<p>When would you go to your professors/TAs office hours when you need a question(s) to be answered?</p>
<p>a) When I'm confused for the first time
b) When I'm REALLY confused
c) Time for midterms/final and I'm still confused
d) When I need to plead for my grade</p>
<p>D, but I have never gone to office hours.</p>
<p>b, c, (though I haven’t had time to go to any) and i feel like d would make them annoyed</p>
<p>Depends. Usually b. I try not to wait until exams; prefer knowing what’s going on and then exams aren’t too bad.</p>
<p>I’m too mild to go to office hours, I will email an instructor, if something weird happens or i’m scared about failing . </p>
<p>I guess i’m just shy .</p>
<p>b and c, usually for TA office hours. Usually “confused for the first time” means I’ve done something stupid and will figure it out in a couple hours/days. I haven’t had to plead for a grade yet, though I’d imagine if I was in that range, I’d deserve it.</p>
<p>Generally things with deadlines (homework due, midterm coming up, etc) is when I look for help.</p>
<p>Should be B I’d say but I’ve never gone for any of those reasons.</p>
<p>Teacher here. If you come at a, b, and/or c, you probably won’t need to come for d…either because you now understand the material or I perceive you as a student who really cares about the course and will give you the benefit of the doubt if your grade is on the borderline.</p>
<p>Come at d for the first time? Hah! :)</p>
<p>B, C (and sometimes A) D, however, is almost out of the question.</p>
<p>B and when I have an essay for an English class or something so I know what the professor wants.</p>
<p>Pretty much b or c. It’s either when I’m really confused or when I’m studying and realize that there are some concepts that I still don’t understand.</p>
<p>You should go whether or not you are confused. You should get to know the prof, have something intelligent to say, get that “benefit of the doubt” before someting freaks you. Don’t just show up in a moment of weakness or desperation.</p>
<p>When I was teaching chem at BigStateU, we submitted grades electronically and students could log into their university account and see them. Submitting grades was not the end of the semester for me, it was the beginning of two or three days of e-mails from students who thought they could negotiate for a higher grade because they worked so hard all semester. If they could have seen my inbox during this time they would not have wanted to be part of that whining chorus.</p>
<p>I tell myself to go when I’m at stage B, but I always put it off until I’m at C.</p>
<p>I always try for A, but I can’t always do that… Always atleast by C though. Pleading for a grade never (or should never) work.</p>
<p>I’ll just echo stradmom’s comment from earlier and add that you should go to office hours just to introduce yourself, talk about what you find interesting/surprising about the course material, etc. When I get to know a student better it means that when I hear about programs, fellowships and other opportunities that fit his/her interests I can contact him/her about it directly (and generally before word generally gets out) or put in a word with the people who run the program. This can be a big help in some instances.</p>
<p>The advice about visiting your professors goes double if you’re at a place where you’re paying big bucks for small classes and accessible faculty!</p>
<p>Probably B or C. I usually would blow it off until a test is coming up.</p>
<p>B. I come when I absolutely cannot figure out something by myself and no one else (student) knows. I’m in my second year and I’ve only come into office hours twice for content related matters (first was for using the squeeze theorem in multivariable calculus and another was for interpreting a H-NMR diagram for ochem). I might have to go again soon for 3-point crosses in genetics, depending on whether youtube will be helpful this time.</p>
<p>I also go for questions and advice about the class (not related to the material we’re learning) or to see what I did wrong on a final (some professors don’t give them back and the only way to see them is to go to office hours).</p>
<p>All I can tell you is that dd has raised her gap from a low b in high school to nearly a 4.0 at a challenging school. She says that she thinks the biggest change is that she consistently goes to the office hours a week before a paper is due to discuss her rough draft, goes when she is confused on material, and sometimes goes to introduce herself. Not only have her grades and confidence soared, but her studying is more effective and she has a professor who both mentors her, and recommended her for a surprise scholarship for her sophomore year. go!!!</p>
<p>B, which is nearly all the time in my biochemistry class since my professor blows through the material pretty quickly. Luckily there’s always a large group that goes to the TAs’ office hours, so I can just sit in and take notes since the people there always asks questions that I want to ask anyway. I’m too scared to go to office hours by myself.</p>