How do I focus in class?

How to concentrate in class and lectures

1. Preview before you walk in. Skim the slides, the reading or last week's notes for five minutes and write two things you want to find out. You will listen for the answers instead of just hearing words.
2. Sit near the front and centre. Fewer screens are in your line of sight, the teacher can see you, and it is harder to drift without anyone noticing.
3. Write notes in your own words. Paraphrasing forces you to process what is being said. Leave a margin column for questions and key terms you can quiz yourself on later.
4. Make the laptop boring. Turn Wi-Fi off or keep one full-screen window open for notes. If you cannot resist other tabs, switch to paper for that class.
5. Summarise at every topic change. When the lecturer moves to a new slide section, write a single sentence that sums up what was just covered. These mini self-tests pull wandering attention back.
6. Ask, or write a question for later. Speaking up once per class, or noting a question to email, keeps you mentally in the conversation rather than a spectator.
7. Reset between classes. Walk, drink water and have a snack between long lectures rather than scrolling, so you arrive at the next one with some attention left.

Why it is hard to focus in lectures

Listening to a lecture is passive by default: the speaker sets the pace, nothing asks you to respond, and the material can be recorded, so your brain treats it as optional. In an experiment with recorded lectures, students who were given short quizzes between segments reported mind wandering about half as often as those who were not, took more notes and did better on the final test. Building your own small checkpoints into class gives a similar effect.

Screens are the other big factor. In a study of university students, those asked to multitask on a laptop during a lecture scored about 11% lower on a comprehension test, and students who simply sat with a view of a peer's multitasking laptop scored about 17% lower. Sitting where you cannot see other people's screens protects your own attention in school as well as at university.

Common mistakes

• Copying every slide word for word, which keeps your hand busy and your mind idle.
• Sitting at the back behind rows of open laptops.
• Zoning out because the lecture is recorded, then never watching the recording.
• Keeping the phone on the desk to check the time, and checking everything else too.