# College Students: is it custom for the instructo/professor to call on you in class?



## OregonMommy (Mar 3, 2010)

I hadn't been back to college for 15 years and was amazed that in a writing class I took last year, throughout the class the instructor would constantly call on people to answer, or come up in front of the class to share something they'd written. It was involuntary and she could deduct points if you didn't. Points were given for participation. It triggered all of my SA and I basically had a panic attack in class one day. I couldn't handle it. (Amazingly, I stayed in the class). Then, a woman friend of mine says that this happens all the time in her classes at the local community college.
Is this now custom in college courses?


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## bezoomny (Feb 10, 2007)

No, I've only experienced that in huge lecture classes (with like 200 students in them). Usually the professor will ask for volunteers. But I am in a very small department, so I don't know if my experience is the common one.


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## sara01 (Feb 4, 2010)

At my school this doesn't really happen! Participation is mostly based on the fact that you show up for class, and if you seem to be paying attention. I have also talked with a few of my professors when participating in class does become something like in your situation, and they were really understanding about not calling on me, or warning me before calling on me. It was SUPER embarrassing to talk to my professors about this, but it was completely worth it in the end. I could actually relax, and I enjoyed learning the material (it was a modern physics class) without having my thoughts clouded by anxiety. 

But in my experience this doesn't happen that often. People are supposed to volunteer, and usually there are students that will volunteer to speak up.


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## devorah (Jan 3, 2010)

I have had a couple of professors like that, but not many. Most of my professors just lectured all of the time and we took notes. And some of my professors in more interactive classes never called on people who raised their hands but always called on someone who didn't, I guess to see if they were really paying attention or had really read the assignment... It really just depends on the professor.


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## pita (Jan 17, 2004)

I've attended four different schools, and I've only experienced that twice. The first time was in a creative writing class, and the second was in a senior seminar class. In both cases, I think the instructors were annoyed that a number of people were coming to discussion-based classes without anything to discuss.


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## huh (Mar 19, 2007)

It depends on the professor and how they teach the class. I've had professors that would randomly call on people, some that forced group work, and some that would only call on people that would actually volunteer or raise their hand. I really hated it when professors called on me when I didn't want to speak. I dropped a class or two when I realized that was how the professor taught.


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## gopherinferno (Apr 7, 2009)

Use ratemyprofessors.com to avoid the professors who do that. Probably can't completely get out of ever having a class like that, though :/


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## AidanPryde (Nov 11, 2009)

I've noticed that teacher in college and university tend to call on people in class in English and writing classes. Mostly because class discussion tend to make up a large portion of those classes so the teacher needs to try to get everyone involved in the discussion.

This is opposed to science and arts classes like history or criminology or physics where teachers will mostly just stick to lecturing and/or excersises and skip class discussions.


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## OregonMommy (Mar 3, 2010)

This is very good to know. I was thinking of taking some lit, English & writing classes but if they lean towards calling on you, am not ready for that. It sounds like the smaller classes tend to do that as well. It's better to be anonymous than be given attention right now.


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## broseph (Jan 18, 2010)

Depends on the type of class. If it's a lecture than never. If it's a seminar or workshop type of class then yes, but that's just the nature of that type.


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## utopian_grrl (Jun 26, 2008)

Well, the biggest factors are probably the size of the class and the personality of the other students and professors who are in the course with you.

Sometimes, you may have class where type-A students are eager to volunteer, but another where people don't really care about the subject and reluctant to put themselves out there. If it's a small class, then obviously, the professor - if it is an interactive class - will have to force somebody to answer in the latter case. 

Oddly enough, I had an alleged interactive "honors" English class with less than 15 students and didn't have to participate much because of the aforementioned type-A students. And also the teaching style of the professor.


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## bezoomny (Feb 10, 2007)

I guess I'm the only one who had the teacher of a lecture class randomly call on people. It'd be weird, like "a major factor in the cultural context of _Beowulf_ is the weregild. Blonde in the fifth row, what's a weregild? Yes, you."

The only way of getting around that was to never ever give that prof eye contact.


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## hiimnotcool (Apr 28, 2009)

Why not just choose not to answer and then get points deducted? I'd rather just lose 10-20 participation points then be forced to talk when I didn't want to. I'm gonna be starting college in the Fall and this is one of my main concerns as well but I figure I'll be able to get by.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

It's not worth losing points for not talking.
It is better to try than not try.


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## hiimnotcool (Apr 28, 2009)

millenniumman75 said:


> It's not worth losing points for not talking.
> It is better to try than not try.


Maybe it's not worth it to you but to some people it may be. It's just another option.


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## amene (Mar 28, 2010)

Depends. My History teacher last year was a *****. Anyay she would call on you sometimes...I hates it and it was my first semester..

Most don't.


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## lyssado707 (Oct 29, 2004)

No. I've found that to be the exception rather than the rule. Most of them don't stress you out much about talking in class, even if they try to scare you with it on the syllabus (similar to how they say not to come in late but ppl always do in the long run, and the instructors just let it go....lol). More of it might happen in like math and languages, or if it's a small class (but if it's small it might be a bit easier to talk too cuz it would be in front of less ppl).


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## lonelyjew (Jan 20, 2010)

Yes, but only a few. I've had more professors that demand participation, reducing points for people who don't actively contribute to discussion or answer questions.


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## mcmuffinme (Mar 12, 2010)

I had a professor that would call on me because I sat front and center everyday and I was cripplingly shy at this point in my life, and thus I moved to the back of the classroom. I ended up failing that class and it was freakin' earth science...I can't believe how nervous I was back then.


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## FallenofTrack (Jul 23, 2010)

Like another poster said on here, it all depends on how the professor chooses to run the classroom and also the personality of the professor. Some professors really place emphasis on class participation. These professors are the type that will definitely notice if a student comes into class and never participates, and will consequently take points off from a student's participation part of the course requirement. Other professors are more lenient about class participation and will only call on people who really want to participate.

When I was in college, I was an English Lit. major. There was an English Lit. professor who loved to randomly call on people. He loved that aspect of classroom learning. I would get nervous sometimes because I was one of the people whom he would often call upon to answer a question. The classes were small, too, and often with the desks placed in a circle or semi-circle, so students didn't really have the option of hiding out in the back of the class. One time I got very nervous, because he wanted me and another student to do a role playing exercise in front of the other students, for a play that we were reading, and I started sweating bullets, I was so nervous. It also amazed me that I stayed in some of those courses, because the college was small, and I ended up getting this professor for quite a few of the English Lit. classes that I signed up for.


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## heyJude (Aug 1, 2009)

Agh. It makes me so nervous when professors start calling on random people. 9 times out of 10 they will always call MY name! :afr


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## Akane (Jan 2, 2008)

I had one class that the entire point of it was participation. Avoid any class with the word "leadership" in it. :| Other than that the only time I've been called on was more of a mistake on my part. The instructor asked how many people had taken another class and without checking the other people I raised my hand. Turned out I was the only one to raise my hand so I got asked the question. To which I gave a blank stare as my mind froze and he moved on. Otherwise in my several years and multiple majors attempting to find a degree I want and can accomplish I have never had an instructor call on anyone that didn't volunteer.


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## related (Jun 27, 2010)

This used to happen quite a bit in secondary school (UK) in my classes. It was even worse when they started saying "I'm going to pick on people without their hands up"...no! **** off! It was terrifying. Then they'd catch you suddenly putting your hand up when they said it...and knowing you were trying to avoid being chosen, they would ask you. There's a reason we try to avoid it 

If I ever got picked, I'd sometimes spew out an answer I know to be wrong straight away just to take the attention off me.


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## Belshazzar (Apr 12, 2010)

I'm surprised by the amount of "mandatory participation." I had one, maybe two profs that did that. I think most realized it was a waste of class time to call on someone and have them sit there for a minute and then say, "Duh, I dunno."


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## Monroee (Aug 26, 2009)

I had four college classes so far, when I went to college last semester, and I all I can say is that it depends on the professor entirely. 

Math class - he never even learned our names, said he wouldn't call anyone who didn't raise their hand. 

Psych class - She occasionally called on people, but she usually only went for raised hands. Which I felt comfortable actually doing after a while.  I'm so interested in Psychology I actually had the courage (and the benzos) to ask questions. 

World Religion class - Never got called on. He basically lectured the whole time. 

Composition - Very small class. He DID call on me a lot, but thats only because I was the only good writer in the class and he was always interested by my weird answers and topics I picked. Hahaha.


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