How to fake it when you get called on in class

Are you a YBP still in school? Let me help you out a little bit.

We all love those moments when we read everything and are so prepared for class that we hope the professor calls on us so we can show off. Those can be great, exhilarating moments. But at the end of the spectrum are those days when we don’t know squat about what’s going on either because we didn’t read or we just didn’t get it.

I am a UNC Law Alum, and during my three year law student tenure there were definitely moments when I was not prepared for class. I think every law school student in the history of all time will agree that sometimes those moments just happen. For some reason you didn’t read all 100 pages, or you didn’t understand the rule or court’s rationale, or better yet, you were too busy reading for your 4 other (maybe more important) classes or writing part of a 30 page paper. Whatever the reason, there were many a times when my heart started beating faster as the professor looked at his/her seating chart for the next victim. That damn socratic method….putting us in the hot seat. I’m not sure how it works in business, dental, or medical school, but being called on in law school can be traumatizing if you have no idea what’s going on. A lot of my peers hated this thing we had called “Present and Prepared”- maybe you’ve heard of it. It’s where you get to circle/sign your name if you are prepared for class that day. But if you weren’t prepared then you didn’t have to worry about being called on, you were off limits and free to surf facebook all period. Of course, you were only allowed 8-10 unprepared days before your grade suffered…I digress. Anyway, Present and Prepared actually helped for those days when I wasn’t prepared, and forced me to read because I knew I could only slack of a certain number of days.

But then there were the classes that called anyone at any given moment. No alphabetical order, no “tomorrow will be row 8,” no present and prepared. Just straight up, who does the professor feel like calling on. Well, for starters there are some obvious tips on how to not draw attention to yourself if you don’t want to be called on.

• Don’t make eye contact with the professor when he/she is perusing the room looking for a volunteer or who to call on next. Keep your eyes on your computer. Act like your taking notes or reading from the textbook.
• If you write your notes, then keep on writing until you hear the professor call on someone.
• Don’t whisper or talk to the people sitting next to you. That draws attention to yourself.
• If you think you have a good chance of being called on, you can combat being asked a question by raising your hand and asking a question first. Ask about something you didn’t understand…

Okay, now if that doesn’t work and just your luck you get called on, don’t panic. You can get through this. If I could do it, anyone can. You can stall by asking the professor to repeat the question, but don’t ask in a way that makes it seem like you weren’t paying attention in the first place. Ask him/her to rephrase the question, or that you don’t understand what they meant by the question. If you take a long enough pause (and maybe act like you’re looking for the answers in your notes or in the book) the professor might just skip over you and ask the next poor soul on the list. Don’t worry about looking like an idiot- the truth is, everyone in the class was praying that they wouldn’t get called on because they wouldn’t have known what to say either (except those jackasses who say the answer under their breath, loud enough for you to hear their arrogance but not loud enough so you can actually hear the answer). You can even put your peers on the spot by wittily saying “I’d like to yield to co-counsel,” - although this move could just prove that you didn’t know the answer completely and lose you some participation points. But it does sound better than “I don’t know.”

You could also combat the question by saying “I actually had a hard time figuring that out,” or “The opinion seemed vague; I couldn’t understand how they got to that conclusion,” or something along those lines. Everyone in the room may know you’re full of it, but faking your way out of the hot seat doesn’t usually lower your participation grade- absolutely not knowing and blatently saying “I don’t know” usually will lower your participation grade. Let’s at least try to get some points for effort. You might even find the answer quickly if you just use those quick moments of silence when all eyes and ears are on you to actually look up the answer in the book. It might be right under your nose. You never know what you might actually learn while in class.

Fake it till you make it

At my undergraduate alma mater the orientation leaders actually taught us a little jingle…”Fake it…till you make it…mmmmmmmm.” And don’t ever think that your peers are smarter than you- they just know how to fake it better (great wisdom from my future father-in-law).