So, im just wondering what exactly do students do in the tutorials? Is it mandatory to attend? Cuz im hearing/read mixed things about it on the Course Review Section which is quite old now

Originally Posted by lalalola2011

So, im just wondering what exactly do students do in the tutorials? Is it mandatory to attend? Cuz im hearing/read mixed things about it on the Course Review Section which is quite old now

They're not mandatory. You usually just take up practice questions that are posted each week. You can also ask your TA questions from concepts that you didn't understand in lecture.

there are a set of questions you work on in tutorial. the answers to these are posted at the end of each week.

Originally Posted by lalalola2011

So, im just wondering what exactly do students do in the tutorials? Is it mandatory to attend? Cuz im hearing/read mixed things about it on the Course Review Section which is quite old now

Personally, I found Chem tutorials to be a waste of time (I only went twice for Chem 1A03 tutorials). Basically, the TA makes you discuss the question set (which is posted on Avenue) with other students in the tutorial so that everyone understands how to do each question. They recommend that you attempt all the questions before coming to tutorial. Anyways, the questions were usually easy and the profs posted the full solutions for each problem at the end of the week anyways.

I recommend going for tutorials unless you can't learn in a classroom setting.

I can learn material in lecture. I can learn when it's hands on. But the tutorials were always a bit too slow for me. That didn't mean I understood all of them. It was just not productive for me personally. If you're the type of person who will dedicate tutorial time to working on those problems or other things that will help you be more productive, don't go. If you have a difficult TA that you don't learn well from, find another tutorial. If you think it's just a waste of time and don't plan to do anything better with that time slot, might as well go and hear another explanation of the material in a different way.

This requires not kidding yourself. I.e. Let's say you know that you really waste a lot of time. It's been 2 weeks and of tutorial and you still haven't taught yourself much on your own and are still struggling. Then yes, you probably should go.

Tutorials are not mandatory. Some people found it helpful; others didn't. I personally did not find it to be useful as the TA did absolutely nothing during my tutorial. Even when I had asked him a specific question, he couldn't help much. But if you encounter this case next year, you can always sit in another tutorial if you want - they don't take attendance.