Lectures, Seminars and Labs

Lectures, seminars and labs are all different parts of your academic journey at University. Each of these offer a very different way to learn more about your subject and work in different ways!

We’ve written this guide, so you’ll know exactly how each of these sessions are going to work and the differences between them.

Before you read the guide, just remember that the number of lectures, seminars and labs can vary massively between courses and between the same courses at different universities. Some courses may also have a greater number of contact hours whilst others are more focused on independent learning. Please check the details of your own course to know what to expect!

At University (especially in the first year) lectures are probably going to take up most of your scheduled hours for your classes. At UCL, lectures usually last around 1-2 hours for most courses. It’s essentially a formal presentation designed to give you detailed information about a specific topic. These are taken alongside all other students studying that subject meaning you could be among 50 or even 300 students in attendance! You might be expected to take notes, annotate diagrams or be given a pre-prepared set of notes depending on what the lecturer decides. Make sure you pay attention to lectures as they’re a good guide for the material that may come up in your exams!

So how do you prepare for lectures? First, have a look if there’s any pre-reading to do for the lecture and if not, it might be helpful to scan through the lecture slides to get an idea for the lecture content. Pre-reading may usually be an article, section of a textbook or a case study that your lecturer will request you to read before the lecture. Also, bring along a notebook/laptop/tablet to take notes on depending on how you prefer to take notes. Lastly, grab a bottle of water (or maybe even a coffee) to stay hydrated during the lecture to help you stay focused.

Seminars work quite like classes at school, where you’ll be with a smaller group of students and will get to interact with the teacher more readily. Typically, you’ll be with a group of about 5-15 students depending on your subject. The seminar may involve completing practice problems together, reviewing any set homework or facilitating class discussions. It might be a bit intimidating to ask questions during a lecture so this is a great way to get personalised feedback to any questions you might have. Most seminars at UCL tend to be 1-2 hours long, so make sure to note down any questions that you want to ask beforehand to make the most out of this time!

Depending on what course you choose/ have chosen to study, you could also have labs. Typically, science-based courses feature more lab sessions to offer you the chance to try out scientific techniques that are used in research or in industry. Lab classes are usually taken alongside many students at once, typically at least 20-30 students per group. Additionally, you may be asked to complete a ‘pre-lab’ or ‘post-lab’ for the session. These could be tasks designed to familiarise yourself with the practical, write up a risk assessment or to perform some analysis of your results. The lab duration varies massively between subjects. For example, Year 1 UCL Chemistry labs are scheduled to last for 4 hours, whereas labs for many UCL Biomedical Science courses last 2 hours. Labs can be tiring so make sure you’ve had something to eat beforehand since you won’t usually be allowed to take breaks.