No, I had the same strategy in computer science, foreign language, and elective courses. CS? The first week of the class, I'd read the entire language manual. I wouldn't understand everything, but when a concept was explained in detail, I had a context and baseline familiarity to orient myself.

In foreign language and elective courses (such as history) doing the reading before the lecture meant I could focus on what the lecturer thought was important rather than absorbing new information.