Going to Tutorials [Title Change]

Stabshauptmann

Its definitly possible to get A's without ever going to the library, it is possible to get A's without going to lectures, its probably possilbe to get A's without going to tutorials, heck its possible to get A's without going to any of the above.

but you'd be making your life a lot easier by going to all of the above and if I had to chose, Id say I learnt the most by going to tutorials.

Louth Man

Check out http://www.geocities.com/ucdguide a hopelessy amateurish Frehers Guide I and two friends did for a project in my own 1st year (04/05)

Riamfada

i find tutorials to be a waste of my time. Sitting in silence for 50 mins covering something I could cover on my own in 10 minutes from my lecture notes or blackboard.

Cannibal Ox

I passed all my exams last year, but failed four modules on tutorial marks. If there isn't any percentage, then I'd say make your own mind up on wheter you should go to them or not. If there is marks going for attendance, then you'd be mad to miss them. It's easy marks, and it saves you the stress and general pain in the ass that is the repeats.

Blush_01

DaveMcG wrote:

I know the reason for it, but it doesn't change the fact that most of them were mini-lectures. If I had a question for my tutor, I'd ask them, and if I didn't, then I'd take more notes. I suspect that most people were doing the same.

Dave, do you know how stupid that sounds? You could have changed the mini-lecture nature of your tutorials, didn't, and then complain that that's how they are. Can you explain to me how that works? It's not just about asking questions, it's about making suggestions. The tutor, just like your lecturer, doesn't know EVERYTHING. Sure, they probably know a hell of a lot more than you do at the moment, but make suggestions and even if they're half-formed, they can be worked out in the context of the topic in hand. Tutorals are for expansion.

DaveMcG wrote:

Yeah true enough if you make an impression on your tutor then you're likely to do better in essays, but that doesn't mean you have to attend every tutorial. You can make an impression by contacting them by email, or talking to them in the tutors' office, or by being enthusiastic in the few tutorials you attend.

So with Peachy on this one. Once again, for a reasonably smart guy, you believe some very silly things. Why should a tutor spend hours of their own precious research time preparing their tutorial and give you the same credit as someone who turned up every time, even if you only have a 50% attendance record? Not going to happen, regardless of what way you paint it, unless you're very ill and have a doctor's note for each absence.

DaveMcG wrote:

Well with all due respect I passed this year just fine, having attended few tutorials. I don't think it's relevent that I'm not a graduate, I've still had a lot of tutorials to attend, within the modularised system that graduates aren't familiar with.

With all due respect Dave, Irl has teaching experience as well as studying experience. I'd have more faith in his telling me to go to every tutorial than in your telling me to be selective in the ones I go to. *hands Irl a pin for ego-popping*

DaveMcG wrote:

Zane failed his exams and is just finished repeating 1st year -- and he was advocating 100% attendance in tutorials.

I failed no exams, and am advocating chillaxing a bit.

Draw your own conclusions there.....

Ouch, but this hurts to admit - I have to agree with Sangre. Zane worked hard all year and put in a lot of effort with college. His passing has more to do with learning from the mistakes he made in first year than with picking and choosing the tutorials he attended. You may have been lucky enough to pass without having gone to all your tutorials. Other people won't be that lucky. But, especially in Arts, what's 3 or 4 more hours in a week that only requires 12 to 16 hours in total anyway. You might as well give yourself every opportunity. Why pay for repeats, waste your summer studying and have all the added pressure of exam situations in august when you could just do some work? Passing is not that hard. More than passing, however, at least requires enough dedication to your course to attend tutorials and lectures.

Royale with Cheese

Tutorial attendance would depend on what type of student you are and what subject you're learning. I took Geography and music and for alot of the geography tutorials, the tutors were just repeating what was said in lectures. I was never in to asking questions and didn't really need anything explained to me in geography. My essays were marked by my tutor so I needed to go to hand those in. To be fair with geography, they realised the lack of need for too many tutorials and a few of the earlier ones in first year were spent letting you know about the college (how to use the library, how to properly label an essay, plagiarism etc.) In second and third year there were no tutorials for geography.

However music involved a few courses were you have to know how write a certain style of music and there's various rules on this etc. Tutorials were very handy for this as I missed alot of the lectures and wasn't sure what I was doing at all. The only reason I passed second year was probably because of the tutorials I went to for these classes.

Start off with going to all your tutorials but if you genuinely don't feel you need to be there then I wouldn't say it's neccesary to go.

Chinafoot

What I want to know, from an Arts point of view, is how can a student decide what is and isn't relevent? Are you told before your tutorials what will and won't be on the exams in order for you to pick and choose which tutorials you go to?
I'm pretty sure that for most courses the answer will be no. Therefore you should trust your tutor/lecturer and go to the tutorial that they have planned.

Consider the amount of topics you cover during each course. Now think about the number of tutorials you have for each course. They're not exactly even are they? Each tutorial is relevant in some shape or form. Why else would extra time be devoted to the topic? It's a bit of a no-brainer to be honest.

Other freshers advice: Have as much fun as possible, don't be afraid to have more than one group of friends, have a good balance between study and social life and do your best to make your way through Kaptain's list.

Royale with Cheese

peachypants wrote:

What I want to know, from an Arts point of view, is how can a student decide what is and isn't relevent?

I wouldn't say it's got anything to do with what topics are relevant or not. It's more to do with what you get out of the tutorials and do you actually need to get anything out of them. For geography in first year the exam papers were fairly predictable and the answers to the questions could all be learned from a text book in the library a few weeks before the exams. If you hadn't been to many tutorials I really don't think it would have mattered.

Chinafoot

Royale with Cheese wrote:

I wouldn't say it's got anything to do with what topics are relevant or not. It's more to do with what you get out of the tutorials and do you actually need to get anything out of them.

Well in fairness mate, as clichéd as it sounds and I know all the tutors say it every year, you only get out of your tutorials as much as you put in.
And in my experience the tutorials are not only revision of the lectures but they go into more detail and you can get a better understanding of the topic which is certainly beneficial when it comes to exams.

But then again everyone is different. Either way attending your tutorials can boost your end of year marks that little bit. Might not be the difference between a pass and a fail in all cases but it could be the difference between a first and a 2.1.

Ballerina

God this thread is really off topic.....any freshers out there???*waves*:rolleyes:

TheVan

In the FRESHERs thread....


14 of the first 20 posts were by.....Boards Hacks.....

Come on people....this forum is not an exclusive playground

abelard

Ballerina wrote:

God this thread is really off topic.....any freshers out there???*waves*:rolleyes:

I'm a fresher................watch me dance.
*Dances meekly

Scraggs

TheVan wrote:

In the FRESHERs thread....


14 of the first 20 posts were by.....Boards Hacks.....

Come on people....this forum is not an exclusive playground

Quoted for truth!

peachy wrote:

Other freshers advice:
Have as much fun as possible,
don't be afraid to have more than one group of friends,
have a good balance between study and social life and
do your best to make your way through Kaptain's list

Best advice so far imo!

oh and come to Beers:p

XchampagneX

Ballerina wrote:

God this thread is really off topic.....any freshers out there???*waves*:rolleyes:

*waves back*

m1ke

I know in arts now you get 5% in most modules for just showing up at tutorials. It's the difference between pass/fail or pass with compensation. Nevermind being helped to do essays etc... it will get you 30% on the exam before you even sit it. Don't listen to the complete and utter shyte about tutorials from DaveMcG.

Dave!

Cheers m1ke! None of my tutorials (at all) gave marks for attendance. Guess I was just lucky!

busybee2

it's almost 7 years since i was in UCD, but i found out the hard way that tutorials are VERY IMPORTANT and attendance throughout the year is taken into account if you are borderline pass/fail in the summer exams. considering the high failure rate in arts, it would be EXTREMELY advisable to attend and complete your essays on time. if i'm not mistaken it's a miserable one hour a week, and in fairness lads ye have PLENTY of time to do those essays.....i remember only too well

Riamfada

The archaeology department seem to have given up on tutorials alltogether thus leaving us with the odd seminar which is much more fun. We got split into groups and had great crack .I got to draw a sketch of a "caveman" jumping up and down on a series of crushed houses. It was very funny, you had to be there.

Learning is fun.

fish-head

Hahahah. Sounds brill. We had to draw a picture of a cow and a phone ringing in Art History. Unfortunately that ruined the rest of the lecture for me as I spent the rest of it writing a poem about why my cow, Daisy, said 'Arf!'.

Scraggs

This year all my lectures and tutorials have a percentage going for attendance. Anybody else the same and what do you think of it?

Personally I think its great as it means I'll attend more and work more consistently.. and easy marks ftw:)

Waltons

Marks for attending tutorials are a good idea, I think. Especially if there's usually a low turnout, or the tutorials are important in terms of helping people pass (as is, apparently, the case with the mathsy economics students)
Easy marks ftw indeed

Blush_01

TheVan wrote:

In the FRESHERs thread....


14 of the first 20 posts were by.....Boards Hacks.....

Come on people....this forum is not an exclusive playground

Those "boards hacks" were responding to a question asked by a... Fresher!

It did get a bit out of hand, but I still advocate 100% tutorial attendance. I just think that people should be made aware of how much tutorials count for - I never really knew. But then again, I'm the attendin' type.