At Princeton, I've been pleased to find that there's absolutely no stigma attached to reaching out for academic help. It's well-known and accepted by the students and professors that true scholars collaborate with others and ask questions to gain the best understanding of the material. As a result, office hours, sessions held outside of regular classes with professors or AIs (assistant instructors, Princeton-speak for TAs), are incredibly popular and considered an essential part of the course experience. I go to office hours for help with problem sets, papers and exam preparation, and they're where I've met study partners and friends. Different courses have different formats and styles for their office hours, so here's a round-up of the most common types of office hours.
1. The Classic
The Classic office hours is simply the head professor in their office. These office hours are usually open for students to ask more general questions about a department or topic in addition to course-specific homework or exam questions. The Classic can be slightly intimidating at first, because it's often one-on-one with just you at the professor's desk. But once you adjust, the Classic can be incredibly helpful. I went to Professor von Handel's office hours each Monday last semester, where it was often only me and one or two other students, and I usually made significant progress on that week's problem set.
2. The Lesson
The Lesson office hours resemble a lecture or a precept, in that an AI guides a group through a homework set. They're generally held in a classroom rather than an office in order to accommodate more students. The Lesson office hours are more approachable, in that there's usually a large group, but they're less interactive. The Lesson sessions with AIs who give strong homework hints become very popular, and sometimes they become standing room only!
3. The Divide-and-Conquer
In contrast to The Lesson, where everyone is working on the same problem at once, in these office hours students are usually working in small groups of 2-3 on separate problems or assignments. In Divide-and-Conquer sessions, the AI will walk around between the different small teams and give advice and feedback as necessary. It's helpful to arrive at these office hours with a friend so that you can work with someone you know, but these sessions are also great opportunities to meet new study partners.
4. The Zoom
There are pros and cons to office hours held over Zoom. An advantage is that you can join from anywhere, but a disadvantage is that you can't show your notebook to the AI or work things out on a physical whiteboard or blackboard. Some AIs will regularly schedule weekly Zoom office hours, while other times an in-person session will be rescheduled to Zoom when a professor or AI is traveling.
Many courses offer multiple office hours each week covering most, if not all, of these formats. I usually attend several different office hours for each course at the beginning of the semester and find which style I prefer for that course, and then I become a weekly regular attendee. I definitely recommend going to office hours to get the most out of your courses!