How to Read a College Syllabus - And Strategize for How to Best Approach the Course

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This is the 6th video in a series of 17 videos on How to Do Well in College. This video walks through one of my own syllabi, and explains how to tailor one's strategy for taking a college course to the various policies in the video. It is also important to understand which parts of the syllabus can be skipped, and how to build one's personal calendar based on the course schedule. This is for first-year college students. The parts of the syllabus covered include: Office Hours, Course Description, Student Learning Outcomes, Course Policies (attendance policy, late policy, grade breakdown, etc.), and Course Schedule. I also talk about the faculty meme: "It's on the syllabus" or "It's in the syllabus".

[pravardennison]

The dedication level is just off the roofs

[JamesGarner-dnmk]

Wow, I really feel like I need to start a calendar now. You're helping me build a strategy for my education and life in general. Thank you professor.

[zhibinchen]

I finally know why I kept struggling in college now!! Thank you!!!

[rel]

Really fantastic videos so far, a lot of this should be common knowledge but alas I never heard it from anyone and never learnt it, now I have the opportunity to study efficiently, albeit late, again as an enlightened adult, thanks Jeff, legend.

[amandaberofsky]

Professors' revenge: making a separate pdf/doc file for each part of the syllabus. It pretty much guarantees we students will miss something. I have a linguistics course with a "syllabus" website for college policies, a doc for the course schedule, and a pdf with the grading scale. I simply made my own syllabus so I can find what I need. I hope there are no typos!

[ancestorbaby.]

This is my first time attending college, and your information is greatly appreciated! I needed this, thank you!

[kwilk]

I had two professors in college who gave us quizzes on the syllabus to make sure we read it. There was also a class procedure in my Intro to Philosophy class to check the syllabus first before contacting the professor for any questions as a way to make office hours more effective.

[dataperson]

Hey im in g11 right now. Ive been watching your videos and realise how much the small things in the learning process can help. Just having the knowledge that these actions are helpful and APPROVED by the designers of the course motivate me to do it. Thank you so much for your videos.

[AdvocateAsaf]

Thanks for such amazing videos on knowledge, information and guidance...
Love and respect from Pakistan.

[melissaprinzing]

I love all your videos about college. I am a professor. I really wish I could share links to them with my students. However, auto captioning does not satisfy the accessibility requirements of my college.😢

[tempusfugit]

Hilarious, insightful, engaging as always. Keep it up!

[JesusLightsYourPath]

If you were my professor, I would have a crush on you. Thanks for the tips. I will be using them. Is there a way for me to look at the syllabus and course schedule way before the semester starts? I just finished my freshman year of college and I want to plan ahead for next semester.

[HolyRan]

I was cracking up the entire video. I'll definitely apply

[andressuva]

Professor Kaplan is a dynamic instructor.

[perseverancebcsjobpreparat]

Please make a class on experimental philosophy anf Robin hood activities

[emmaj]

Your vides are a lifesaver, man. Thank you.

[MisterXZen]

I often would still ask questions about the syllabus, because there were too many professors in my experience that didn't actually follow their syllabus. It made it hard to trust the professors in future courses.

[qiqi]

After you've completed the course, shouldn't you check if the outcome matches the student learning outcome? Because if it doesn't, doesn't that mean that you didn't really complete the course?

[PhDsoonish]

@Jeffrey Kaplan is the best instructor, professor, teacher on YouTube

[wstaniar]

Wow! I could not disagree more with the idea that students do not need to read the Learning Outcomes! When a student asks, "What's going to be on the exam?" I always tell them to read the learning outcomes. I would argue that this is one of THE most important parts of the syllabus. Many good pieces of advice here, but please DO read the learning outcomes... maybe even a few times through the semester!