How do you stay focused in advanced (pure) mathematics lectures?











up vote
5
down vote

favorite












Throughout my entire university career, I've found it incredibly difficult to focus during lectures, so much so that I at one point stopped going because I found it easier to just learn it on my own. A clarification: I did not find learning it on my own easy, just easier than lectures since I always get incredibly tired, and can't stay focused. Unfortunately, I've reached a point where I can't just "learn it one my own", since some classes are very specialized or deal with difficult areas of pure math.



So, how do you focus during lectures (specifically math lectures)?










share|cite|improve this question


















  • 5




    It is hugely helpful to skim through the contents of the lecture before the lecture. You don't have to study it in detail, but this way you will at least know what's coming.
    – MisterRiemann
    Nov 26 at 17:07








  • 6




    What really helped me was reading the material beforehand. When I went to class already having some idea of the material, the lecture seemed to elaborate on points that I didn’t understand (or had difficulty understanding). If the lecture didn’t address these directly, I’d ask about it.
    – Clayton
    Nov 26 at 17:09










  • I agree, thank you for your answer! I should have been more specific though, I'm mostly looking for what to do during a lectur, although reading before hand is definitely helpful.
    – Alexander Hannides Rajapakse
    Nov 26 at 17:09












  • During tougher lectures I was often unable stay focused for a full two hours (without getting a headache). I fully support the comments by MisterRiemann and Clayton, and would like to add that it is valuable to recognize which details of a lecture you can afford to miss while continuing to follow the main points of the lecture. Often there were tedious or subtle details that I was not able to follow immediately, but was confident I could figure out own my own at a later point. Treat them as a given, have a little daydream, and continue to follow at the next point.
    – Servaes
    Nov 26 at 17:11












  • Not being able to focus could be due to certain brain chemistry issues that may be easily fixed. Aside from this, try to use the lecture time to study and verify what you are hearing and try to come up with questions (event to yourself), Plan not to be passive during the lecture.
    – NoChance
    Nov 26 at 17:12















up vote
5
down vote

favorite












Throughout my entire university career, I've found it incredibly difficult to focus during lectures, so much so that I at one point stopped going because I found it easier to just learn it on my own. A clarification: I did not find learning it on my own easy, just easier than lectures since I always get incredibly tired, and can't stay focused. Unfortunately, I've reached a point where I can't just "learn it one my own", since some classes are very specialized or deal with difficult areas of pure math.



So, how do you focus during lectures (specifically math lectures)?










share|cite|improve this question


















  • 5




    It is hugely helpful to skim through the contents of the lecture before the lecture. You don't have to study it in detail, but this way you will at least know what's coming.
    – MisterRiemann
    Nov 26 at 17:07








  • 6




    What really helped me was reading the material beforehand. When I went to class already having some idea of the material, the lecture seemed to elaborate on points that I didn’t understand (or had difficulty understanding). If the lecture didn’t address these directly, I’d ask about it.
    – Clayton
    Nov 26 at 17:09










  • I agree, thank you for your answer! I should have been more specific though, I'm mostly looking for what to do during a lectur, although reading before hand is definitely helpful.
    – Alexander Hannides Rajapakse
    Nov 26 at 17:09












  • During tougher lectures I was often unable stay focused for a full two hours (without getting a headache). I fully support the comments by MisterRiemann and Clayton, and would like to add that it is valuable to recognize which details of a lecture you can afford to miss while continuing to follow the main points of the lecture. Often there were tedious or subtle details that I was not able to follow immediately, but was confident I could figure out own my own at a later point. Treat them as a given, have a little daydream, and continue to follow at the next point.
    – Servaes
    Nov 26 at 17:11












  • Not being able to focus could be due to certain brain chemistry issues that may be easily fixed. Aside from this, try to use the lecture time to study and verify what you are hearing and try to come up with questions (event to yourself), Plan not to be passive during the lecture.
    – NoChance
    Nov 26 at 17:12













up vote
5
down vote

favorite









up vote
5
down vote

favorite











Throughout my entire university career, I've found it incredibly difficult to focus during lectures, so much so that I at one point stopped going because I found it easier to just learn it on my own. A clarification: I did not find learning it on my own easy, just easier than lectures since I always get incredibly tired, and can't stay focused. Unfortunately, I've reached a point where I can't just "learn it one my own", since some classes are very specialized or deal with difficult areas of pure math.



So, how do you focus during lectures (specifically math lectures)?










share|cite|improve this question













Throughout my entire university career, I've found it incredibly difficult to focus during lectures, so much so that I at one point stopped going because I found it easier to just learn it on my own. A clarification: I did not find learning it on my own easy, just easier than lectures since I always get incredibly tired, and can't stay focused. Unfortunately, I've reached a point where I can't just "learn it one my own", since some classes are very specialized or deal with difficult areas of pure math.



So, how do you focus during lectures (specifically math lectures)?







soft-question advice






share|cite|improve this question













share|cite|improve this question











share|cite|improve this question




share|cite|improve this question










asked Nov 26 at 17:06









Alexander Hannides Rajapakse

303




303








  • 5




    It is hugely helpful to skim through the contents of the lecture before the lecture. You don't have to study it in detail, but this way you will at least know what's coming.
    – MisterRiemann
    Nov 26 at 17:07








  • 6




    What really helped me was reading the material beforehand. When I went to class already having some idea of the material, the lecture seemed to elaborate on points that I didn’t understand (or had difficulty understanding). If the lecture didn’t address these directly, I’d ask about it.
    – Clayton
    Nov 26 at 17:09










  • I agree, thank you for your answer! I should have been more specific though, I'm mostly looking for what to do during a lectur, although reading before hand is definitely helpful.
    – Alexander Hannides Rajapakse
    Nov 26 at 17:09












  • During tougher lectures I was often unable stay focused for a full two hours (without getting a headache). I fully support the comments by MisterRiemann and Clayton, and would like to add that it is valuable to recognize which details of a lecture you can afford to miss while continuing to follow the main points of the lecture. Often there were tedious or subtle details that I was not able to follow immediately, but was confident I could figure out own my own at a later point. Treat them as a given, have a little daydream, and continue to follow at the next point.
    – Servaes
    Nov 26 at 17:11












  • Not being able to focus could be due to certain brain chemistry issues that may be easily fixed. Aside from this, try to use the lecture time to study and verify what you are hearing and try to come up with questions (event to yourself), Plan not to be passive during the lecture.
    – NoChance
    Nov 26 at 17:12














  • 5




    It is hugely helpful to skim through the contents of the lecture before the lecture. You don't have to study it in detail, but this way you will at least know what's coming.
    – MisterRiemann
    Nov 26 at 17:07








  • 6




    What really helped me was reading the material beforehand. When I went to class already having some idea of the material, the lecture seemed to elaborate on points that I didn’t understand (or had difficulty understanding). If the lecture didn’t address these directly, I’d ask about it.
    – Clayton
    Nov 26 at 17:09










  • I agree, thank you for your answer! I should have been more specific though, I'm mostly looking for what to do during a lectur, although reading before hand is definitely helpful.
    – Alexander Hannides Rajapakse
    Nov 26 at 17:09












  • During tougher lectures I was often unable stay focused for a full two hours (without getting a headache). I fully support the comments by MisterRiemann and Clayton, and would like to add that it is valuable to recognize which details of a lecture you can afford to miss while continuing to follow the main points of the lecture. Often there were tedious or subtle details that I was not able to follow immediately, but was confident I could figure out own my own at a later point. Treat them as a given, have a little daydream, and continue to follow at the next point.
    – Servaes
    Nov 26 at 17:11












  • Not being able to focus could be due to certain brain chemistry issues that may be easily fixed. Aside from this, try to use the lecture time to study and verify what you are hearing and try to come up with questions (event to yourself), Plan not to be passive during the lecture.
    – NoChance
    Nov 26 at 17:12








5




5




It is hugely helpful to skim through the contents of the lecture before the lecture. You don't have to study it in detail, but this way you will at least know what's coming.
– MisterRiemann
Nov 26 at 17:07






It is hugely helpful to skim through the contents of the lecture before the lecture. You don't have to study it in detail, but this way you will at least know what's coming.
– MisterRiemann
Nov 26 at 17:07






6




6




What really helped me was reading the material beforehand. When I went to class already having some idea of the material, the lecture seemed to elaborate on points that I didn’t understand (or had difficulty understanding). If the lecture didn’t address these directly, I’d ask about it.
– Clayton
Nov 26 at 17:09




What really helped me was reading the material beforehand. When I went to class already having some idea of the material, the lecture seemed to elaborate on points that I didn’t understand (or had difficulty understanding). If the lecture didn’t address these directly, I’d ask about it.
– Clayton
Nov 26 at 17:09












I agree, thank you for your answer! I should have been more specific though, I'm mostly looking for what to do during a lectur, although reading before hand is definitely helpful.
– Alexander Hannides Rajapakse
Nov 26 at 17:09






I agree, thank you for your answer! I should have been more specific though, I'm mostly looking for what to do during a lectur, although reading before hand is definitely helpful.
– Alexander Hannides Rajapakse
Nov 26 at 17:09














During tougher lectures I was often unable stay focused for a full two hours (without getting a headache). I fully support the comments by MisterRiemann and Clayton, and would like to add that it is valuable to recognize which details of a lecture you can afford to miss while continuing to follow the main points of the lecture. Often there were tedious or subtle details that I was not able to follow immediately, but was confident I could figure out own my own at a later point. Treat them as a given, have a little daydream, and continue to follow at the next point.
– Servaes
Nov 26 at 17:11






During tougher lectures I was often unable stay focused for a full two hours (without getting a headache). I fully support the comments by MisterRiemann and Clayton, and would like to add that it is valuable to recognize which details of a lecture you can afford to miss while continuing to follow the main points of the lecture. Often there were tedious or subtle details that I was not able to follow immediately, but was confident I could figure out own my own at a later point. Treat them as a given, have a little daydream, and continue to follow at the next point.
– Servaes
Nov 26 at 17:11














Not being able to focus could be due to certain brain chemistry issues that may be easily fixed. Aside from this, try to use the lecture time to study and verify what you are hearing and try to come up with questions (event to yourself), Plan not to be passive during the lecture.
– NoChance
Nov 26 at 17:12




Not being able to focus could be due to certain brain chemistry issues that may be easily fixed. Aside from this, try to use the lecture time to study and verify what you are hearing and try to come up with questions (event to yourself), Plan not to be passive during the lecture.
– NoChance
Nov 26 at 17:12















active

oldest

votes











Your Answer





StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
});
});
}, "mathjax-editing");

StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "69"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});

function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
convertImagesToLinks: true,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: 10,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});


}
});














draft saved

draft discarded


















StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3014599%2fhow-do-you-stay-focused-in-advanced-pure-mathematics-lectures%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown






























active

oldest

votes













active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes
















draft saved

draft discarded




















































Thanks for contributing an answer to Mathematics Stack Exchange!


  • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid



  • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

  • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.


To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.





Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.


Please pay close attention to the following guidance:


  • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid



  • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

  • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




draft saved


draft discarded














StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3014599%2fhow-do-you-stay-focused-in-advanced-pure-mathematics-lectures%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown





















































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown

































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown







Popular posts from this blog

Berounka

Sphinx de Gizeh

Different font size/position of beamer's navigation symbols template's content depending on regular/plain...