Second semester way too busy on my timetable (1 Viewer)

[assi23q]

Hey guys, my first semester is finally over today, so I decided to enroll in my second semester units and put them in my timetable,
however, the units seem way too crowded. I'm doing 4 Units, and I managed to get 15 classes in a week (by classes I mean, tuts, lectures and pracs). So far I'd have an entire week of uni and it's from 12pm-8pm daily, which to me would be a massive pain.

Could there be something wrong with my units so far or is this normal? My first semester was only 3 days a week, and at times I'd only come for 2 days, and the hours were only Monday 5-8pm, Wednesday 3-6pm and Thursday 2-8pm (although I never really went Thursday's except 3-4 times in first semester).

Thanks for any replies.

 

[anomalousdecay]

What are you studying?

Which uni is this?

You might just be enrolling in a wrong manner.

 

[assi23q]

What are you studying?

Which uni is this?

You might just be enrolling in a wrong manner.

Macquarie University
IT - Game design and Development.
Also what do you mean by enrolling in a wrong matter?

 

[anomalousdecay]

Macquarie University
IT - Game design and Development.
Also what do you mean by enrolling in a wrong matter?

Ok I'm not really all that sure about Macq or IT.

What I meant is that you might be enrolling in too many courses, or enrolling in repeat classes for the same course. Are you sure everything you are enrolling into is advised under the appropriate academic plan?

You basically said you have 40 hours of contact at uni per week of classes from your original post, which is something I've never heard of (the maximum I've seen is around 27 to 30 and that's really pushing the limit as well).

 

[Amleops]

No your workload seems pretty standard to me.

Your degree has a bit of an interesting structure; most of your first year science units (e.g. Discrete Maths, Information Systems, Computer Science) are offered in the second semester. I'm assuming that in your first semester you did COMP115, MAS110 and two electives? Because then I wouldn't be surprised if you only had three days. MAS110 is an Arts unit, which generally only have 3 contact hours or so, and depending on your electives (people/planet perhaps?) you might only have a few contact hours for those too. COMP115 seems like the only unit that would take up a decent amount of your timetable.

Next semester it looks like you'll be doing COMP125, DMTH137, ISYS114 and COMP111? All of those are science units, and science units tend to have a higher number of contact hours. Macquarie do have a tendency of spreading out a lot of their subjects too, so that probably accounts for the late finishes.

Welcome to life as a STEM student

 

[assi23q]

Haha, guessing you go to Macquarie, that's pretty much my case right now. First semester I did COMP115, MAS110, ISYS100, MTKG101(Decided to go with this unit, to lessen the amount of 'IT' I have). I didn't struggle with the times I had for first semester, but I found them to be just right because I can balance out work and uni- so I'm worried if I get overburdened with the amount I'm going to have next semester. And that's correct, I'm doing all those subjects you listed for second semester.

Just a general question, is it alright to withdraw from one unit and do it over the summer? If so, which unit would you recommend to withdraw?

Also in response to @anomalousdecay; my days have massive breaks inbetween, however all start at 12, and are stretched to 8pm. On Wednesday it's a 4 hour break etc.

 

[Amleops]

I'm actually at USYD, but I did go to Macquarie for one semester, plus my brother and pretty much all my friends go there, so I know quite a bit about Macquarie and the set up there .

That workload is definitely manageable, you just have to plan your time wisely. Generally if a subject has more contact hours then you won't be expected to do as much study for it at home (that's not always the case, and whether or not you find a certain subject difficult may be a factor as well, but I think it's true generally). If work commitments really are a problem for you, then Macquarie tends to be quite good at recording its lectures, so you could watch them at a later time if need be, and plan your schedule around that.

And on a quick look, I don't believe any of the units required for your degree (apart from COMP115, which you have already done) are offered during the Summer Session. But you could do some of your electives during Session 3 instead, so you don't have to worry about them later. I'd recommend PHL137 (Critical Thinking); it can serve as your People Unit, plus it's a relatively easy and interesting subject with a great lecturer.

 

[anomalousdecay]

If your contact hours just for classes (disregard any breaks, I'm talking about time in a class) are anywhere from 12 - 25 hours per week, that seems perfectly fine for a university student.

There was just a bit of miscommunication earlier.

Also in regards to long breaks, a silly question from me, but if you don't want those long breaks can you possibly change up your timetable to minimise the break times if you wanted to?

 

[kast]

That does sound like too much, but technically possible... So each unit has 3-4 things per week? I do know of some units that can have 2 lectures, 1 tute, 1 prac. So maybe you've just got an unfortunate selection of units. But double check that you haven't accidentally enrolled in something extra or too many timeslots somehow.

Not sure how flexible your degree is or whether you mind stretching it out an extra semester, but maybe you should consider doing 3 units this semester (which is still full-time). I know I would burn out on 15 classes per week...

 

[obliviousninja]

Wtf. So many contact hrs.

 

[Queenroot]

12-8pm is 8 hours which is pretty standard