# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/21 "2010-10-04T11:31:36Z")
“Lab” for some strange reason, as I recall. Had nothing to do with science or test-tubes. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/22 "2010-10-04T12:02:35Z")
Section. (California, 1970s) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/23 "2010-10-04T12:52:13Z")
Recitation. (FWIW: A “seminar” would be a class with rotating presenters. Usually a mix of profs and students presenting recent research and once a week. Grad level or occasionally senior level in their major.) ---
**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/24 "2010-10-04T15:17:09Z")
Discussion section. I only ever had one, but I think that’s what they were called. (I was one of 9 archaeology majors.) ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/25 "2010-10-04T15:25:38Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > 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. That was always amazing at MIT. I remember having 2 different Nobel prize winners teaching recitations, one of them for a freshman physics class. ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Norse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/big_norse/32/9954_2.png) [@Big\_Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Norse)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/26 "2010-10-04T20:05:56Z")
Study sessions ---
**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 4, 2010, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/27 "2010-10-04T20:21:42Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > > [@Voyager](#): > > > > 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. > > That was always amazing at MIT. I remember having 2 different Nobel prize winners teaching recitations, one of them for a freshman physics class. For Biology, I had one (who taught the big lecture) fill in for the TA who taught the quiz section. Yes, pretty awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Shadowfyre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfyre/32/9972_2.png) [@Shadowfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadowfyre)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/28 "2010-10-04T20:35:26Z")
At the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), back in the 90’s at least, we called them “Labs”. Since IIT was primarily an engineering school, most of our “Labs” were in a lab of some sort. Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science - they all had their own laboratories. The chem labs had the stereotypical test tubes and beakers and whatnot. The EE labs had all sorts of oscilloscopes and other gadgets with flashing lights. However, the early math classes also had a “lab” class that met in a large classroom. That was where we turned in the current week’s homework and worked out every problem of last week’s homework. I guess it was just easier to call it a “lab” in the course catalog than something else. For these classes, the lectures were in big lecture halls on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and you could sign up for a lab session on Tuesdays or Thursdays, so there were usually less people in the lab than in the full lecture. The labs were usually taught by TA’s but I had a EE lab where the professor of the lecture was running it and had a TA as an actual assistant - finding spare parts for circuits, helping students troubleshoot circuits and such… ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/29 "2010-10-04T21:05:15Z")
We called them “dates.” ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/30 "2010-10-04T21:08:26Z")
> [@ReticulatingSplines](#): > > We called them “dates.” Damn it! I read that whole thread to see if anyone else made the joke, and there you are, right at the end. Missed it by _that_ much! ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/31 "2010-10-04T21:58:10Z")
When I was a student, they were called “recitations”. At McGill, where I spent most of my career they are called tutorials. Neither word is especially evocative of what they are (which consist mainly of going over the homework and answering questions–but does any student ever ask any question other than, “Is this going to be on the exam?” ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/32 "2010-10-04T22:54:46Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > > [@ReticulatingSplines](#): > > > > We called them “dates.” > > Damn it! I read that whole thread to see if anyone else made the joke, and there you are, right at the end. Missed it by _that_ much! I too was shocked that I was the first to pluck the lowest of the low-hanging fruit… ---
**Author:** ![kathmandu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kathmandu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kathmandu)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/33 "2010-10-04T22:57:30Z")
Tutorials, and the grad students who led them were TA’s. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/34 "2010-10-04T23:26:24Z")
Sections, led by GTAs. Harvard, 80s. ---
**Author:** ![Omi\_no\_Kami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Omi\_no\_Kami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omi_no_Kami)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/35 "2010-10-04T23:34:34Z")
In my american school, they were called Reading Sessions in the arts school, and Lab Sections in the science and engineering schools. Lab _classes_ were open-ended experimental sections, lab _sections_ were highly structured research or lecture classes led by a TA. When I did my graduate work in Canada we called them Sections, but they were very rare- the only time I saw dedicated sections were in the large undergrad courses (university writing, in particular) that had 100+ students and used general lecture to cover the broad strokes and 10-15 person TA-d sections to do exercises, ask questions, and generally try to get people engaged with the material. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/36 "2010-10-05T00:02:15Z")
AIR we called it “discussion” ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/37 "2010-10-05T00:15:23Z")
Pretty sure they were “TA sessions.” ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/38 "2010-10-05T00:48:58Z")
I went to a small college that didn’t have a graduate program, but I’m a TA now, and we call them recitations. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/39 "2010-10-06T22:30:41Z")
Hanging out at the Pub? After seeing other responses, I agree with discussion sections. ---
**Author:** ![Gestalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90ced4/32.png) [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-call-extra-lecture-sessions-with-the-ta-when-you-were-in-college/555871/40 "2010-10-06T22:33:06Z")
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