It may seem like nothing important is covered in the beginning of class. The professor may use this time to return homework or exams, get his or her lecture notes setup, or review material from the previous lecture. Five minutes of extra sleep may seem more important than those first five minutes of class. Especially if the class size is large, it may seem like there is no consequence to being late. Take note, however, that there can be repercussions to being late on a regular basis - repercussions that can affect your grades, reputation, and learning.

STEP 3: Explore potential STRATEGIES to address the problem.

Realize that important things do happen at the beginning of lecture. If the professor reviews material, take advantage of the chance to solidify concepts and ask questions. If homework or exams are returned, now is your chance to pick them up, look over your mistakes, and make sure there are no grading errors. If it seems like the professor always starts class late, take the extra few minutes to flip through your notes, talk with your classmates, and prepare for the day’s topic. Also, you never know when the professor will discuss something important, such as a hint to a particularly difficult homework problem, a change in exam location or date, or alterations to the grading scale. And finally, you may think that professors don’t notice if a student is continuously late to class, but we can attest that they usually do. And in any case, coming in late can be a disruption to your classmates, so consider them if nothing else. Lateness has social and professional costs, signaling poor time management skills, inattention to detail, and lack of conscientiousness.

Even if you get up 15 minutes early, you still end up late to class. Where does the time go? If you think you have extra time, you may subconsciously move slower in the morning: take a longer shower, pause for a few minutes to answer emails or check social media, try to actually pick out a nice outfit instead of your usual sweatpants and t-shirt. Before you know it, you’re late again. Luckily, there are some measures you can take to make losing those extra few minutes of sleep worthwhile. (If your problem is that you can’t get up in the morning, check out our section “I cannot make it to my morning class” under the “I’m not going to class” problem.)

STEP 3: Explore potential STRATEGIES to address the problem.

Develop a morning routine, and don’t stray from it. If your class starts at 9:30 am, plan to get there at 9:20 am, which requires setting your alarm for an early enough time. Once you wake up, keep checking the clock as you get ready for class. If you find you need five minutes to like a picture on Facebook, tweet about the weather, send a Snapchat of your cat, and Instagram your burnt toast, factor that into your schedule. Also, try not to fool yourself into thinking that you can make it to class faster than you actually can. Maybe it takes just 10 minutes if you get every crosswalk and nearly run, but let’s be honest – that rarely happens, and nobody likes to be that person running down the street, backpack wildly bouncing in the wind.

For more tips to help you manage your time, view our “Fast Fact” on Time Management [pdf] or Managing Your Time: Words of Advice from Randy Pausch. [pdf]

Sometimes you can’t help being late; if it happens rarely, it’s completely understandable. But if you find yourself frequently being delayed by urgent phone calls, emails, friends, or last-minute homework or studying, that can become a (fixable) problem.

STEP 3: Explore potential STRATEGIES to address the problem.

Expect the unexpected. If you have a tendency to run into friends on your way to class, leave a few minutes to allow for such encounters. If it always seems like the printers on campus are broken, print your essay or homework the night before. If you know you’re cutting it close on time, learn to hit the “ignore” button on calls and remember that emails and text messages can usually wait. Don’t leave homework or studying for the last minute; try to get everything done the night before it’s due, or worst case scenario, at least an hour before. It’s always better to be safe than sorry, so it can never hurt to add five or ten extra minutes of breathing room to your schedule before class.

For more tips to help you manage your time, view our “Fast Fact” on Time Management [pdf] or Managing Your Time: Words of Advice from Randy Pausch. [pdf]