Overloading of subjects. (1 Viewer)

[shuttle_bus5]

One of my friends is considering doing 6 subjects next semester with contact hours at about 28 hours p/w.
Not sure if she will be able to handle it.
Has anyone ever done 5 or 6 subjects a semester or know anyone who has?
If so, what was it like?

 

[Absolutezero]

I'm doing 5 subjects for the second time this semester. Contact hours would be about the same as your friend. It is possible to manage, though you have to be relatively dedicated. Also, work out which course you'd be able to manage together. Picking two that fit together, or are both easy makes the process much more bearable. Picking two completely different subjects that you have little knowledge of is unwise.

 

[shuttle_bus5]

I'm doing 5 subjects for the second time this semester. Contact hours would be about the same as your friend. It is possible to manage, though you have to be relatively dedicated. Also, work out which course you'd be able to manage together. Picking two that fit together, or are both easy makes the process much more bearable. Picking two completely different subjects that you have little knowledge of is unwise.

Ahk, so you are coping fine with 5 subjects?
I think the subjects she is considering have are all very similar concepts ie micro economics, macro economics etc etc. 6 subjects just seems an awful lot though.

 

[Phoenix Fury]

I know someone who did 5, they dropped back to 4 in week 2 but in all fairness the subject was art and being art, the lecturer talked nonsensical crap and the tutor told her she was drawing wrong, lol.

EDIT: imo would depend on what the subjects were and how intensive they are.

 

[Absolutezero]

I'm not doing as well as I did last semester (in which I also overloaded), as one subject has a lot of new content to learn. However, I'll still pass it in the end. It's mainly because I'm skipping the lecture (because it clashes) that I'm not doing so well, not the fact that I'm overloading.

 

[Raix]

I've been thinking of overloading but I'm panicking just doing 4 units so I might just take it easy, even if it'll take me longer. *sighs*

 

[Absolutezero]

It's only really worth it if you've got something like a 4 1/2 year course. I'm trying to get rid of the half. For a standard 3 or 4 year course, its not worth the effort.

 

[Raix]

^ Yeah, I'm doing a combined course so 4.5 years. But I'm having enough trouble with the big differences between the two degrees I'm doing haha

 

[Absolutezero]

I'm doing Creative Arts and Commerce. So completely different degrees. I've been doubling up on commerce. Last session was the similar Marketing and Management. This time its Accounting and Finance.

 

[bregitta]

I'm doing 5 subjects this semester, and although the thought of 4 assignments due on the same day kills me a little inside..I'm going to enjoy the benefits of it when it's over! Have you researched summer subjects too? I was able to complete a unit after spending 4 intense weeks of uni in December. The campus was quiet and all my friends were out getting tans but it saved me doing group assignments for the subject! Lol.

 

[LordPc]

all depends on the courses. right now i do more work for one course, lets call it a, that i do for the other 3 combined , b c and d. if i got rid of course a, i could do another 3 courses that have the same workload as b c and d.

and arent micro/macro like 1st year courses? so that would make things a lot easier cause 1st year can overlap with hsc

i dont think you could do 6 courses at 4th year level though

 

[melsc]

Depends on the person, depends on the subjects.

I would not recommend it to a first year.

I've done it, tried it again this semester but the subjects were more labour intensive and time consuming and thus dropped one.

 

[ajdlinux]

Depends on the person, depends on the subjects.

I would not recommend it to a first year.

I'm fairly sure some places don't let first years overload - at least I think that's ANU's policy on it.

I know someone who is overloading by 6u at the moment, but part of her reason for doing that was because she dropped 3u last semester due to illness. She seems to be coping alright at the moment, but I don't know how she'll go with something like 6 assignments in the last few weeks of next term...

 

[izzy88]

As someone said, many places don't let first years overload- so i would check that before you try to.

I know people that overload by one subject- but I have rarely heard of anyone overloading by two subjects (ie. a whole 12 credit points). I think 5 is achievable, if you put the work in, and don't have heaps of other commitments, however I think 6 is taking it a bit too far. I think it would be very difficult to go well overloading by that much.

The thing to remember is, whilst you may have calculated the actual contact hours that is required by doing more units, you have to think about the amount of outside reading and work on assignments that will need to be completed.
- What is the assessment schedule of the units- do they all have end of semester exams? (this would make it a pretty hectic exam schedule) or do they require lots of essays during the semester? Will you end up having a heap of essays/assignments all due at the same time?
- What is the reading load of the units?
etc.

 

[Absolutezero]

It definitely depends on the course. Overloading by two in commerce is much easier than something with huge amounts of practical hours.

 

[Raix]

First years are allowed to overload in second semester at my uni I think. I'll just see how I go for now.

I know one person who is probably going to overload by 2 subjects, but he's a freaking genius so I'm not surprised.

 

[Phoenix Fury]

How are they even going to know anyway, do they really go through and check everyone is only doing 4 or less or what.

 

[Absolutezero]

How are they even going to know anyway, do they really go through and check everyone is only doing 4 or less or what.

They could just prevent everyone from enrolling in more than 4 classes. That seems like the logical approach.

 

[Raix]

Our enrollment's done online so I assume that it's set to not allow more than 4 units unless permission has been granted.

 

[babikakez]

One of my friends overloaded by one extra unit this semester, and they emailed her in Week 1 to say that because her academic performance wasn't too great last year (not terrible, just Ps and Cs), she had to drop one unit. Another friend who got Ds and Cs and was overloading by one unit was allowed to stay with that load.
Both are doing the same course at the same uni.