What is exactly a lab in college

[Sherif]

What is exactly a lab in college? People are making a big deal out of it and i don't know how diffrent it is from high school labs. So enlighten me. Why do people say that it is impossible to take 2 classes that have labs at the same time

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[TRUE]

That's not impossible (having two classes with lab at the same time). Generally speaking, labs are 4-5 hours of classtime per week with a 3-4 hour out of class hw time load (really varies on the class and how it's taught). Some would say labs are a lot of work, but it depends on the school and the teachers. I personally would not say that it's impossible to take 2 classes with lab at the same time.

 

[elephino]

It is in no way impossible to take 2 lab courses at the same time. Most science major curriculum call for at least 2 courses with lab a semester as it is.
Lab typically is held once a week for 2-4 hours depending on the class, so it definitely cuts into your free time, but that's about it.
It offers time to do practically what you've been learning about in lecture and I have found is usually fun anyway, even if you do have to spend more time "in class". Also, you probably will be receiving at least one credit per lab.

 

[irie]

Well, general chemistry lab, for example, lasts 3 or 4 hours each week. Then, the write-up for that lab usually ends up at about 10 pages. Plus, you have to spend time writing a pre-lab. Time consuming.

Anatomy lab consists of tons of memorization. A typical lab includes 4 hours of staring at a cadaver followed by 4 more hours at an open lab session. Then add on 4-8 hours for studying at home and you have 12 hours/ week dedicated to one lab. This becomes problematic when you combine it with a social life plus 4 other classes.

 

[uL007]

i agree.
i took three one semester. it's just not that much fun... but definitely doable. they're diff from high school labs when it comes down to time... labs are much much longer in college (4-5 hours)😱

 

[fullefect1]

My labs are 2 1/2 hours each. I take 2 this semester. It is not a big deal at all. You shouldn't even be concerned about it.

 

[Cerberus]

i've taken 3 labs together before - it sucks ass but it is doable. Labs arent hard they just require you to be there. They are in my opinion one of the most useless aspects of college science courses.

 

[Ernham]

They can be a big deal. Multiple labs dramatically increase your chances of getting slammed with multiple exams in one or two days.

 

[jlee9531]

my upper div lab at cal was 5 units.

met for 3 times a week and we were in lab on average 4 hours a day. tho there have been times when my partner never came and i had to do the work for two and that kept me there close to 6 hours.

lower division labs can still be time consuming as well. labs in college are nothing like labs in high school where you do the lab during the 1 hour period haha.

can range from 3-5 hours depending on the science class and multiple labs can definitely take a lot energy out of you.

i liked my labs since they made sure our labs were coordinated with lecture material and helped me learn conceptually the stuff in lecture. they were helpful in my learning experience.

 

[group_theory]

While most introductory labs are 3-4 hrs/week in length, the higher ones can be time consuming

Orgo lab was 8-9 hrs/week

Advance orgo lab was around 8-9 hrs/week

Pchem lab - although only 8hrs/week, requires a very very long lab write-up (math and calculation heavy with lots of data ~ 50 pages per lab report)

Advance pchem lab - dear god, why would anyone suffer needlessly

Of course, it all depends on how your school curriculum is structured (is it orgo + lab, or is the lab a seperate course)


It's doable - but be prepared to spend a lot of time in a lab setting 🙁

 

[underAchiever]

It's not at all unusual for people to take two or three labs a semester. Provided you dont otherwise overload yourself, there is nothing to worrly about, at least in the lower level classses. Only thing I did not like was labs got ahead of both lecturese and exams fell on the same day.I cannot speak for the upper division.

 

[Tiki]

I had four labs last year. I'm not going to lie, it was horrible.

Genetics
Developmental
Physics II
Orgo II

But I survived. Our labs aren't five hours though, they are only three hours. The hardest part about having multiple labs is fitting them into your schedule. I had to go to school five days a week versus now I have two labs and go M, W, F.

 

[smuwillobrien]

I'm taking three labs right now (biology, chemistry, and physics). It's not bad at all, but it's 9 hours of lab work and about 6 hours of homework I could do without. 😉

 

[Cerberus]

my problem with labs has always been that I think they are pretty much a big waste of time. Never have I learned something in a lab that I couldnt have learned out of a book in a tenth of the time. Lab reports are an incredible waste of time too and are in my opinion nothing more than busy work. Labs take up afternoons and add unneeded stress without really increasing your knowledge of a subject.

 

[medius]

our Ochem lab was 6 hours long. 🙁

 

[UCLAstudent]

G-chem lab was 4 hours a week, o-chem lab was 6 hours a week, and physics labs were 2 hours a week. The chem labs in particular were difficult, especially with the lab reports.

 

[smuwillobrien]

I'm not sure about organic chemistry here, but at least for general chemistry the majority of the lab work is done on the computers. All of our temperature probes, pH probes, ... are all connected to a computer running LoggerPro. It generates the graphs, lets us perform mathematical stat functions, ... It's great. The only real work is in having to create a flowchart for each lab, and having to read a whole bunch of foreground crap and do an assignment on that. It's good though.

I find the worst is the biology labs. We do a 10-12 page report every week, and they are a huge pain in the ass.

 

[musiclink213]

the run down in my school:

gen chem labs are 3 hours
intro buo is 3 hours/week
orgo labs are 4 hours/week
calc-based physics 5 hours/week
non-calc-based physics 4 hours/week
biochem 6 hours/week
middle level chem courses (quant, medicinal, etc.) 4 hours/weel
insanely hard chem courses (p-chem, instrumental) 6 hours/week
most upper division bio labs 3 hours/week

in my school, chem and physics labs you do all the work by yourself, but in the bio labs, you get to work in groups, which really is not fair for us chem people who take more labs than the bio people anyway. we don't require a formal lab report for every lab we do, but we have to keep a neat, organized lab notebook with discussion in it and stuff. formal lab reports we do generally 2-4 times a semester, and those are like 10 pages each. the most time consuming part of hte lab when you're not in lab is doing all the math and chart and discussions.

 

[Sherif]

Lecture and laboratory 4 hours. So does that mean that everyweek for 4 hours we are doing a lab and for chemistry it is one hour. so does that mean everyweek for an hour we do a lab

 

[Bad Mojo]

Originally posted by irie
Well, general chemistry lab, for example, lasts 3 or 4 hours each week. Then, the write-up for that lab usually ends up at about 10 pages. Plus, you have to spend time writing a pre-lab. Time consuming.

10 pages? Ouch, makes me glad I went to an easy school.

 

[DocWannaBe85]

General Chem/Bio labs at my school meet once a week for 2 hours. The reports range from 2-4 pages (excluding graphs).

 

[Nutmeg]

Originally posted by Cerberus
my problem with labs has always been that I think they are pretty much a big waste of time. Never have I learned something in a lab that I couldnt have learned out of a book in a tenth of the time. Lab reports are an incredible waste of time too and are in my opinion nothing more than busy work. Labs take up afternoons and add unneeded stress without really increasing your knowledge of a subject.

I couldn't disagree more. Lab classes are the only part of the science curriculum where you can really do scientific work. Anything you can learn in a book is a waste of time for school--why pay big money to a university when you can just read a book? Personally, I think that for humanities majors, the value comes from group discussions, and for science majors, the value comes from labs. Labs are your chance to learn through observation and hypothesis, rather than just reading a book. Reading books can't prepare you to be a scientist at all, and labs can give you a degree of critical thought that makes it easier to find the parts of you book which are riddled with weak reasoning and faulty conclusions.

My lab classes have all been time-sucks. As a general rule, one unit means one hour of class time per week, while one unit of lab means three hours of class time per week. My lower division labs were six hours/week for bio and gen chem, 3 hrs/week for physics, and 8 hrs/week for o-chem. My upper division labs have ranged from 3 to 8 hours per week as well. Right now I have 14 hours/week in two lab classes. In genneral, labs are more time consuming, more frustrating, and more rewarding. The only times labs are pointless and time-wasting are when you are looking at slides or doing some crappy computer demo.

 

[YaFwiendToluene]

Gen Bio Labs- 2/hrs a week in lab...2-3 hours outside lab
Gen Chemistry Lab- 3 hrs a week in lab-3 hours outside
Sophmore Organic Labs-3 hrs a week- 2 hours outside lab
Advanced Organic Chem Lab- 8 hrs lab week....6 hours outside lab
Calc Physics Lab-3 hrs lab....1-2 hours outside lab
Organic Chemistry Research Lab- 12 hrs lab a week..1-2 hours outside.

Labs can get Hectic.

Cya

 

[musiclink213]

Originally posted by Sherif
Lecture and laboratory 4 hours. So does that mean that everyweek for 4 hours we are doing a lab and for chemistry it is one hour. so does that mean everyweek for an hour we do a lab

usually, you have around 4 hours lecture (not every day!) and then the lab. it's usually in addition to the lecture. now i'm not sure what you're asking because i can't comprehend too well right now, but the lab is an add-on to lecture (in just about every school i know of)