How to prepare for office hours and take notes

Office hours are the most underused part of a college class. A professor or TA sits in a room, sometimes alone, waiting to explain the thing you didn't get. Many students only show up the week before an exam, ask "can you go over chapter 5?", nod through ten minutes, and walk out remembering almost nothing.

A good office hours visit takes a little preparation and a different kind of note-taking. You're not recording a lecture. You're collecting answers to your own questions, so the notes need to make sense to you a week later, when you try the problem again alone.

Go before you're desperate

Office hours aren't only for students who are failing. Good reasons to go:

• You got stuck on a homework problem and can't see the next step.
• A concept from lecture almost makes sense, but not quite.
• You want feedback on a paper idea or outline before you write the whole thing.
• You got a grade back and want to understand what went wrong.
• You're curious about something the professor mentioned in passing.

Going early in the semester, with a small question, also means the professor knows your name when you need a bigger favor later, like a recommendation or an extension.

Prepare specific questions

"I don't understand chapter 5" is hard to answer in ten minutes. "I follow the example up to step 3, but I don't see why the sign flips" is easy. The more specific your question, the more useful the answer.

Before you go:

1. Try the problem or reading yourself first. Bring your attempt, even if it's wrong. Showing where you went off track is the fastest way to get help.
2. Write each question at the top of its own section, with space underneath for the answer.
3. Put them in order of importance. If there's a line of students, you might only get through the first two.
4. Mark exactly where you got stuck. Circle the line in your notes or the step in your work.
5. Bring the materials. The problem set, your lecture notes, the graded exam. Having them open saves time.

Tip: if you can't put your confusion into a question, write "I'm confused about X because..." and finish the sentence. Finishing it often turns into the question, and sometimes the answer.

During: listen first, then write

Office hours move differently from a lecture. It's a conversation, and you can ask for a pause. Use that.

• Listen through the explanation before writing. Then say, "Can I write that down?" Nobody minds.
• Write the steps, not just the answer. "The answer is 4.2" doesn't help next week. "Set up the equation from the forces first, then solve for acceleration" does.
• Restate it in your own words and ask, "Is that right?" Then write your version once they confirm. It's the version you'll understand later.
• Note anything they point you to: a page in the textbook, a practice problem, an older exam, a website.
• Capture what they emphasize. If the professor says "students always mix these two up," that's worth a star.
• Ask for a follow-up problem. "Is there a similar one I can try on my own?" gives you a way to check that the explanation stuck.

If the professor works something out on a whiteboard, ask if you can take a photo of it. It's often faster than copying, and you can write your own notes around it later.

After: try it again alone

The real test of an office hours visit is whether you can do the problem without help. Within a day:

1. Rewrite the explanation cleanly from your notes while it's fresh. Fill in any steps you skipped.
2. Redo the original problem without looking at the worked answer.
3. Try the follow-up problem. If you get stuck again, you know exactly what to ask next time.
4. Add a line to your exam review list. Topics you needed help with are likely to need review again before the exam.

How to review your notes after class covers the same habit for lectures.

Should you record office hours?

Office hours are usually a one-on-one or small-group conversation, so recording without asking isn't OK. Some professors are happy to say yes, especially if you explain that it's so you can replay a tricky explanation. Others prefer not. Policies vary by school, professor and location, and students with accommodations may have recording as part of their plan. Always ask first, and accept the answer. More in is it OK to record lectures?

Office hours notes on iPad with Scribba

You don't need a separate notebook for office hours. Keep them with the class, so everything about a topic is in one place:

• Write your questions on a page in the class notebook before you go, and give it a named bookmark in the page sidebar, like "Office hours: problem set 4." Bookmarks act as a table of contents, so these pages are easy to find before an exam.
• Bring your attempt with you. If the homework is a PDF, import it into the class notebook and write on it, so you can circle the exact step that confused you. Scan a paper handout or a graded exam with the camera.
• Photograph the whiteboard, with permission, and add the photo to the page. Then write your own explanation next to it.
• Use Problem Set paper for math and science. It has NAME, COURSE, DUE and ASSIGNMENT fields over a grid split into four numbered problem areas, which works well for working a problem again after the visit.
• If they agree to a recording, tap the mic before you start. Every stroke you write is linked to that moment, so tapping a step in your notes plays the explanation you heard while writing it. See how to record a lecture on iPad.

Scribba's Start Lecture is built for classes: it adds a dated page and starts recording at once. For office hours, where you should ask before recording, add a page yourself instead.

Frequently asked questions

What if I don't have a specific question?

Pick the topic you feel least sure about and try one practice problem on it before you go. Wherever you get stuck becomes your question.

Is it OK to go to office hours with a classmate?

Usually, yes. Each of you should bring your own questions and take your own notes. You'll catch different parts of the explanation.

Can I go to a TA's office hours instead of the professor's?

Yes. TAs often grade the homework and know the common mistakes well. For questions about grading policy or the big picture of the course, the professor is the better choice.