[sebasmurphy]

After reading other peoples comments I would like to add that there were a few classes freshman/sophomore year that had discussion sections that were mandatory. Although these were usually only held once a week. The few that I had usually had quizzes during the first 15 minutes or weekly homework due at the beginning of the session. The sections were mostly a way for the students to get face-time with the Grad Student teaching assistants since office hours were impractical for these classes due to their size (70+) . Sometimes you had to stay for the duration of the session and other times you could bounce after turning in your homework.

None of these sessions were instructor mandated. They were part of the normal course curriculum, and were chosen during class registration. The standard setup was M-W Lecture, Fri Discussion.