Labs in undergrad?

[arthur2647]

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Hi, im a freshman, taking bio this semester. I feel like lab is so boring and annoying. We come in every time and have different groups, and sometimes they are lazy and cause the group to fall behind. Everything feels rushed and it seems that all we have to do is put a few things together in a test tube or beaker and get results for it so we can get a grade. I just feel like im learning so much more in my lecture which i really enjoy even though its tough while in labs im just trying to get results so i can receive a grade for them. The teacher who is a Grad student even said i just want you to complete your write ups, and they dont have to be correct. She only explains the basic concepts of what were doing and mainly just how to do the labs. Is it normal to feel like labs suck, or are boring?

 

[Morsetlis]

Hi, im a freshman, taking bio this semester. I feel like lab is so boring and annoying. We come in every time and have different groups, and sometimes they are lazy and cause the group to fall behind. Everything feels rushed and it seems that all we have to do is put a few things together in a test tube or beaker and get results for it so we can get a grade. I just feel like im learning so much more in my lecture which i really enjoy even though its tough while in labs im just trying to get results so i can receive a grade for them. The teacher who is a Grad student even said i just want you to complete your write ups, and they dont have to be correct. She only explains the basic concepts of what were doing and mainly just how to do the labs. Is it normal to feel like labs suck, or are boring?

Almost everybody hate labs. Even the TA's (they're required to TA for you to complete their grad degrees, btw).

I think I was successful in destroying matter during that caffeine purification lab.

Oh, and I punctured the bottom of the bomb calorimeter styrofoam cup w/ the thermometer about 15 min before the lab ended. I still got an A in that class.

 

[circulus vitios]

Yes, they're a ******ed waste of time. Physics labs are the absolute worst.

 

[FloatOn]

Yeah...physics labs sucked. Bio was nauseatingly boring too. I thought organic labs were pretty fun, though. Who doesn't love a good fractional distillation?

 

[Morsetlis]

Yeah...physics labs sucked. Bio was nauseatingly boring too. I thought organic labs were pretty fun, though. Who doesn't love a good fractional distillation?

It puts the acids with the bases...

 

[SusGob711]

I'm not sure I've met anyone who likes labs. All of my TA's seem to take their labs VERY seriously. I think my 1 credit labs require as much work as the 4 credit lecture

 

[Frazier]

labs + lame = lame-bs

 

[orthomyxo]

Bio lab is sooooooo boring. Identifying different types of algae with a microscope = not fun.

My chem lab this semester sucks too...my partner is really quiet, so it's usually super awkward

 

[schrizto]

I made a thread a while ago with the same topic. The search feature's down right now, so I can't link to it for you, but the consensus was the same.

 

[Narmerguy]

Labs blow.

 

[tinery]

i have to disagree...my bio lab was pretty fun. we did a bunch of dissections (old sharks smell like what you'd expect them to, but i did feel bad about the turtle). i liked orgo lab too even though i absolutely HATED everything else about it. chem lab was fun too.

i DO agree about physics. what a freaking waste of time. it was made a lot worse by the fact that my lab partner had some b.o. issues.

 

[saveourpens]

aside from my phsyics lab where we're done very early every week, not too much work (and its 2 credits), everything else sucked.

organic lab- writing 10-15 page lab reports over every weekend was not fun

chem - labs took f in forever,

bio - again, never let out early, had to read thick boring packets before every lab to do good on the weekly quiz.

 

[lcr2108]

i had fun in physics lab! only because the TA after my section hated when people messed with our computer backgrounds so on the last day of lab, i posted this image on every single computer

my buddy in the next section told me the TA was so flustered that he couldn't talk for five minutes lol

 

[schrizto]

i have to disagree...my bio lab was pretty fun. we did a bunch of dissections (old sharks smell like what you'd expect them to, but i did feel bad about the turtle). i liked orgo lab too even though i absolutely HATED everything else about it. chem lab was fun too.

i DO agree about physics. what a freaking waste of time. it was made a lot worse by the fact that my lab partner had some b.o. issues.

How come I never get to dissect sharks and turtles in bio? Was this a general bio lab or was it something more like zoology?

 

[assturtle]

yep, labs suck all right. I truly despise chemistry labs. biology labs are easy, but a snore. physics.. don't mind too much. at least we did interesting experiments in ours.

 

[MSUSpartan642]

It puts the acids with the bases...

 

[Procyon]

Labs stress me out. I know one of these days I'm going to screw up my experiment badly and it will make me sad, so I tend to be overly cautious.

But seriously. I never did any of this kind of stuff in my high school lab. I kind of assume the other people in my labs are more familiar with lab techniques/equipment for some reason, because they all seem comfortable doing these things already... The first time I tried to use a pipet with one of those manual rubber ball vaccum things was a disaster. Luckily I found out that we have the kind where you just push the button up and down.

 

[Abby_Normal]

I think it depends on the lab. The thing is that most basic science course labs are more about illustrating concepts from lecture and teaching technique than anything else, so I think it really depends on how it is taught/the atmosphere of the class.

 

[Hifey]

g chem lab: I never really had a great partner and only like 1/ 30 labs was interesting. hated it.

ochem lab: much more interesting, engaging, and social. still happy when it was over.

bio lab: i hated my general one that had an eco/evo leaning ( we had separate roly polys by sex...that was disgusting). It was boring to the extreme and just a waste of time.

upper div physio lab: it was fun most days. Just because its actually interesting and relevant to medicine. it was hard though.

physics lab: BIGGEST WASTE OF MY LIFE. so glad thats over!

 

[Zona Pellucida]

Intro labs in general SUCK.

It's not until you start getting into some upper level courses that they get a bit more interesting (like Micro, Cell, Chrodate Anatomy, Microbial Ecology, etc.)

 

[circulus vitios]

Actually, chemistry labs might be worse than physics labs. I hate working with community chemicals (that is, chemicals that everyone on my bench row shares) because the idiots contaminate the hell out of them and destroy my results. It's happened like a half dozen times now.

Me: Uhhh....is this supposed to be yellow? (It should be clear.)
Idiot labmate: Well, it is now!

 

[JoshUNCW]

Actually, chemistry labs might be worse than physics labs. I hate working with community chemicals (that is, chemicals that everyone on my bench row shares) because the idiots contaminate the hell out of them and destroy my results. It's happened like a half dozen times now.

Me: Uhhh....is this supposed to be yellow? (It should be clear.)
Idiot labmate: Well, it is now!

Idk, I never had a problem with people contaminating community chemicals.

 

[BlitzSleep]

I haven't had a problem with any of the labs, except for quantitative analysis. I would rather be round house kicked in the groin by Chuck Norris than to experience that again.

 

[tinery]

How come I never get to dissect sharks and turtles in bio? Was this a general bio lab or was it something more like zoology?

It was an intro bio course. At my school there are 2 intro bios, regular lecture, and auto-tutorial where there are only like 4 lectures/semester and you do units on your own and get quizzed on them.

We had about 5 bio labs per semester, the memorable ones were the deuterostome dissection, rat dissection, eyeball dissection, and cardiopulmonary (we measured cardio outputs and had to do a mini experiment-me and my partner measured blood pressure of athletes vs nonathletes after jumping jacks). Obviously we had a couple boring ones like enzymes...and plants...bleh.

 

[shishka32]

Labs suck. There's no way around it.

 

[Morsetlis]

What's wrong with physics lab? My physics lab also included statistical analysis (basically, everything about a bell curve and margins of error).

For our first lab we hiked down to Black's Beach (with tall cliffs) and tried to measure the circumference/mass/whatever the **** of the Earth using hand signals and stopwatches.

One thing I'll say about physics labs though, there are very few chemicals involved. You don't even have to wear a lab coat most of the time.

 

[s1lver]

I hate labs especially if you have a worthless partner. My Chem lab partner found out last sem after the second experiment that I cared about my grade so he just let me do all the work. I spoke to my TA about it but basically said I had to suck it up unless I can convince someone to switch partners. No luck there.

This semester, I'm 0/3 in terms of lab attendance (bio & chem labs) because I fear that once I find out that my lab partner is worthless again, I'm gonna start throwing punches and breaking stuff.

Labs suck.




PS - It's also three f*cking hours long! Three hours of torture. Nothing more worthless in my undergrad life right now than labs. Pure worhtlessness.

 

[circulus vitios]

What's wrong with physics lab? My physics lab also included statistical analysis (basically, everything about a bell curve and margins of error).

Chemistry labs involve mixing, boiling, distilling, filtering, recrystallizing, etc. It's kind of fun when you don't mess up steps in the procedure or get contaminated chemicals.

Physics labs involve measuring things. It's never fun.

 

[Techno]

You got to do what you got to do. I guess they aren't that bad. Actually they are.

 

[schrizto]

I hate labs especially if you have a worthless partner. My Chem lab partner found out last sem after the second experiment that I cared about my grade so he just let me do all the work. I spoke to my TA about it but basically said I had to suck it up unless I can convince someone to switch partners. No luck there.

This semester, I'm 0/3 in terms of lab attendance (bio & chem labs) because I fear that once I find out that my lab partner is worthless again, I'm gonna start throwing punches and breaking stuff.

Labs suck.




PS - It's also three f*cking hours long! Three hours of torture. Nothing more worthless in my undergrad life right now than labs. Pure worhtlessness.

Um, you're so scared of the chance of getting another douche lab partner that you just don't show up at all?