I'm studying Geology come September and was wondering how the timetables work in most cases. How many hours a week you have at lectures and how many for other things such as labs etc. I understand places may vary, I was just hoping to get a rough idea.
At Leicester we had 22-24 hours a week in the first semester, and 6-11 hours a week in the second semester.
Practicals are never too long - unlike bio, chem, or physics, where lab sessions are usually at least 3 hrs - and do not consist of data collection (mineralogy being the exception) or experiments, so it's easy to not do any work in a practical and do it the next morning instead
Your second semester will probably be lighter on contact hours as one of your modules will be a field course which you do in the middle of the semester.
At Leicester we had 22-24 hours a week in the first semester, and 6-11 hours a week in the second semester.
Practicals are never too long - unlike bio, chem, or physics, where lab sessions are usually at least 3 hrs - and do not consist of data collection (mineralogy being the exception) or experiments, so it's easy to not do any work in a practical and do it the next morning instead
Your second semester will probably be lighter on contact hours as one of your modules will be a field course which you do in the middle of the semester.
Thanks!
How do the hours compare to other subjects.. such as geography for example?
Thanks!
How do the hours compare to other subjects.. such as geography for example?
Your first semester hours should be similar to all other natural science subjects (i.e. minimum 20 hours per week) - geographers will usually have less in their first year (because human geog. modules don't need as many contact hrs) and possibly the same in the subsequent years... however, they also have fieldwork modules etc, so I would expect them to have less.
Because geologists are pushed to do independent fieldwork projects/reports, this means that at least one of your semesters per year is going to be lighter on contact hours. So, for example: if I continued with geology next year, I would have less contact hours in Year 2 Semester 1 because we have a summer independent field mapping module to complete (which is a Year 2 Semester 1 module).
Additionally: like biology, style of assessment progressively becomes more and more essay and self-study based. That is, even though you could be doing a module on advanced sedimentology or global tectonics, you might be given an essay to do (as part of your assessment), or you might be told to look at some specific journals for next week's lecture. What I'm getting at is that less spoon feeding is needed, so naturally you won't need as many contact hours. Chemists/physicists on the other hand have a massive amount of core material to cover, and to understand it better, they need regular practice with questions and concepts which will explain why they have more contact hours.
just finishing off the third year and i still average 20 or more hours a week in labs and lectures, with the 2nd and 3rd years being far more intensive than the 1st, especially with the labs
Your first semester hours should be similar to all other natural science subjects (i.e. minimum 20 hours per week) - geographers will usually have less in their first year (because human geog. modules don't need as many contact hrs) and possibly the same in the subsequent years... however, they also have fieldwork modules etc, so I would expect them to have less.
Because geologists are pushed to do independent fieldwork projects/reports, this means that at least one of your semesters per year is going to be lighter on contact hours. So, for example: if I continued with geology next year, I would have less contact hours in Year 2 Semester 1 because we have a summer independent field mapping module to complete (which is a Year 2 Semester 1 module).
Additionally: like biology, style of assessment progressively becomes more and more essay and self-study based. That is, even though you could be doing a module on advanced sedimentology or global tectonics, you might be given an essay to do (as part of your assessment), or you might be told to look at some specific journals for next week's lecture. What I'm getting at is that less spoon feeding is needed, so naturally you won't need as many contact hours. Chemists/physicists on the other hand have a massive amount of core material to cover, and to understand it better, they need regular practice with questions and concepts which will explain why they have more contact hours.
Hope that made sense!
Oh wow, lots of detail but thank you, yes it does make sense
I'm in my first year at Bristol. My timeable stays the same all year, about 22 hours. Practicals last 3 hours each. I think my timetable is pretty similar next year, and again, 3 x 3hour practicals a week as well.
I'm in my first year at Bristol. My timeable stays the same all year, about 22 hours. Practicals last 3 hours each. I think my timetable is pretty similar next year, and again, 3 x 3hour practicals a week as well.
Your Univeristy choice may have a module/timetable breakdown online. Bristol did when i looked.
Originally Posted by Beckysaurus
I'm in my first year at Bristol. My timeable stays the same all year, about 22 hours. Practicals last 3 hours each. I think my timetable is pretty similar next year, and again, 3 x 3hour practicals a week as well.
I'm starting Geology at Bristol this year. Thanks for the heads up timetable wise. Do you know if they still intend to run a short team building fieldtrip before the course starts?
I'm in my first year at Bristol. My timeable stays the same all year, about 22 hours. Practicals last 3 hours each. I think my timetable is pretty similar next year, and again, 3 x 3hour practicals a week as well.
I have (or had) 22 hours of lessons on my current A level timetable. I was expecting a uni schedule to be much smaller, as its harder work..
Your Univeristy choice may have a module/timetable breakdown online. Bristol did when i looked.
I'm starting Geology at Bristol this year. Thanks for the heads up timetable wise. Do you know if they still intend to run a short team building fieldtrip before the course starts?
no problem. i don't know for certain, but i should think so. oh, and make sure you definitely go...the people i met on that trip are the people i live with now
and as far as the timetable goes it's pretty intensive but there's not heaps of work to do outside of lectures/practicals (unless you wanna swat up and do some extra reading etc) which is a bonus!
University course discussion for geography and earth sciences.
Useful Resources:
Geology Timetable
I have (or had) 22 hours of lessons on my current A level timetable. I was expecting a uni schedule to be much smaller, as its harder work..
