In a 2020 survey of College of Arts and Sciences students, respondents were asked to name resources that were most helpful to their academic success. Office hours was the most common response!
Utilizing office hours is clearly important, but how do you know if you’re taking advantage of office hours enough or if you’re getting the most out of your meetings with professors and TAs?
Read through these scenarios and answer the questions to learn more!
1. It’s the first week of the semester. You keep hearing that it’s important to utilize office hours, but you don’t know what you would talk about with your professors. It’s too early to have any specific concerns about your courses. Do you plan to go to your professors’ office hours within the next week anyway?
- Yes.
- No.
Answer: It’s never “too early” to go to office hours, and you don’t need to have specific concerns to take advantage of the resource. Meet with all of your professors within the first few weeks of the semester, introduce yourself and ask questions about the course. For example, you might ask, “What skills and strategies do I need to develop in order to be successful in this class?” or “What is your advice when it comes to studying for exams?” You can also let the professor know more about yourself. You might explain why you’re taking the class or if you have previous exposure to the subject.
2. Despite your best efforts, you’re disappointed with your exam grades in one of your courses. It’s now the end of the semester, and the final exam is two weeks away. You want help, but you don’t think your grade will improve much, even if you’re able to do well on the final. Is it worth it to meet with your professor for that course?
- Yes.
- No.
Answer: It’s also never “too late” to go to office hours. It’s true that, if you’ve been struggling with a class all semester, meeting with the professor probably isn’t going to help you completely turn your grade around at the last minute. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth the effort. Your professor may give you a study tip or vital information that helps you finish strong and gives you a boost of confidence going into the next semester. They may also give you a learning strategy that helps you in a future class.
3. It’s a few weeks into the semester, and you’re starting to get concerned about your time management. You try to do all of the readings and the homework, but it takes you a long time and you aren’t able to spend as much time on your other courses. You want to work more efficiently. Whose office hours would you go to for help?
- Professor.
- TA.
- Neither: You’ll figure it out yourself.
Answer: Even if you believe you can resolve your concerns on your own, it’s helpful to get another perspective. You can go to either or both your TA’s or professor’s office hours, but your TA’s office hours might be more helpful. They’re students just like you, and they had to be successful in that subject in the recent past in order to become a TA. You can pick their brain for tips and tricks, and you can discuss how to best approach your professor about this situation. You can also get connected to Academic Coaching!
4. You didn’t do as well as you wanted to on your first exam in one of your courses. You felt positive about your understanding of the material and you put your usual amount of time and effort into studying. The exam turned out to be more difficult than you expected. You’re not sure what went wrong, so you decide to meet with the professor during their office hours. Which approach do you think will lead to a more fruitful conversation?
- Approach 1- Tell the professor that you didn’t do well on the first test, because it was more difficult than you thought it would be. Tell the professor that you want to improve your grade in the class and ask them what you should do to make that happen.
- Approach 2- Tell the professor that your understanding of the material during lectures didn’t translate to success on the exam. Tell them you noticed that there seemed to be a difference between the difficulty of the homework questions and the difficulty of the exam questions. Ask them why they think you perceived the discrepancy, and what they might recommend you do in order to close that gap for the next exam.
Answer: Approach 1 may leave you feeling disappointed. First, you aren’t giving the professor much detail to work with. Saying that you didn’t expect the exam to be so difficult is a vague concern, and the professor might not know how to respond without asking a lot of followup questions. Second, saying that you want to improve your grade is a broad goal. Any advice the professor gives you will probably be broad as a result. They may even feel that you are trying to place responsibility for your success on them.
Approach 2 will likely lead to a more helpful conversation. You are more specific about your concerns and about what you are hoping to take away from the meeting. You’re giving the conversation clear direction and focus, and you’re seeking concrete action steps. Now, the professor can better understand your situation.
5. You’ve been to office hours several times in the past, but you’ve never found it to be helpful. You feel like professors don’t put much effort into understanding you and helping you when you have a problem. Do you keep trying to connect with professors, or do you look elsewhere when you want help?
- Keep trying to connect.
- Look elsewhere for help.
Answer: Professors are all different and previous negative experiences shouldn’t deter you from utilizing office hours.
6. You want to meet with your professor during their office hours, but you have another class during that time. What do you do?
- Reach out to the professor and schedule a meeting for a different time.
- Give up on meeting with the professor and just email them.
Answer: “Professors understand scheduling conflicts and will often work to accommodate your request for an alternative meeting time.” If you aren’t available during a professor’s office hours, keep working with them until you figure something out. Part of the college experience is learning how to advocate for yourself.
Office hours tips in short:
- There’s no such thing as a wrong time to go to office hours. It’s never too early or too late to ask for help. We all need help to learn, and learning does not take place in a silo.
- Even if you don’t feel like you “need” help, it’s good to get another perspective on the challenges and opportunities you face. If nothing else, it’s good to connect with professors and TAs and/or explore your passion about the material.
- Have a specific and manageable goal when you utilize office hours. What do you want or need in the meeting? Give the conversation clear direction and focus, otherwise you might be left feeling frustrated. See the TIME model for support.
- Keep in mind that office hours are meant to give you guidance, but professors and TAs can’t fix problems for you. It’s important to have realistic expectations about the extent to which they are able to help you, and it may also be worth pursuing tutoring, peer-to-peer study groups and academic coaching.