# What did you call extra-lecture sessions with the TA when you were in college? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 2, 2010, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871 "2010-10-02T22:12:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/1 "2010-10-02T22:12:13Z")
I have a reason for asking this, but it’s really stupid, so never mind. At my college we called them “section”, which I suppose was short for “discussion section”. ---
**Author:** ![dzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzero)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/2 "2010-10-02T22:19:40Z")
recitation period I think. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/3 "2010-10-02T22:54:56Z")
Never had one in college, but I led discussion sections as a grad student TA. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/4 "2010-10-02T22:56:05Z")
what the university called them is discussion session. TAs and students might have other terms. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/5 "2010-10-02T23:04:25Z")
We called them seminar sections, because they would divide a big lecture section into four or five smaller seminars with different TAs. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/6 "2010-10-02T23:08:02Z")
> [@dzero](#): > > recitation period I think. We just called them “recitations,” not recitation periods. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/7 "2010-10-02T23:30:50Z")
At universities here smaller sessions outside lectures are known as tutorials, or more colloquially, “tutes”. The person running them is the tutor. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/8 "2010-10-02T23:46:43Z")
At MIT, recitation sessions - though many of them were taught by a real professor, often more senior than the guy doing the lectures. TA sessions were quiz sections. ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/9 "2010-10-02T23:48:37Z")
At my university we call them tutorials. I actually hate the term because it sounds sort of remedial to me, and as a tutorial leader I don’t like being called a ‘tutor’, but what can you do? ---
**Author:** ![Eurograff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Eurograff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eurograff)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/10 "2010-10-02T23:56:49Z")
Well, the main teaching language here was not English, so maybe I shouldn’t add that these TA sessions could have names like ‘assistentials’, ‘assars’ or ‘tutorials’. There’s one English-language programme where students seem to call those sessions ‘recaps’ (as in recapitulations). ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/11 "2010-10-03T00:01:58Z")
Discussion sections here, section for short. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/12 "2010-10-03T00:06:25Z")
For some of my math classes, I had tutorials where the T.A. would answer questions that students had about homework assignments, class material, etc. It wasn’t an extra lecture, though. For one of my history classes, I had a discussion period (or section? I don’t remember) where the T.A. would lead us in a discussion of the assigned reading for the class. Still not an extra lecture, though. EDIT: Oh wait – is “extra-lecture” supposed to mean “outside of lecture hours”? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/13 "2010-10-03T00:20:15Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > EDIT: Oh wait – is “extra-lecture” supposed to mean “outside of lecture hours”? Yes. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/14 "2010-10-03T00:31:54Z")
We called them sections. I didn’t know that that was short for discussion section until now and I was a grad student TA. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/15 "2010-10-03T01:04:24Z")
Discussion sections, or sections. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/16 "2010-10-03T01:14:27Z")
Section. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/17 "2010-10-03T01:48:08Z")
Tutorials. (Canada) ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/18 "2010-10-03T01:58:18Z")
Generally, they were called recitations. In math classes, the same thing was called “math lab,” IIRC. Usually the recitation was led by a TA. A couple times the recitation was led by a second professor. In my computer science class, the lecture and the recitation were handled by two different TAs. I never had contact with a CS professor. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/19 "2010-10-03T02:05:33Z")
I think I had “quiz sections” as an undergrad. Although they were generally lead by the professor ( small, strictly undergraduate institution, few TAs), and generally did not have quizzes. Well, I guess they sort of had quizzes–they had homework problems to do in class, and then more to work on your own or in groups later . . . ---
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/20 "2010-10-03T02:16:21Z")
Recitation [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871.md?page=2)