# Dealing with being called on in class



## Gwynevere (Oct 6, 2013)

So after my introduction, this is my first real post here. I was wondering how you all handle getting called on in class, if that's a problem for you what tricks have you been using to keep calm and get through it. I managed to avoid getting called on much through my first year, taking all the 101 classes with over 100 students, but now as I get to my major classes and the class size gets smaller professors actually know your name and want you to take part in discussions so I can't avoid it (also, I give off clearly nervous body language when the professor asks a questions and I feel like that makes them target me to call on). 

So far I've embarrassed myself every time because of my anxiety, I freeze, I forget answers I knew before I was put on the spot, sometimes my eyes water and I've had to step outside a few times after getting called on to avoid going into a panic attack. I know this shouldn't be a big deal, and I know no one really cares or is paying attention to what I say except the professor, but it is to me. Help.


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## Gwynevere (Oct 6, 2013)

Maybe this belongs in the 'coping' forum, I felt it was a pretty student-specific issue though. Can I move it?


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## IHateComingUpWithUserName (Jul 11, 2013)

Whenever the teacher is going around calling on random people, i notice they always pick the ones dozing off or not paying attention. So when they're going around, i always pretend to be writing notes or something. It works like 95% of the time.


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## hmweasley (Sep 12, 2013)

As a college student, it hasn't been _much_ of a problem. Typically, there are enough kids who volunteer to speak that the teacher's don't often call on others.

It definitely happened to me more in high school, which was a problem for me freshmen and sophomore year. I went to a small school, so by junior and senior year I had had most of my teachers before, and they knew being called on was hard for me, so it also became less of a problem.

The worst moment ever happened in college though. It was in a math class, and I've always struggled with math, so getting called on in there was the worst. I can't remember what he wanted me to do but it was like simple addition or subtraction or something. However, I panicked so much over being called on that I froze and couldn't come up with the answer. The professor and students just stared at me for a while. I'll never be able to get the horror of that moment out of my mind.

In some classes it's really unavoidable because the teachers want to include everyone. What I try to do if I think there's a chance I'll be called on is formulate a possible answer in my mind before I'm actually called on. That way if they do call on me, then I'll already have something, and hopefully I won't freeze up like I did in that math class.


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## Nono441 (May 14, 2012)

IHateComingUpWithUserName said:


> Whenever the teacher is going around calling on random people, i notice they always pick the ones dozing off or not paying attention. So when they're going around, i always pretend to be writing notes or something. It works like 95% of the time.


Also, I had good success with rummaging through my bag or cleaning my glasses occasionally for variety (otherwise eventually the teacher picks up on your tricks and then you are screwed until the end of the year).


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## glossy95 (Sep 27, 2012)

When I just started college I was like this for couple months.. When my name's called I freezed. But now I think I'm doing better, maybe cus I'm used to it. I'm not as nervous as before. Don't just avoid it, it makes it worse..


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## shatteredself (Jun 4, 2013)

woah. this pretty much what I wanted to say.


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## IllmaticJJ (Dec 29, 2013)

OP I used to struggle with this same thing for years. I would alway get really nervous, start mumbling and stuttering when forced to talk, etc. the thing that helped me overcome this was practice. Take it one step at a time. I started speaking up in class from time to time even without being called on. As time went by, things got easier with practice and it made me realize that speaking in class isn't really that hard at all


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## Bert Reynolds (Dec 18, 2013)

What works for me is just saying "I'm not sure". This way it's an acceptable response, more or less, because it might be true that you really don't know the answer and it also allows you not to barely speak at all--just three words and that's it.


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## Gwynevere (Oct 6, 2013)

Bert Reynolds said:


> What works for me is just saying "I'm not sure". This way it's an acceptable response, more or less, because it might be true that you really don't know the answer and it also allows you not to barely speak at all--just three words and that's it.


But then it looks like you didn't do the reading and will get a lower participation score.


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## Bert Reynolds (Dec 18, 2013)

Gwynevere said:


> But then it looks like you didn't do the reading and will get a lower participation score.


Welp, that's the sacrifice you're going to have to take if you decide to go this route. Throughout my entire college experience though, I have only been called on randomly by a professor once and I said exactly what I suggested you say.."I'm not sure". It's almost always the ones who want to be called on who raise their hands.


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## pinkgreentiedye (Feb 6, 2014)

I hate getting called on!!! Today my professor called on me and I started choking and looked like a deer in the headlights. Then we just stared at each other and I got the answer confused with something else, corrected myself and said I had the answer mixed up and that I didn't know. There are ways around being called on, such as emailing the professor or talking to him/her after class and explaining your social anxiety to them, and through the Americans With Disabilities Act, they can't call on you if you get your psychiatrist, doctor, or therapist to vouch that you have anxiety and don't want to participate in class discussions or be called on. I'm trying really hard to participate in class but as far as coping I do weird things like play with my pencil and also drawing in my notebook.


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## Higgins (Apr 19, 2012)

This is going to happen to me in math class tomorrow and I already feel sick over it because I'm absolute **** at math. Thankfully we can use our calculators and he doesn't ask people how they did the problem (usually), but I'm still pretty scared that he's gonna ask me to solve an equation that I just _can't_ and I'm gonna look like a fool in front of everyone.


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## Roadkill1337 (Sep 16, 2013)

Bert Reynolds said:


> What works for me is just saying "I'm not sure". This way it's an acceptable response, more or less, because it might be true that you really don't know the answer and it also allows you not to barely speak at all--just three words and that's it.


Oh no. No no no. You would _never_ get away with saying "I'm not sure" to my sophomore math teacher. Whenever you said this he would just continually urge you to finish the problem, often by insulting you. He would _not_ stop forcing the problem down your throat until you finished. Some days he'd go the entire class period just waiting for someone to reply. And the worst part, he'd give no hints on how to solve the equation. He'd just sit there and stare at you. Some kids got so fed up with this bull**** that they actually got up and left the class. Whenever this happened to me I would just say random numbers until I got the answer right.


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## Higgins (Apr 19, 2012)

Damn, that sucks. I'm glad my math professor at least accepts "I'm not sure", though he will then ask you to say you neighbor's answer or ask if you discussed it with your neighbor which is just awkward. I'm here to learn math, it's not a ****ing ice cream social, dude. Half the time my neighbors don't know the answer anyway.


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## burningpile (Feb 14, 2014)

I'd rather give an answer like "negative 3 and positive 5" than an explanation for why some character did something that never really happened. "Oh, is the character's motivation derived from some repressed blah blah blah"? With math, you either know it or you don't...whereas in an English class the profs expect an answer as there can be more than one interpretation, where "I don't know" doesn't cut it.

In one class I had (Spanish), the teacher never called on people, she would just wait until someone said something. About the middle-to-end of the year she would start saying things like "let's hear from someone who hasn't contributed yet", she would say this while looking at anybody who hadn't yet participated in a discussion. It got really awkward because she would just look at you waiting for a response, but never call on you. Its actually worse than being called one.


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## VeMuñeca (Sep 5, 2013)

At my university getting called on happens in every 100 leveled course. I'm always ready for it. My religion professor does that. I really don't like this class because that's all he does for an hour and fifteen minutes. He calls on students and makes them answer questions about the readings. I do my homework and study so I have nothing to worry about, but I feel like telling him,"I didn't pay for this course to have students who don't know anything to teach me. You teach me." So glad I only have to take one of these.


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## inthewater (Mar 1, 2014)

burningpile said:


> In one class I had (Spanish), the teacher never called on people, she would just wait until someone said something. About the middle-to-end of the year she would start saying things like "let's hear from someone who hasn't contributed yet", she would say this while looking at anybody who hadn't yet participated in a discussion. It got really awkward because she would just look at you waiting for a response, but never call on you. Its actually worse than being called one.


It is worse, sometimes. This happened to me the other day in a literature class. There are about five students, including me, who never contribute to class discussions. The professor said she wanted to hear from someone who hadn't spoken, and she just waited. And waited. None of us opened our mouths. It got awkward as she kept waiting, until she said something about being more stubborn than her students. I think she thought that would lighten the moment, but we all still sat there. Eventually she took a response from someone who talks all the time. She was visibly annoyed that none of us would speak.

The stupid thing was that it was a simple question, I knew the answer, and it was the perfect opportunity to respond to something easy. But I completely froze and couldn't do it. I really regret that I didn't answer her, but that's social anxiety for you. And now I feel like she probably likes me less, so my anxiety is worse.


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## Gwynevere (Oct 6, 2013)

thatsher said:


> wouldn't forget the moments I gave the wrong answer after weeks or months.


Yes! That's the worst, I remember all of my embarrassing failed answers in class; whenever I see a professor I wonder if he remembers me ****ing up.


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