Question:
What do tutorials and laboratories at university include?
Rob Gane
13 years ago
I am about to start uni and it says that I have a few hours of 'tutorials' and 'laboraties'. What normally happens during these? How are they different to lectures?

Thanks.
Three answers:
anonymous
13 years ago
Hey Rob.

Ok so you know what a lecture looks like, right? Basically they cram a LOT of students into one room and you sit there quietly and take notes as the lecturer talks at you.

Tutorials and labs are very different, yes.



While a lecture can be made up of hundreds of students, your tutorial will be more like a classroom. You will have 20-40 students (average) with you. Your tutor (teacher) will either be a PhD student, a 3rd/4th year student or a professor. They go through the content of the lectures with you. Here you can ask questions if you don't understand something and they will answer you directly. Tutorials are the place where you will be given homework, assignments and tests as well (though not usually the final exam). Think of it just like your high school class.



A lab is again, different. You may have between 30-70 students in any one lab (depending on your course). When you go there, you are usually given (or have to buy) a lab manual which outline experiments you will be doing. During a lab you will most likely do one experiment per lab class and yes, you usually get a lab partner (if you have someone in mind, sit next to them on your first day!). You just follow the instructions given to you and answer questions in the lab manual as you go. If you have any questions, then there will be lab instructors in the room to help you out and they are usually 3rd/4th year students or PhD students. Depending on your course, you may have a lab exam as well, though this isn't always the case.



Just a few tips!

In a tutorial, nobody will make you do the homework and you will be lucky if you get told there is an exam coming up. So, make sure you actually do the work and write down when you have exams (they are listed in the course outline you'll get). Trust me, you will regret it if you don't!

For the lab you are usually required to wear enclosed shoes. Some uni's also require you to buy lab coats and/or safety glasses to wear. Don't worry, they will tell you about that in your first lecture.

LABS AND TUTORIAL CLASSES ARE COMPULSORY. Usually. Unlike lectures, most classes they require about 80% attendance for tutes/labs and if you don't come that often, you'll fail the course. Again, they'll usually tell you that in the first lecture.

Lastly, you will have to check with your school timetable, but generally there are no tutorial or lab classes in the first week. This is so they can tell you all the important stuff in your first lecture.



Hm, that was longer than I expected it to be...sorry, I hope it helped anyway!
anonymous
9 years ago
I went to Oxford and it was a great place to study, very academically focussed but still plenty of bars, clubs, theatres, cinemas etc. to provide entertainment whatever your interests are. As for the university and the teachers - well, it is the second best university in the world so I think that speaks for the quality. Two slight things you don't seem to be aware of though: 1. Oxford isn't in London. It is, unsurprisingly, in.....Oxford (where else would it be?!). 2. You can't study anesthetics in Oxford as no such course exists there. You'd have to study medicine instead.
Ajay
13 years ago
education


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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