Trimesters (1 Viewer)

[vajayjay]

Guys are UNSW trimesters really bad? I've seen so many people saying that you fly through content and you are just smashed with assignments week in week out, because of the pace you must learn your content in.

Does anyone have any experience with UNSW trimesters they can share

 

[Masaken]

Guys are UNSW trimesters really bad? I've seen so many people saying that you fly through content and you are just smashed with assignments week in week out, because of the pace you must learn your content in.

Does anyone have any experience with UNSW trimesters they can share

I've only been at UNSW for two terms but trimesters are easily the worst part of UNSW even though they are manageable if you stay on top of your studies. Everything feels super rushed towards the end of term, but you start feeling like everything comes and goes pretty quickly and as a result everything starts to feel rushed. The middle part of term is when all the assignments come out so the mid-term break week isn't even a mid-term break week it's just you catching up on lectures if you have any and going through your assignments I like having one less course to do albeit at the cost of a faster pace, though but that's a very tiny pro and ig also kinda dependent on your degree, this term has been pretty chill though for me cos I picked chill courses this term admittedly so I don't think the trimester burnout has hit me that hard just yet

Another issue is that if you go to UNSW your holidays inevitably don't match up with your friends who go to semester-based universities (cos right now we're zooming past the middle of term and towards the end while everyone else is on semester break) but I never saw it as a big deal cos almost all my friends go to UNSW anyway

 

[liamkk112]

Guys are UNSW trimesters really bad? I've seen so many people saying that you fly through content and you are just smashed with assignments week in week out, because of the pace you must learn your content in.

Does anyone have any experience with UNSW trimesters they can share

there are pros and cons but imo compared to semesters they are much worse, some people like the increased pace though. trimesters are ~10 weeks in length for teaching, compared to about 14 weeks in length for semesters (at least at usyd/uts). an extra month doesn’t sound like a month but it really does make a difference, i feel like i wouldn’t have much time to digest content at unsw and overall it can feel more rushed (people i know feel similar). for me i’d rather spend an extra month learning something and feeling like i’ve learned it more throughly, rather than running through a bunch of classes at a high pace.

however on the flip side unsw people have already taken 5-6 classes and have almost finished the second trimester, whereas at usyd/uts we haven’t even started our second semester yet. so although at the end of the year you still end up taking 8 classes overall at unsw/usyd/uts, there is a feeling of acceleration that you wouldn’t get at usyd/uts that some people really like. anyway here’s the pros and cons for trimesters imo:

pros:
- you learn things faster
- increased diversity of content due to taking a different class after ~10 weeks
- forces you to be constantly and consistently engaged (otherwise you won’t have time to catch back up)
- if you take 3 classes a sem or more (i wouldn’t advise) can allow you to complete your degree much earlier

cons:
- really short holidays (uts/usyd have like 2 month long holidays which is a nice break that can allow u to do things like work exp / personal projects without worrying about school, whereas unsw has 2-3 weeks)
- holidays don’t line up with other unis in sydney (eh tbh)
- content can feel rushed, not much time to dwell on content if you’re someone who likes that
- if you fall behind, there’s basically no time to catch back up
- can lead to increased stress

 

[vajayjay]

Thank you both so much. it sounds silly, but I'd lowkey consider changing my degree if it meant not going to unsw. I need breaks. I read a few things online that said the 2-3 week breaks arent even sufficient because you get assigments before you go on them

 

[theaeneid]

I heard they're removing trimesters in like 2026-27?

 

[liamkk112]

Thank you both so much. it sounds silly, but I'd lowkey consider changing my degree if it meant not going to unsw. I need breaks. I read a few things online that said the 2-3 week breaks arent even sufficient because you get assigments before you go on them

that last part isn't true, in those breaks between the semesters you have no classes and no assignments; however, theres a so called "stuvac" or flex week where you have no classes, kinda like a midterm break to catch up, where usually unsw will give people assignments (which is honestly better than not having assignments then, because then you don't have to attend classes when you have assessments)
the big difference is really in the length of the term and the holidays between terms, but yeah if you need breaks i'd recommend uts/usyd/macq/wsu/whatever uni doesn't have trimesters

 

[Masaken]

that last part isn't true, in those breaks between the semesters you have no classes and no assignments; however, theres a so called "stuvac" or flex week where you have no classes, kinda like a midterm break to catch up, where usually unsw will give people assignments (which is honestly better than not having assignments then, because then you don't have to attend classes when you have assessments)
the big difference is really in the length of the term and the holidays between terms, but yeah if you need breaks i'd recommend uts/usyd/macq/wsu/whatever uni doesn't have trimesters

adding to above stuvac isn't really an assignment week it's the week before the exam weeks so you use that to study for exams (or if you have none like a friend of mine you just basically have an extra 2-3 weeks of holiday added onto the regular trimester break. i have one exam on a saturday and that's pretty much it this term so i technically have an extra week of holiday cos the second week of exams i have none), any assignments are usually due and wrapped up by week 10

there's also flex week in week 6 which is the mid-term exam break, it's different from stuvac

 

[liamkk112]

adding to above stuvac isn't really an assignment week it's the week before the exam weeks so you use that to study for exams (or if you have none like a friend of mine you just basically have an extra 2-3 weeks of holiday added onto the regular trimester break. i have one exam on a saturday and that's pretty much it this term so i technically have an extra week of holiday cos the second week of exams i have none), any assignments are usually due and wrapped up by week 10

there's also flex week in week 6 which is the mid-term exam break, it's different from stuvac

uts just calls it all a stuvac so i thought it was the same, but yeah similar idea

 

[idkkdi]

if you have a habit of cramming, cramming 2-3 subjects is easier than 4. also given that a trim is 10 weeks, i suspect the unsw curriculum packs subjects with a bit less content than usyd

 

[wollongong warrior]

I heard they're removing trimesters in like 2026-27?

They say that every year lol
Unsw is an example of sunk cost fallacy: hired a firm to convert their semester system to a trimester one without changing the curriculum, for millions of dollars, and now they are reluctant to move away since they've invested so much

 

[wollongong warrior]

Guys are UNSW trimesters really bad? I've seen so many people saying that you fly through content and you are just smashed with assignments week in week out, because of the pace you must learn your content in.

Does anyone have any experience with UNSW trimesters they can share

It's not bad if you tend to get really bored over long holidays
I personally enjoy the grind but this may change when courses actually get hard in 2nd year onwards

 

[natsnapshoot]

You just have to be good with time management - and don't take flexi week as a break BC if you don't do any work you will 100% fall behind. Otherwise, it's really not that bad.

 

[ExtremelyBoredUser]

its like hsc part of school all over again in all the same sense u dont need to go (or i doubt u will) to campus 24/7 and the finals are hectic af. basically don't expect to have a life from week 8-finals

 

[vajayjay]

its like hsc part of school all over again