I’m not sure about other faculties but I know that the class participation for business schools (whether NUS, NTU, SMU etc.) are p intense and weigh a high percentage in most modules esp for marketing & HR related mods? And I remembered how I used to be q stress over class part when I was in year 1, even tho I’m an extrovert.. I honestly think it’s really normal esp at the start of Uni & esp if you weren’t from poly (I was from JC so I wasn’t rly used to fighting for class participation in class) and you tend to be afraid to say your thoughts bc you are scared that ur answer may be wrong and you get judged / mocked in class 🤧 but don’t worry!!!
here’s a guide for those who are going to Uni (esp business sch) soon / still constantly stressing over class part when you are in Uni!
1. DO YOUR REQUIRED READINGS
I think preparing before each lesson is so important so that you know what to prepare before the prof even start their lesson! For me, my classes usually have alot of assigned readings (cuz I specialise in mkt and HR) so I will try to read them as much as I can – just focus on the key points, u don’t have to waste time reading EACH AND EVERY WORD, what matters is that you understand the content!
2. WORK ON THE GUIDING QUES THE PROF PROVIDES BEFORE EACH LESSON
Sometimes, my prof will give us a set of guiding ques before each lesson and I will just try to do them whenever I can and I think this is rly helpful if you are not able to complete all of ur readings cuz the guiding ques will usually just need u to refer and find the key points in your readings / you can try to google them if possible so that you can have a quick understanding of the main ques that the prof will ask the class in the upcoming lesson
3. IF YOU HAVE NO TIME TO DO 1. AND / OR 2. BRIEFLY GOOGLE ABOUT THE OVERARCHING TOPIC OF THE LESSON
If you have no time at all, just look at what the main topic is for the upcoming lesson. For me, when I rly have no time or I just feel damn lazy to do my readings which can be 20 or 30 pages at times LOL.. I will just see the topic eg. Talent Acquisition or sth and I will just google it and see what are the main pointers that come up in the google search and understand the overarching idea of the topic.
If not I think using chatGPT is super helpful for class part LOL bc u will get super fast answers easily without needing much effort XDD rly preparing in the smart and fast way
4. ASK LEGITIMATE QUESTIONS (not just for the sake of asking)
I don’t usually ask ques in class unless I rly have sth idk and I’ll prob ask my friends first before asking the prof. If my friends rly dk then it is a way to validate that my answers r not stupid since my classmates dk them as well LOL and if you try to google and they have many diff answers, this means that it is a good chance for you to ask the prof about his / her opinion (esp if the ques is controversial) which will make the classroom discussion interesting (the prof will prob thank u for that) LOL
**And it’ll be good as well if u can give a follow up reply about ur own opinion to show that u are not just asking for the sake of asking, but u r rly trying to think in-depth and critically which will most likely leave a good impression on the prof!!
5. MAKE USE OF CLASS FORUMS TO CLASS PART (either as extra points or for introverts who rly want to class part as little as possible)
Some of my modules have classroom forums for us to extend our discussion beyond class or share more insightful comments if we did not get the chance to speak much in class on that day. I tink this is rly helpful esp when you want to share more thoughts but u were unable to (eg. The prof gives people limited no. Of chances to speak) and so you should add more of your opinions in the forum to earn more class part points!
For introverts who want to minimise their speaking in class, using these forums is a hack to earning your class part points as well! 😬🤭
So these 5 pointers are just a main guide on how to class part more confidently in class~ and don’t be afraid to speak up bc the classroom shud be a safe environment to learn from one another ☺️
and also I don’t think being a class part sl*t is a shameful thing bc everyone is just trying to work hard for their grades UNLESS you are someone that alw repeats someone else’s answer by rephrasing your answer / asking ridiculously simple ques for the sake of asking (ya even tho everyone says there’s no stupid ques etc but there’s rly some people who YOU CAN JUST TELL they aren’t even asking bc they dk… they r just asking to get the prof’s attention and is a rly ??? Ques) so ya…
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