A Week in the Life of a Warwick Student

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Computer Science

Username: secretmessages

Year of study: 1st year

Ok, here goes. In first year, everyone doing computer science, computing systems, or computer and management science follow the same "syllabus". That is, everyone has the same core modules, and the same optional modules to choose from. After first year, depending on your degree, you split off and have to do different core modules to everyone else. You can usually switch between those three courses at the end of the first year without a problem.

Typical Week:

Right, so. There will be 6 core modules: two in term 1, two in term 2, one which is spread over both term 1 and term 2, and one which is spread over the whole year. There are also several optional modules that take place in various terms.

First term: Programming for computer scientists. This is basically your introduction to Java. There are two pieces of coursework, one due half-way through term 1, and the other due at the end of term 1. Don't worry about this for now. The first piece of coursework will be spoon-fed to you and by the time the second piece comes around you'll know loads of Java. A lot of people get 100% on both pieces of coursework. Last year this was 2 lectures a week for 10 weeks, plus about 5 or 6 group seminars during that time

Mathematics for computer scientists 1. This includes logic, proof, set theory, relations, functions, graph theory, and probability. 3 lectures a week for 10 weeks, plus 10 seminars which will help you with the four problem sheets that you have to complete throughout the term.

Computer organisation and architecture (terms 1 & 2). This module doesn't start until mid-term. It's concentrated on the hardware side of things, like buses and CPUs and RAM, motherboards, chips, bits... In term 2 you'll have a number of three-hour lab sessions where you can experiment with the hardware, and towards the end of the second term you'll be asked to do a mini project by programming in C to interact with the hardware (C is taught briefly during the module). 2 lectures a week for 10 weeks. Introduction to computer security (optional; terms 1 & 2). Starts mid-term 1 and finishes mid-term 2. Speaks for itself really, it's all about computer security - hacking, viruses, malware, worms, encryption. There's a cool piece of coursework you have to do where you have to hack into a specially made sandbox-system to try and find security flaws with it . This is 2 lectures a week for 10 weeks, plus 5 lab sessions and 5 seminars.

Statistical laboratory 1 (optional). This runs for the 10 weeks of term 1 with 2 lectures and 1 seminar per week. It's run by the statistics department but it's a popular optional module for first year computer scientists. If you've done maths or similar at A-level, it's very similar to S1 and S2 (distributions, probabilities etc.) and it's really not hard at all. 2 small pieces of coursework. The exam for this module is usually in December.

Term 2: The second half of computer organisation and architecture The second half of security, if you do it Design of information structures. I think this has a weird structure, something like 3 lectures a week for 7 weeks. Anyway, this is an extension of programming for CS, so more advanced Java. You'll have 5 two-hour marked lab sessions, and a relatively large programming coursework. The exam is quite hard but only worth 50% of the module. Mathematics for computer scientists 2. More maths, 3 lectures a week for 10 weeks, plus 8 seminars. More proofs, vectors, linear equations, and lots of calculus. 4 problem sheets, just like maths 1.

Terms 1, 2, 3: Professional skills. This is horrible. In term 1, you'll learn all about using the UNIX system, and you'll have one lab session a week in which you'll build up a "portfolio" of what you've learned, which will be examined. In term 2, you'll learn about the professional aspects of computing, such as ethics, computing/data laws etc. You'll also have one seminar a week on writing skills, and you'll have to write an assessed fact sheet, critique, persuasive piece, and final essay at the end of term. In term 3, you'll have a class test on term 2's lecture material, and you'll have to give a group poster presentation and individual oral presentation. All of this is assessed, but there's no exam for this module (other than the informal class test). There are other optional modules than the two I listed above, such as mathematical programming (from the business school), economics, philosophy... a list of suggested optional modules is here. You will find you'll need to take 2 or 3 optional modules to make up at least 120 CATS credits for the year.

Other Comments:

In general, the workload is pretty easy-going. You may have stressful periods such as during exams in term 3, or the week before a coursework is due, but other than that it's quite easy. Definitely don't have as much work to do as mathematicians or physicists . You should find (depending on the optional modules you take, of course), that the first five weeks of term 1, and the last 5 weeks of term 2 have the least happening work-wise (10 to 15 hours of lectures/seminars combined per week), and the 5 weeks either side of Christmas have the most work to be done (15 to 20 hours per week).

Economics

Username: Poltry

Year of study: 1st year

Typical Week:

Term 1:

About 12 hours of lectures plus about 5 or 6 hours of seminars a week. First two weeks of actual lectures start off really slow and easy. It almost feels like you have nothing to do. But then all the lectures speed up incredibly and the work piles on. A typical week id say, is to go to about half of the lectures and definitely all the seminary. Every lecturer puts in-depth notes on the internet, which makes it very easy to catch up on whatever you misssed. After about 3 weeks you realize that for many lectures it is really not necessary to go. On the other hand, seminars are extremely important and very very useful, as they really explain what was taught in the lectures, and also give help for all the weekly assignments. Most modules will have weekly, or bi-weekly assignements (some assessed, some not),and others will have essays, keeping you very very busy. In fact you will spend a lot of the time in library or in the learning grid!!!! a lot! If you take Mathematics for Economists, one of the optional modules, be prepared to give up thursday nights at Evolve, as assignments are assesed and due every friday of each week! Microeconomics will most proabably pose the most problems (as it has done for most students i know), and so when the bi-weekly assessed assignements are due, you will find yourself staying up very late. Overrall id say you definitely get more work than most other subjects at warwick ( from i can tell from my friends on other courses), and in fact you dont get as much free time as most other first years, but the course is really really interesting! One advantage is that most lectures are never before 11 am (except one or two 10 oclocks), unless u take accounting and finance module, which is usually 9 am. Tuesday mornings are usually freee, whihc is very gooooood considering Top B is monday night )) If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.

History

History - First Year

Username: Quinion

Typical Week:

There are three core modules, one for History (Making of the Modern World, from the Enlightenment to present) and two for Politics (Introduction to Politics and World Politics). MMW has two hour-long lectures a week, as well as a 75 minute seminar in groups of 8. IP and WP combined have three hours of lectures a week (in our first term there were 2xWP and 1xIP; this changed round for second term) and each has a 60 minute seminar per week, in groups of about 12-15 usually. In addition you pick one further history module (there are a series of short presentations in the first week of term by the module directors to help you decide) - these usually have a weekly lecture and a fortnightly seminar.

In terms of weekly workload, MMW is the most demanding. You'll need to read about 5-10 specific sources per week (you're given them on a DVD at the start of the year, so there aren't any excuses about 150 people trying to get hold of one book in the library) which can take up to a day to read thoroughly, then talk about them in your seminar discussions. IP and WP have "suggested reading", so it's best to read a couple of journal articles or chapters so you understand what's going on.

You'll need to write about 12 non-assessed essays over the course of the first year, i.e. three in each module, which partially count at the end of the year in History but not in Politics (see below). They are always from a selection given to you in the module handbook, and will typically be about 1500 words for the politics modules and 2000-2500 words for history ones, though this obviously does vary. In my experience researching thoroughly can take at least 2 days if not more, and writing about the same. Week 6 of the first two terms is reading week, i.e. there are no lectures or seminars, so this tends to be a good time to get them written - you'll probably find there you have a couple due in week 7 anyway.

For assessed work, politics is straightforward - you take a 3 hour paper in IP and a 3 hour paper in WP. That involves writing 4 essay-style exam answers. History is more complicated. You don't take an exam in your optional module; instead, you are assessed on the basis of the best 2 of your 3 essays over the year, plus a further long essay of 4500 words. This essay is of your own choosing and needs quite a bit of research - it's due by about week 4 of 3rd term, so it's best to get it done over Easter. In MMW, I believe you are now assessed by a) the best 2 of your 3 essays over the year, b) a one question one hour exam in the summer, c) a group presentation from your seminar that you have researched and delivered together. I don't know much about this as it didn't exist until last year.

Nothing that is assessed in first year counts towards your final degree. You simply need to pass (i.e. get over 40%), and it is virtually impossible to fail to be honest.

History - 2nd Year

Username: Quinion

Typical Week:

You take one core Politics module, Political Theory from Hobbes, which is essentially a history of the most notable political philosophers. The second politics module is your choice from a range of national political systems and similar (eg Politics in the UK, Politics of the USA, Politics in the 3rd world). In History you choose two optional modules, one of which I think has to be from the early-modern period.

In Hobbes you will be in a seminar of up to 18, sub-divided into three groups, each of which will need to give a handout and presentation on one of the seminar questions. It's up to you how you do this, but our approach was to meet in the library having each done a bit of reading, pool together our findings and then we'd take it in turns to type everything up into a handout and then deliver it in class. This is not in any way assessed. You will have one compulsory essay to write in first term, and one optional one in 2nd term - basically, it's in your interests to do it but you aren't required to. Essay requirements for the other modules will be much the same as first year.

With all second and third year modules you will have choice over how you are assessed. In second year, you can choose either 100% exam, a three hour paper, or 50% exam 50% assessed essay. So for the latter, that will be a 90 minute or 2 hour exam paper and a long essay like the History one from first year, with the deadline being about the same. No matter how much you might prefer essays to exams, it is definitely not worth attempting more than two long essays.

History - 3rd Year

Username: Quinion

Typical Week:

Third year options are more complex. History have some modules which are double-weighted - that is, they count for half of your year. The actual amount of reading and seminar work is the same as it would be for a regular module, but you have to do either 2 exams on it or one exam and one dissertation-style essay of 8,000-10,000 words (tutors encourage the latter). With this in mind, your options for choosing modules are: a) A double-weighted History module, a regular History module and one Politics module, b) A double-weighted History module and two Politics modules, c) Two single weighted History modules and two Politics modules, or d) One single weighted History module and three Politics modules (though if you take this, one of your Politics modules must be Issues in Political Theory, which is core for all students doing straight Politics).

Politics modules are very varied in style for final year - I'm personally taking one on Middle East Regional Relations and another called Shapes and Shadows of the Cold War (I'm also doing a double-weighted History module on America in the 1950s). You can also choose to do a Politics dissertation in place of one of the two Politics modules, though this isn't a great idea if you're doing a double weighted History module.

Assessment in third year is like second year, other than you can choose to do two long essays and no exam if you wish. The condition for all of this, however, is that over the course of second and third years at least 50% of it must be exam-based. But this is for your own good really - if you were doing more than half of your assessed work researching and writing huge essays you would definitely struggle to get everything done.

Final Comments

Final degree classification is done by combining second and third year work - you do eight modules over the two years. Your lowest score for any one module is discounted (so you won't be heavily penalised if you happen to have one really bad exam day), and the grade is worked out from the remaining seven.

To be honest, I've probably made it sound a lot harder work than it actually is. Contact hours a week are very small when compared to science subjects - about 12 for first year, 9-10 for second year and 6-8 for third year. This is obviously because you are expected to read widely, but in practice if you do an average of 2-3 hours reading per module per week (excluding essays) you ought to be fine for 2:1 standard. Independent work and time management are skills you're encouraged to learn, but they aren't hard to pick up. If you do, there's no reason at all why you can't spend more of your uni life at Warwick enjoying yourself and engaging in other activities than actually doing your degree.

Italian

Username: jeh_jeh

Year of study: 1st year

Typical Week:

My timetable is static throughout the three terms, so I can't see my routine changing very much. I don't have that many contact hours - 9/week - so I tend to spend time reading (or, most likely, sleeping).

On a Monday, I have a lecture 1-2pm, so I generally sleep in 'til 12:30pm-ish, and then have an uber rush to the Social Studies building to get there in time. Every week, I promise myself I'll wake up earlier the next week, but this inevitably never happens. Not only am I pretty lazy, but Monday tends to be essay hand-in day for the Italian modules, so I've most likely gone to bed far too late on Sunday evening. I'll come back to my room at 2pm and do the reading and prep for the matching seminar that's 4-5pm. Again, I'm not very organised here, either, so this two hour gap is a lifesaver. I'll often prat around on the internet (read: obsessively stalk people on Facebook) during this time, too, or pop to Costcutters and indulge in my usual Fresh2Go chicken salad, Diet Coke and Special K Bliss bar (yes, I'm a creature of habit). After my seminar, I'll come back to find my sciences and Maths hallmates (who supposedly have more contact hours [and therefore pressure] than me) sleeping, and our kitchen deserted.

Warwick has a bit of a reputation (or at least I got this impression before I started) for being somewhat of an antisocial university. I can refute this claim entirely with the student madness that is Top Banana! A few strategic knocks on doors and the sleeping beauties are awakened for a night of hardcore drinking. £2 entry + £1 drinks = good night out < £10. I never knew the university before the Temporary Events Structure occupied Tocil Field, and I have to say that although Top Bs have been a bit hit-and-miss there (they started off very crowded and, as a result, far too hot 'cause the air con. was crap), I'm weirdly gonna miss the floor that bounces like it's about to give way now that it's been abandoned in favour of Tempo and the Grad@Cholo in preparation for the launch of Phase1 of the Union rebuild at the beginning of Term3.

For someone with such few contact hours, I have a horrible timetable. My only 9am of the week is on, you guessed it, a Tuesday morning. Because we never got straight to bed after Top B (kitchen parties, ftw), it's inevitably a crazy hour at which my bed is reached (if at all - it's often easier not to sleep, 'cause then you don't have to worry about sleeping through the alarm) and so Tuesday combined lecture/seminar (the only two hours we get for the particular module) pass in a tired and hungover daze. I then come back to my room and die for a couple of hours (and do grammar and conversation homework. See a pattern emerging yet?!) in preparation for my double whammy of Italian language (advanced) from 1-3pm. After this, I'll often come home and work (writing up grammar notes from the points covered in class, etc) until my hallmates are back. Tuesdays are pretty quiet as far as the SU's concerned, so sometimes we go to the Student Cinema (off the Science Concourse in L3) ('High School Musical 3' has been a particular favourite this year...!), or just drink in-kitchen, being the raving alcoholics we are.

Wednesday is fairly relaxed because I only have one seminar. It's for the optional outside module that I had to take - in my case it's The Epic Tradition - and my seminar tutor is incredibly passionate, which is good. However, I often feel that all the Classics geeks know so much more than I do, so I tend to be pretty quiet. The rest of Wednesday is primarily either a sleeping day, or a hardcore essay day. Wednesday evening is Score!, which we go to sometimes. I'm not a huge fan, so sometimes we go to the Cinema, or just hang out in the kitchen. I guess socially it's slightly different for me because one of the boys in our kitchen isn't eighteen yet, so we haven't been able to do the Coventry/Leamington club scene yet. Wednesday nights often end up being quite unpredictable, and late-night walks to the Library foyer for Ben&Jerry's icecream are not unheard of. We've even taking to going to the Tesco's just off campus.

Thursday morning is translation class, for which my attendance is slightly luck-of-the-draw, depending on the night before. And then I have the lecture for Epic, which is always a bit of a waste of an hour, to be honest, but I have to go otherwise I don't get the notes and, believe me, I need them. Thursday night isn't regularly anything in particular, either, so we often go to the Kami Lounge, or the Grad, and have a drink. We inevitably either end up going back to one of the other halls, or having people over in our kitchen, so there's always something going on.

Friday is completely lecture-free day for me, so I sleep in late and then either procrastinate the day away or, if I have an essay looming (ie in for the following Monday), I get my head down and work. Often, I'll also go food shopping with a friend, and then eat together. Sometimes I'll go home for a long weekend, although this is becoming rarer. Friday evenings are spent, pretty much, in a drunken haze. Every other week is the Union's indie night in the nightclub, Tempo, and we tend to unwind nicely after a stressful week.

On a Saturday, I sleep in late and wait for the after-effects of the night before to wear off. If I need to do laundry, I do it now. Saturday night we either go out, or hang out in the kitchen, and Sunday is one long sleep catch up ready for another busy week. In the evening, I go to the Christian Union, and then tend to go and catch another film with my hallmates.

Other Comments:

I think I've been very lucky with my kitchen, in that we've all bonded really well as a group, so even if there's nothing very appealing going on at the Union, drinking in the kitchen turns into a lot of fun, and we've been known to have some rather "epic adventures" (read: completely stupid ideas that seemed like a good idea at the time and are completely hilarious in retrospect) together.

The workload in Term1 wasn't that bad. I had a commentary to write for after reading week for Epic, an essay and then an essay set to be handed in after the Christmas holidays. I had one essay for each of my two Italian content modules in Term1, too. This term is proving to be more work intensive, yet it seems that as we're bonding more and more as a social group, we're drinking more and so work is taking more and more of a back seat. I'm not entirely sure that it's the correct correlation, but since my first year doesn't count (not above the 40% required pass grade), I'm not too stressed. As for how long I spend on an essay, I'm a bit crazy in that I work best under pressure, so it really just depends how long I give myself. I don't find that giving myself longer produces better grades for me personally, either. Yeah, see, told you I'm weird.

I've joined a few societies, too, although I rarely go to their socials - if I have any spare time I sleep!

Maths

Username: princess1729

Year of study: 1st year

Typical Week:

Terms 1&2:

I had about 25 hours of lectures, 3 of support classes (1 teacher, about 30 students booked in, many less actually showed up), 2 of supervisions (1 4th year, 4 students, although there was usually 1/2/3 there). I occasionally went to a supervision, went to the odd support class when it for a hard module, and went to about 20 hours of lectures. Some were skippable as you can buy the notes and go through them by yourself/flick through for the first time the week before an exam. I had 9am lectures most days as they try to timetable later years modules for later in the day as they have to travel in and we're on campus. Irrritatingly, they don't have the lectures in a block, they were spaced from 9 - 7 with a few hours in between each. Plus my programming classes were 7-9pm!

Typically, I'd have 2 assignment sheets due in Monday, one Thursday and a test on Friday. All of which count towards my degree in some small way (year one is worth 10%, assignments/tests are worth about 15% of the year) so have to be done well. The weekend and wednesday afternoons (when there aren't ever lectures) would be spent working solidly. I often worked in the evenings too.

Term 3:

No lectures. Some useful revision lectures, 1 or 2 per course. Most of the time spent messing around doing nothing, until 6 weeks in when mad revision started. Then 2 weeks of absolutely nothing at the end of term.

Other Comments

Social Stuff

There is Top Banana, an event in the Union Monday nights which is £1 entry, £1 drinks which i usually went to. Then Thursdays the pub Varsity which is on the edge of campus has £1 entry, £1 drinks which is also a good night but not a nightclubby one. The union has various other events as do places in Coventry/Leamington Spa but these are more expensive and you have to bus to Cov/Leam and taxi back which is costly. Twice a week was enough for me! I don't do anything with societies much although they are good. I dabbled with cheerleading, pole dancing, rock climbing (AMAZING indoors wall) and I go to Christian Union stuff a fair bit which are excellent even for the nonreligious. They do nice things for people like give out free hot chocolate after Top B which is great for the cold walk back to halls!

Psychology

Username: jem_angel

Year of study: 1st year

Typical Week:

There are about 120 people in each year (psychology is a popular course ) You are usually in the humanities building (the one with the purple stones outside if you've been to an open day!)

In your first year you will do 4 modules which run throughout the year...

intro to psychology which is made up of 4 parts: Psychobiology and cognitive science (which are 5 weeks each and run in the first term) and personality and developmental psych (which again are 5 weeks and run in the second term) Of these i know that people found psychobiology hard (esp. if you didn't do a level biology) but it is do-able... cognitive science is good if you are into the science side of psychology (i'm not)....personality is ok and if you've done a level psychology it covers some of the same stuff and developmental psych is my interest so i loved that part

2nd module is further psychology which is made up of history of psychology and social psychology (which usually run parallel to psychobio and cog science) and psychopathology and memory (in second term) History of psychology is pretty simple but as it's one of the first modules you do it can be frustrating to learn about philosophers before you even start on the psychology lol it's interesting if you give it a chance though social psychology has a great lecturer but is not really my interest Psychopathology is awesome... a lot of people are interested in it and we didn't get to do it in second year (i'm not sure if this has changed) so enjoy the module in first year! Memory is also interesting and will build on stuff from your a level

3rd module is methods and is the practical aspect of the course... it is split up into: statistics and practical classes... statistics is assessed by an exam and in the lecture you learn about different statistical test and when to use them practical is assesed through practical reports and your own project (working in groups) in your 2nd/3rd term... in the classes you learn about different research methods, how to write up experiments and using computer based statistical programs (not as scary as it sounds)

4th module is one that you choose from another department i did spanish and i know people that did modules in sociology, film studies, philosophy and education...it's a good opportunity to do something else you are interested in...

You don't tend to have a lot of lectures in your first year (which you will get teased on if you have any science subject friends lol) There is a 1 hour lecture for each modules so one for further and one for intro every week.... plus you have a seminars a week for either further or intro (they work on a fortnightly basis).... in the first year the seminars don't tend to be that useful For the statistics part of the methods module you will have an hour lecture a week plus a seminar a week and for the practical part you have a 3 hour class You will also usually have a lecture and a seminar a week for your extra module

so that's about 10 hours a week...

That's pretty much it for your first year.... you will have some form of assignment for each part of each module usually an essay but they are moving more towards giving short answer questions now (you can find out which modules do which once they update the psych website in mid-september) which is worth 33% of each module ... so in your first term you will have 4 assignments and you will also have to do about 2 practical reports for your practical module (you will also get 10% of your credit for that module from taking part in some of the lecturer's research as participants...easy marks) and then the exams at the end of the year which are worth 67%

Other Comments:

Although you will have less lectures that your science subject friends you are supposed to do quite a bit of reading around the lectures and for the seminars and assignments.... a lot of people don't do this (myself included) and end up trying to do it all in the easter holidays before exams which is not fun so it's probably best to try to do some each week... as you don't get a reading week (similar to a half time) like the arts subjects because psych is classed as a science

Ok that's a reaallllllllllllyyyy long post I would say to join the psychology society as you can get a mentor who will be a 2nd or 3rd year and they are really helpful when you are stuck at essay times or when you have to find journal articles on the internet.