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What is university like?

How often do you have classes? How many hours long are they? Do you have to do exams and stuff to gain a degree like you would to gain a GCSE and if you don't get enough marks you get no degree?

Reply 1

deedee123

how many classes you have depends a lot of what subject you're doing, you will probably find doing a humanties subject that you have less lecture time but more assignments, whereas a science subject you will probably have a lot of lecture time and less assignments. lectures are normally 1-2 hours for me (i do a science subject)

yes, you need to pass exams on your classes or you won't be able to progress to the next year of your studies

Reply 2

Petrue

Number of lectures and seminars (and labs if you're a science student) depends entirely on the degree choice: my econ degree has 16 contact hours a week but a friend doing English has as few as 7 contact hours a week (third year). Most seminars are one hour long and lectures are one or two.

Your individual modules will be split between coursework throughout the year (e.g. essays, group projects etc.) and mid-term or end-of-term exams. Again, this depends entirely on your degree: English and Law degrees may have modules entirely made up of coursework while economics courses (from personal experience) may be entirely exam based.

If you don't obtain an average of 40%+ (a third) in your coursework and/or exams you won't pass the modules which make up your degree. Your overall degree classification (first/2:1/2:2/third) will be an aggregate of the module grades.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 3

jelly1000

Original post by Anonymous

How often do you have classes? How many hours long are they? Do you have to do exams and stuff to gain a degree like you would to gain a GCSE and if you don't get enough marks you get no degree?

The answers to your questions really depend on the university and the degree. Typically arts and humanities course have around 10-12 contact hours a week, science tends to be higher though- maybe around 20ish hours and if your doing medicine you'll have an almost full week. You don't have classes like you do at school though. For an arts and humanities course you have lectures- this is where someone talks to you about a topic and its up to you whether to write notes or just sit and listen. At my uni they lasted 50 mins but this varies by uni. And then you have seminars where you talk about reading you've done independently with a smaller group. In my uni in first year these sessions lasted 1 hour but they could go up to 3 hours by 3rd year.

I had exams all three years of my degree but some people I know didn't have any in their final year and others still who did more practical subjects like art didn't have any at all. So it really depends on the univeristy and course.

Reply 4

JustGeorgeJ

Original post by Anonymous

How often do you have classes? How many hours long are they? Do you have to do exams and stuff to gain a degree like you would to gain a GCSE and if you don't get enough marks you get no degree?

Hello

,

A lot of what you asked in pass on the course you choose and the university that you are studying at however, I can share my personal experiences.

Classes wise - from First to Third Year I've always been in three days a week - these days have varied over the years but it's always been three days. The hours vary depending on the module and lecturer teacher - sometimes they are 4 hours, sometimes 5 or sometimes 2, it just depends.

Yes, you can exams, assessments and assignments throughout modules and the course and you are graded on these and you need to at least gain a pass mark to progress and receive your degree.

Best of luck :biggrin: