College Tips: Staying Awake During Lectures

Many students are very adamant about taking good lecture notes, and I mean why wouldn't some be after paying oodles of money for tuition, but sometimes lectures can be just too boring to handle. However, these lectures can be necessary to attend, because of attendance points or pop quizzes that occur frequently and can drastically affect one's grade. During these lectures, students tend to drop off and fall into slumber. Which can be a very embarrassing thing, when you are in a classroom full of peers, not to mention the possibility of missing a pop quiz. So to avoid this, I have devised a list of techniques that can be helpful in staying awake.

Bring a drink, or snack to class. Be prepared if you have had a tendency to fall asleep in this class before, bring a drink with you that you can sip when you feel the urge to nod off. It doesn't even need to be an energy drink, just something cool to wake you up a little. However this can wear off very quickly, so be warned!

Bring the school newspaper to class. Reading interesting material, or doing the newspaper's daily puzzles can be helpful in staving off sleep. Unfortunately, newspapers make lots of noise, so have the puzzle you want to do ready if need be. On a side note, professors don't really like it when you read newspapers in their class, so be sly about it.

Use technology! In the age of modern technology, there are many different items that are small, handheld or can be easily brought to class. Some materials that I have found helpful in keeping dreams at bay are computers, and cell phones. However, just like newspapers, professors tend to not like cell phones in class. Computers on the other hand seem to be perfectly fine. So if you are having trouble with a boring lecture, just start texting a friend, or maybe look up something on your computer.

Prepare for future lectures. Reading ahead in the text could further your knowledge of the subject's material, and help you on the next quiz or test. This new material could be interesting enough to keep you awake until the end of the class period.