you on top of the material and give you a better impression with your teacher—grade-wise, it’ll pay off.

Just how much or how little catching up you’ll have to do will depend on what that trusted syllabus says. If you’re going to be gone the class before a big test, you know you’ll have plenty of reading and review to do! Professors frequently hold a review-based class session before an exam, so missing those means more study time later. However, it also means you won’t miss any new material. Either way, professors are apt to change test dates due to all sorts of factors, which is again why it’s important to tell professors you’ll be absent; they can keep you up-to-date on material and on the schedule. Try not to let missing class become a habit, but for when you know you’ll be gone, be prepared. It’s just another easy way to make college living, your grades, and that whole four-year experience that much better.