classes

[Katelyn]

How long do normal classes last at college? Are they like high school or longer?

ThankU

[SilverTurtle]

We had 2 general class "times":

Mon, Wed, and Fri classes were 50 minutes (8-8:50, 9-9:50, etc.)

Tues & Thurs classes were 1 hour 15 minutes (8-9:15, 9:30-10:45, etc.)

This way you got close to the same amount of time for each class (3 hours/ week was the standard course credit).

There were also evening classes that lasted 2-3 hours once a week. For example, I had a religion class once a week for 3 hours (oh my what a headache ! And one semester I had a film class for about 2 hours (so it was long enough for us to actually watch movies).

If you are taking almost any science class (and sometimes others) you'll also have labs. These are usually 1-3 hours at a time, depending on how many days/week you have them, the credit hours, etc.

The only other thing I can think of was art classes. Some of them were up to 2 hours long. However, you didn't usually have to stay the whole time. (So all of the art students would just hang around all semester, and then the last couple weeks of school you wouldn't see them because they would be in the sculpture room/photo lab/etc. finishing all the stuff they put off all semester!!)




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SilverTurtle@greekchat.com
Phi Beta Fraternity
Phi chapter

[LexVegas]

at my school MWF classes are 55 min.

Tues/Thurs classes are 1hr. 55 min, usually with a short break in the middle.

labs are scheduled separate from science courses, and these can run up to 4 hrs.

[Siobhan]

AT UBC MWF classes are generally 50mins each. TTH classes are held twice a week for an 1 hour and a half each. Then there are the once a week 3 hour lectures which are generally on either M T or W. And ofcourse, depending on which faculty you belong to, there are labs, seminars, etc.

[FlyPhi]

Usually if a class is 3 credits then you have 3 hours of class per week. If it is 4 credits then you have 4 hours per wk. At least that is the way my school does it.

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Don't look to the future
or dwell in the past
But live for the moment
and long it will last

[blu_theatrics]

It depends on how many credit hours the class is. Ussually science classes that reqiure labs are more than three hours and there are some four credit hour classes too, but the majority on my campus are three credit hours

For three credit hour calsses: If you take a class that is twice a week you are there for about 1hr fifteen minutes per day.
If you only go once a week it is three hours
some are three days a week and they are about 55 minutes per day.

It really depends, but look in your schedule of classes and you should see what the hours are for that particular class.

[mwedzi]

I assume by the replies, the others who posted went to schools on the semester system. That was like the school I transferred to. But the school I started out as and the one I pledged at was on the quarter system. Classes usually met twice a week for 100 minutes a week. Science classes had lecture plus 3+ hours of lab a week.

[Siobhan]

What exactly is the semester system? Up here in Canada we use the term "term". For example at UBC one school year (September-April) is made up of 2 terms. 1st term runs Sept-Dec and 2nd term runs Jan-April. I know this might be a dumb question but all my sisters in the states talk about semesters and I was just wondering what its Canadian equivalent was.

[This message has been edited by Siobhan (edited August 06, 2000).]

[ZChi4Life]

Siobhan, I think most schools on the semester system work the way yours does. I go to UofMichigan and ours works exactly like yours. We use the words "term" and "semester" at my school interchangeably. So it's whatever you prefer to say.

To answer this question, my classes work similar to some of the others. Our classes in our time schedule books say that all classes start on the hour, however at Michigan, we have what is known as "Michigan Time". So all classes w/ the exception of art classes, start 10 min after the hour. So if the time schedule booklet says a class is from, say, 1-2pm, then it actually starts at 1:10, making the class only 50 min. If the booklet says it starts at 10:30am, it really starts at 10:40am. This allows everyone time to get from class to class if they wanna schedule their classes back to back. It works well. However, when I actually have to be somewhere ON the hour, I get messed up! :P

[mwedzi]

A "term" is a time period of study. So if you go to a semester system, you will have two big "terms" from Aug to Dec. and Jan. to May. If you go to a school that has trimesters, you will have 3 big terms. If you go to a school that is on the quarter system, you will have 4 quarters, one for each season (though most people don't go in summer, at least not full-time). But the summer term is the same as any other term.

So basically, the length of a "term" depends on where you go.