The title might be a little misleading. There are going to be times when you must attend class, e.g. Test day.
Believe it or not, there are a handful of students who show up to class only on the day of a test. Obviously, this can only be done if the Professor does not keep up with attendance. It also would be difficult to pull of if your teacher gave out a lot of homework and quizzes.
Last Semester, I was fortunate enough to have a class that didn’t take attendance, had no quizzes, no homework, and only had 4 test, including the midterm and final. Here is what I did to make a B in the class while only showing up about 6 times.
The Requirements
The art of passing a class while rarely attending is a difficult one. It sounds easy, but it actually takes a lot of self discipline. There are also some special requirements before you even consider using this tactic.
- The class must have no quizzes or homework.
- The only grades must be Test, Midterms, and Finals (maybe the occasional quiz too).
- There has go to be no attendance rules.
- Class notes must be available online. (If you’re lucky, you might find them on a note-sharing site).
Credit: ijames
The Plan
Go the First Day
This is possibly the most important part of the plan because the first day is when you get a feel for the class. This is when you get your syllabus and can begin to figure out what the class calendar looks like. You can also see the course policies like attendance and if the Professor administers quizzes and homework.
Get Some Contact Info
Not just from the Professor, but from a couple other students as well. This is essential in case you have any questions like, if a test date has changed. Since you won’t be attending class very often, you must have a couple people you can count on if you occasionally need an answer.
Mark the Dates
Be sure to put all of the test and exam dates into your calendar. These dates could easily slip your mind, since you won’t be in class much. If you use a calendar like iCal, be sure to set yourself reminders throughout the semester of important dates. Also, Realize that dates can change, so email a classmate to make sure.
Study
Those notes the Professor posts online…look over them a lot on your own time. At least go over the notes once a week. It is especially important to study a lot right before the test. Personally, the Pomodoro Technique works very well for me.
Show Up For Tests
This one is pretty obvious, but I’m including it anyway. Be certain to show up on the test day 100% prepared, and be 100% sure that it is indeed test day.
Be Careful
This plan is not for everyone. It is very risky, and I only recommend it to students who are self motivated. It is also important to “test the water”. By this I mean you should try this method for the first test, and if you make a bad grade, you should probably start going to the class.
Good Luck!
What About You?
Have you had any success only showing up on test days? Or, Do you just think this is a terrible idea?
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Jay Willingham - Cam
I'm ashamed to admit it, but I totally did this for a few classes in college. Some professors just make it too easy!
Dan Northern
Yeah, sometimes it is too easy to skip a class. But hey, why not? As long as you can pull a good grade in the class
Corey
Jay Said: “I’m ashamed to admit it, but I totally did this for a few classes in college. Some professors just make it too easy!”
I don’t think that you are alone in that boat man. I know that I still have recurring night mares that I have skipped too many classes.
Corey Fischer – Owner – HCG
Oliver Lancaster
Yes,
I had many friends that did this as well. Great strategies, however like you said, it is not for everyone. I've seen a few students get burned when a test was rescheduled and they were too locked in on the syllabus. Nice article.
- Oliver
Dan Northern
Yeah, I think the biggest flaw with this strategy is tests being rescheduled. This could really hurt you. Thats why you have to make sure you have a few classmates email addresses, just in case.
Thanks Oliver.
Lauren
Love this post. I must admit, I gave this a try once, and unfortunately a major exam was rescheduled, and even though I had friends in the course, they had given up going as well, so it didn't work out too good for me in the end. haha!
Brianna
Thanks so much for this article. I've been debating back and forth whether or not to go to class. It's Microeconomics, but the class goes like this: professor is last to arrive, first to leave, he doesn't hold office hours, gives everything to the TA (who is never present during class), doesn't take attendance, and we only have a midterm and final. I was feeling guilty for not going but he only does problem sets that are just replicas of the practice problems the TA puts on online.
Dan Northern
Yeah, it sounds like you could get away with skipping class a little bit, as long as you're keeping up in the class since everything is online.
Edster
This sounds great in theory – but you’d have to be in huge lecture classes for the prof. to not notice. I never even thought of trying this as it was tricky enough for me to keep up even when I did attend most classes. I think Steve Pavlina has a couple posts about this too.
Jim Johnson
I think a lot of the success to this has to do with the temperment of the instructor. Some will know you missed one day even if you attended all the rest – even if they don’t take formal attendance. Others may not know your name – ever. It’s best to do this where classes are run by aides – and it’s really easy to become “friends” with them.
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