Through your experience how hard are college lab classes ?

[texasdent13]

Hi. I'm starting my freshman year of college in a month and I have a bio lab and a Chem lab first semester. In your opinion how hard do you find college lab classes and how time consuming do they end up being? Thank you.

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[JoshDunc]

Chemistry laboratory was a cake walk in my opinion. You do a bunch of chemical reactions, etc. I took Zoology in place of Biology and I thought it was fun but challenging. In Zoology we had Identification exams on microorganisms, etc. As long as you study you will be fine. Also, I know I'm Pre-Optometry but figured I'd answer lol good luck!

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[Mad Jack]

Labs are up about 4 hours a piece for each report per week, plus lab time, when I was taking them. They weren't hard so much as tedious- you have to be thorough in your reports if you expect As. The classes themselves weren't so bad, but the homework could also be time consuming. We had Mastering Physics in my physics class, for instance, which could take me 2-5 hours per week. Keep in mind I'm a bit slower with math, and that I was doing A level work (aside from one A-) in my lab courses, so I might have overkilled it a bit. In summary, be prepared for some tedious work, but nothing excessively challenging.

 

[dentjo]

General Chemistry and Introductory biology labs are easy. Now, some upper level chemistry labs are very hard and time consuming (3 credit pchem lab). Anatomy and physiology labs are not hard, but really time consuming because you need to memorize everything.

 

[bengirlxD]

Labs are notorious for being really long but to be honest but they are not that hard. At my school in chem lab you are pushed to get your experiment done in time which can be a pain in the butt because if you screw up you have to do it all over again. Bio labs on the other hand is a piece of cake. Overall labs are much easier than lecture.

 

[texasdent13]

You guys find the labs easier than the lectures ?

 

[texasdent13]

Thank you for all the replies

 

[bengirlxD]

You guys find the labs easier than the lectures ?

Yeah definitely. Lectures is all about knowing the material. Labs is applying the material and you are given concise instructions on how to do things. But if you do bad in lecture, you will do bad in lab. They go hand in hand so you need to stay on top. I have gotten perfect scores in almost all my lab classes where I have borderline A's in lecture for example.

 

[BeaverLover]

Definitely easier. Some labs even have 30-50% of the grade based on lab notebook lol

 

[arkenstone]

Strangely, if you're the kind of student who gets A's easily without a lot of study time, labs will seem like the hardest part of school to you... because there's no way to make them go faster. They're just time consuming.

At the end of the day, the labs will depend on the instructor. Make sure you know your teacher's expectations for the write up. How much detail they want will determine the tediousness of the lab.

 

[fitnessdent]

My experience with lab is that they are usually quite long and time consuming. In terms of difficulty, however, they are not that hard. We did have to write well written lab reports and indicate good results in order to receive decent grades though.

 

[kangsuj92]

Depending on which lab it is for. My biochemistry lab was extremely difficult

 

[texasdent13]

Depending on which lab it is for. My biochemistry lab was extremely difficult

Was your lecture extremely difficult as well?

 

[hellofuturedentists]

Lab difficulties will vary greatly by university and professor. You should find some upperclassmen at your university (maybe in pre-dental club) and ask these questions. I'm sure they'd be happy to help!

 

[Polkadotfan]

Labs aren't hard if you are able to really dedicate the time. Don't rush. Don't feel bad if everyone gets done before you. I found them harder because like others said they're just so time consuming. Just be thorough and don't worry until you get there

 

[okiedokeartichoke]

I found my biology labs to be really chill. They just had all the equipment set out and we followed the professor's written manual, identifying what things were under the microscopes or what the parts were on the particular species we were inspecting/dissecting. If we had any questions, the professor or TA would help us. We'd jot down all our observations in detailed notebooks, drawing them out and labeling the parts. Our notebooks were a good chunk of our grade, but we also had quizzes every week and lab practicals. My chem labs on the other hand ... I was always nervous to do something wrong, especially during orgo lab. I'd especially be worried when my reaction didn't yield enough product because we were graded on our reports mostly, and then the notebooks second. Chem labs gave me anxiety sometimes lol, but that's just me.

 

[flossiraptor863]

It all depends on the university. Some lab classes are the easiest credits you'll get and other lab classes are unreasonably difficult.

 

[nonociceptors]

Hi. I'm starting my freshman year of college in a month and I have a bio lab and a Chem lab first semester. In your opinion how hard do you find college lab classes and how time consuming do they end up being? Thank you.

you haven't even started college yet and you're here already? best advice I can give you is to leave, study for your classes, don't procrastinate too much, and have fun. don't come back until you need the DAT forums to start studying for the DAT lol

also, declaring your major as bio as an incoming freshman doesn't mean all that much. people switch majors like they're going out of style, so don't get yourself so set on bio if you end up liking something else more! you never know. besides, in most cases all science majors take the same classes for the first 2 years so...

 

[tortelliniboy]

Haven't ran into a hard lab amongst the prereqs they're all pretty much jokes

 

[y3nd0]

I really sucked at lab work (and I mean really sucked), but even the lab classes were manageable. The only lab class that really got to me was an honors O-chem lab that had me writing 15 page write ups. Since I was such a procrastinator (still am), I would pull all nighters just to finish them.

Saw your other thread about which science classes were hard. The easiest ones were the ones I was interested in (microbio, evolution based science classes), hardest ones were the ones where I had very little to no interest in (3rd quarter biochem was mostly about research - hated it). Also depends on your professors. Most of my biochem professors were bores. As mentioned, the latter part of my last quarter of biochem was taught by a professor who liked lecturing on lab techniques, research, his research, etc. The only C I had ever received in my life was in that class.

 

[ajj70]

My high school chem teacher was a stickler for labs and having everything 100% correct. Hardest teacher I've ever had. College labs are like kindergarten compared to that!

 

[goldcrown17]

It depends on your college. For me, general chemistry was 3 hours of lab a week and a stupid, long, and impossible report each week that took us (the students) about 6 hours a week. Organic chem was easier however only the top 10% got an A, the next 10% an A-, the next 10% a B+ and the next 20% a B where everyone else got a C, D, or failed depending on the midterm and final. Biology labs are usually easy with little work, yet fun and informative.

 

[MRZ8]

You guys find the labs easier than the lectures ?

Depends on your college, but I think for the most, lab is easier than lecture. Professors try to link the lab to lecture topics, but labs are conducted systematically with step-by-step procedures, which are easy to follow. For example, I got an F in Organic Chemistry I lecture but an A- in the lab.

 

[byahnoob]

Labs aren't hard but overkill. Too much time is being wasted for labs. Definitely easier than lecture.

 

[virtualmaster999]

I thought Gen Chem (plus the lab) was a lot harder than orgo haha...the upper level classes I've taken seemed a LOT more natural and simplistic to me then Gen chem (mostly gen chem 2) idk why tho!

 

[AG94]

For me the Chem labs were always rushed to finish in time and the reports were extremely tedious and graded pretty hard. I still did well it was just a pain in the ass to put in so much work for 1 credit. On the other hand many of my bio labs finished way early and required much less at home work. Once you learn how to take a lab course it will become much easier and less time consuming.

 

[ajj70]

I thought Gen Chem (plus the lab) was a lot harder than orgo haha...the upper level classes I've taken seemed a LOT more natural and simplistic to me then Gen chem (mostly gen chem 2) idk why tho!

I thought the same. Gen Chem is the weed out class for science majors at our school though so that is probably why.

 

[dentdiva]

For me, labs have always been WAAAAAY easier than the class that it goes along with.