Take Lab Right after Lecture?

[justadream]

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Let's say I have lecture for Gen Chem (or any other science) in the morning. I have many options for when to take the lab class. Do you recommend taking the corresponding lab immediately afterwards, in the evening, or even on another day? I'm a pre-frosh so I don't really know if this even matters. Do the labs generally follow the lecture (are they at the same pace)?

Thx!

 

[JonnyL]

At a university, Labs have smaller class sizes obviously (about 20 or so) and are usually not led by the professor.

At a CC though, labs are generally placed either right after/before lecture or days in between lecture and are led by the professor. Not sure if you're attending one though.

Personally for me, I prefer labs and lectures on separate days but I wouldn't mind one after the other. It really depends on the rest of my class schedule.

 

[Iso4ane]

Well, it depends on the school, the labs sometime do follow the lecture sometimes they don't, and going straight from lecture to lab might be too much if you aren't used to it or if it isn't your forte. But it is definitely doable, just do what makes your schedule better (for you personally.) Cause some people like their classes crammed together while others don't.

 

[deleted307836]

It really depends on what your individual preferences are. In chem the labs will loosely follow lecture, so it really wouldn't put you at a disadvantage to take the lab immediately afterwards.

I've done both, and they are each nice for different reasons and each has their drawbacks. I liked taking lab immediately right after lecture as I was able to focus on the subject all at one time instead of breaking it up throughout the week -- I also felt like I had more free time this way even though it's kind of psychological.

On the other hand, assuming you don't have separate exam dates from lecture, there will be times when you'll have lab immediately right after a test. This puts extra pressure on you because you then have to study for the test AND get your pre-lab work done, while if you had lab at a different time you wouldn't have as much to prepare for in the same amount of time.

So if you're not sure, I would generally recommend taking lab on a different day from lecture if you're just starting college and you're not sure what works well for you yet.

 

[tman5890]

I try to take labs on days I don't have many/any other classes. Some labs go from 3-6hrs, so I think you would want to take care of other things before/after.

 

[Wolfman89]

I generally prefer to take my lab classes on different days from my lecture, so the studying and pre-lab work is easier to handle from a time management perspective.

 

[vanillabear55]

I try to take labs on days I don't have many/any other classes. Some labs go from 3-6hrs, so I think you would want to take care of other things before/after.

I generally prefer to take my lab classes on different days from my lecture, so the studying and pre-lab work is easier to handle from a time management perspective.

agree 100%

my o-chem lab runs minimum of 4 hours, so its going to be nice to just have to worry about only that on fridays, PLUS it starts at 1 so I have all morning to either sleep late or do lab reports 😀

 

[Wolfman89]

agree 100%

my o-chem lab runs minimum of 4 hours, so its going to be nice to just have to worry about only that on fridays, PLUS it starts at 1 so I have all morning to either sleep late or do lab reports 😀

Exactly. 😀

During the semesters when I had lab and lecture on the same day, I often had to study for both an exam in the lecture and a practical exam in the lab, which was a pain in the ass.