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A Week in the Life of a University of Birmingham StudentTSR Wiki > University > University Guides > University of Birmingham > A Week in the Life of a University of Birmingham Student
MedicineUsername: Amrito-Dorito Year of Study:
Mon to Friday: Lectures at Medschool apart from GP placement Thursday. Gym/Training/Sports in evening. Get abolustely stinkin' on a night out/ stay in with some sheesha and movie with housemates and whoever else wants to join in/ societies. Sat: Medic's rugby match. Training. Get stinkin' at FAB. Sun: Recovery, homework, training/sports, mass cooking for week, bed. Political ScienceUsername: IlexAquifolium Year of Study: Final year
Tuesday and Wednesday I have the day off this year, but that time has been rammed with writing up my dissertation (since our deadline was really early in February) and the large numbers of essays they also decided to burden us with (about 20,000 words worth on top of the 12,000 dissertation). I've also usually had a 20-minute presentation every fortnight or thereabouts, which I usually take a full day to prepare for. So my typical day off involves getting up about 8, fannying about on the internet for an hour, then working through to 7-8pm when I have to cook dinner, with an hour's break for lunch. The life of a politics student features quite a few days off, so getting into the habit of being able to work on your own is a must - some of my friends go to the library, but I prefer to work at home. Tuesday evenings last year I went to language classes, but I haven't really felt like going this year. Spread over Monday, Thursday and Friday I have 8 contact hours. That's pretty deceptive though, as during writing my dissertation I was having weekly hour-long meetings with my tutor, plus usually at least 1-2 other meetings over regular seminars and coursework. Given that my seminars (I only have one lecture this year) all start after lunch and go on until 4-5, I generally spend the morning doing little bits of reading, or working on minor pieces of work (eg writing up presentations). There are fairly big gaps between my Monday sessions so I normally go for a slap-up lunch with friends in the Guild to let off steam. The seminars themselves are dotted all over campus so comfy shoes become a necessity very quickly. The workload is really variable dependent on the time of year; generally the first couple of weeks of term are quite relaxed but after that the work comes thick and fast. This year I had to work over the whole Christmas and Easter holiday to try and stay on top of things, as the dissertation was pretty tough. That said some of my chums had a much more enjoyable time, either because they were more organised or less scared than I was. When the work's easing off you can happily go out 2-3 nights a week, but over the busy periods, forget it. How long you spend on the essays is somewhat dependent on how dilligent you are and what kind of grade boundary you're after. Frankly most of my friends can knock out a 2.2-2.1 2,000 word coursework essay in a day or two, but if you want a good mark (or if it's a longer piece of work - standard coursework is anywhere up to 6,000 words) it will probably take you a week or so to read, plan, and write. Saturday and Sunday I sleep in, watch telly, and generally try to catch up on reading, rather than working properly. Usually I try and read a journal article/chapter for most seminars, which can take me anything up to two hours to read depending on how tired I am! Sleep is one thing I don't compromise on though - I've learnt to plan my time to make sure I get at least 8 hours. I can't cope with less. |
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