<p>To elaborate more on discussion sections - they’re pretty laidback. However, there is a participation grade, so you do have to speak up every now and then. Doing your work on time may also contribute to the participation grade, depending on the TA. Usually, your TA has a set agenda that may or may not include a lot of time for discussing the issues. A lot of the time, you might just be working on how to write your paper. It depends a lot on the TA you have. Some TA’s are really good and will arrange two-on-one meetings with you and a classmate to go over your rough draft for an essay, so you have more time to talk about material in discussions, as well get lots of help for your paper. If your TA doesn’t do this, you should definitely go to him/her privately to go over your rough draft or thesis and plan before you do your final draft - you could avoid some big mistakes.</p>