Most if not all classes have TAs. What TAs do depends on the TA themselves and the class they're TAing for. The professors teach the class, and the TAs handle the (usually) 1 hour discussion sections a week. Again, depending on the class and the TA's attitude, they could give out HW answers, review materials, present materials in a different light than the professor, and some even have some nifty tricks for memorizing materials for the class like mnemonics.
For the clusters, I know some TAs for the IRD graded on actual quality of participation, while I heard a few just gave points for showing up. For the clusters, discussions are mandatory, and some TAs will allow students out early, while others will hold the students in until the very last second. They usually go over the reading for the week, and have some sort of open discussion about the lectures that went on. Some had some small projects and presentations that students had to do in discussion, and during the weeks before an essay is due, you spend most of the class time just peer reviewing each other's drafts.
The main grade in the IRD class is based on essays, and so most people will go to a TAs office hours to have the TA revise their paper (since they are the graders afterall) to the point that the TA has run out of suggestions/criticisms.
so the discussions group are part of every class at UCLA, not just freshmen clusters? how much do the things you do during discussions like discussing/participating, small projects, etc affect you grade ?
Again it depends on the class. Most discussions will be optional, and so only a handful of the enrolled students will actually show up. I've had mixed feelings about them- some are just a waste of time and I'll sleep in instead, while others were actually useful and helped me out during exams.
If they're required like the clusters, it's up to the discretion of the TA to determine how many points their projects will be worth (since some have projects they designed, while others don't).
for the freshmen clusters, will it hurt if someone is shy like me? i dont really like to participate in discussions, so will that hurt my grade if i do choose a cluster? or will i just have to suck it up and talk?
ucapplicant05Registered UserPosts: 1,415Senior Member
You should suck it up and talk. You have to take a seminar anyways.
For the biotech cluster, attendence and pre-lab quizzes counted towards participation. So you can get a good solid A- for participation by just acing simple quizzes and always showing up. And participation only counted towards 15% of the overall grade.
You should learn to love participation grades.. at least the way it was done in that cluster. It's pretty much an easy grade compared to exams and papers.
Based on my firends at UCLA the quarter system is fine. They go out and party all the time, I mean all the time while keeping above a 3.0 gpa. Same goes for my other firends at ucsb which is on the quarte system. I am on the semester and it is too slow. Also for the person saying peole take 6 class on the semester, that is far from true. I noticed you ment it as 6 classes a semester makes it the same as the quarter. The huge difference is most majors on the quarter only need 120 units. Thus we also take about 4 classes per semester. I am taking 17 units and that is more than most people I know(dam engineering majors have way too many classes).
Also for the person saying peole take 6 class on the semester, that is far from true. I noticed you ment it as 6 classes a semester makes it the same as the quarter. The huge difference is most majors on the quarter only need 120 units. Thus we also take about 4 classes per semester.
well usually between 4 classes you will have 15 units. In my case last semester 1 4 unit and one 5 unit. At 15 units a semester in four you can have your 120 units needed to graduate. I mentioned the part about 6 classes because some people seemed to be under the impression people in the semester system also needed 180 units also, which would take forever on the semester system.
Replies to: The Quarter System
For the clusters, I know some TAs for the IRD graded on actual quality of participation, while I heard a few just gave points for showing up. For the clusters, discussions are mandatory, and some TAs will allow students out early, while others will hold the students in until the very last second. They usually go over the reading for the week, and have some sort of open discussion about the lectures that went on. Some had some small projects and presentations that students had to do in discussion, and during the weeks before an essay is due, you spend most of the class time just peer reviewing each other's drafts.
The main grade in the IRD class is based on essays, and so most people will go to a TAs office hours to have the TA revise their paper (since they are the graders afterall) to the point that the TA has run out of suggestions/criticisms.
If they're required like the clusters, it's up to the discretion of the TA to determine how many points their projects will be worth (since some have projects they designed, while others don't).
For the biotech cluster, attendence and pre-lab quizzes counted towards participation. So you can get a good solid A- for participation by just acing simple quizzes and always showing up. And participation only counted towards 15% of the overall grade.
You should learn to love participation grades.. at least the way it was done in that cluster. It's pretty much an easy grade compared to exams and papers.
I am going to do just that, so you won't be alone.
Could you clarify?