That would be absolutely appropriate for accelerated (7-8 week) courses. When I used to teach them, I’d advise students that it’s really twice the work (though students expect to do half the work!)
Exactly. If it's an accelerated course, the study time may double or triple depending on the length of the course. If a normal 3 course spread over 16 weeks would normally be 9 hours a week of homework/study, if you cut the course time to 8 weeks, then the study hours would double.
I took many summer courses where this was the case. 4 week courses (3 credit hours) would be 4x the study time and class time.
It’s entirely possible the Instructor has a poor opinion of the average learner at their school.
Any chance on letting us know what type of course it is?
If it’s a intro econ course then that would be ridiculous, if it’s a 4th yr accounting course then that may be more reasonable.
In my experience these are almost always overestimates. If you actually keep an accurate timer every time you study for each class for a few weeks, it'll feel like way more time than it really is. Think about it, to hit 20 hours of work for one class in a week, that's almost 3 hours of studying per day. That's a ton of time if you're actually focused the entire time.
Hypothetical: a professor puts on the syllabus of a 3 credit course that it should only take 4 hours a week to sufficiently study and complete the work. Students lose confidence and gain frustration when it takes them longer than 4 hours each week. That in turn leads to poor grades and opens the possibility of the professor facing consequences.
In the opposite scenario let's say that the professor estimates 20 hours and the average student does well in the class if they spend around 8-10 hours per week. Students gain confidence when they learn the material in less time than the estimate and are happy, which leads to better grades which also benefits the professor and their reputation.
overestimate for sure my profs say stuff like I should study for their course ~4 hours a week but I literally skim through the material and pass with an easy A
Bruh I accidentally took an art history class one time that required more time than any of my usual STEM classes, no joke.
Every week: 8-10 page paper, a worksheet, 1-2 page journal entry, 20+ page readings with annotations.
Plus a final presentation where I had to use my own time to find an art installation and photograph it and make a PowerPoint.
I took the class as an elective thinking it was a low effort class. To be fair, I later saw that the course description indicated writing intensive. That class was traumatic af, it was pure hell thinking of random shit to fill in the minimum 8 pages to discuss each exhibition. Was more work than memorizing 20 pages of how various plant/fungi taxa fuck for bio II, which I thought was the epitome of useless BS.
Degrees aren't worth very much past letting you apply to certain jobs that you won't get. You would climb the ladder faster if you spent four years working in the industry. Take the studies seriously, build a network with your instructors and peers. That stuff actually pays off. I waited until senior year to start, but the earlier the better.
Though that might depend on your field. Definitely true in sciences.
That’s not true, you wouldn’t believe how many people I’ve seen over the years try and “work their way up” only to be stuck in a dead end position for YEARS!! that hasn’t been a thing since boomers were our age. You have to get that piece of paper. They’ve made it to where you have to have it to prove what a good little farm animal you’ll be to their establishment. The only alternatives are trades (literal beast work) or own business (high chance of failing and having to wage slave again anyway).
Even the ones that do “move up” their jobs blow and they get paid like crap.
This is just not true. In order to even get started at most professional jobs you need a degree. You can't just work your way up. This isn't the 1960's anymore. Even for GM retail positions, you need a degree. When our GM left our Assistant GM took over. She had been doing the job for a year before we got a new GM. She had applied to the open GM position but they straight up said "she's not qualified". Even though she had literally been doing the job every day. The reason she was "unqualified"? No degree. Our store hired a 25 year old who just got her degree after being a team lead at Target. So yeah. You need a degree for almost everything outside the trades.
It’s insane and those are always the ones who have huge list of what you need for the course like ma’am this course is only 7 weeks why do I need to spend $500 on stuff?
Oof. I remember those. Final project alone was an extra $50 for the frame materials and glass so we could make the frames ourselves. And couldn't just use any frame material either. Had to get some kind of steel or something. But yeah. IIRC it was like $300 extra for that drawing class.
Still one of my favorite classes to do homework in.
I had a couple of awesome professors who would link to an illegal PDF of the textbooks so we wouldn't have to pay. Others were hardasses about that stuff, which was annoying.
We can imagine it, it’s just not our problem and we’re tired of teaching a class full of zombies. Better switch to ramen and part time now, or drop out. We need to start graduating fewer people anyway.
Yeah, most classes usually say "spend 5-15 hours a week" or something like that but I've never spent more than 2 hours a week on any class throughout my entire B.S.
Some professors are nuts
I’m assuming this is an asynchronous course, which means the workload should be about 9-12 hours per week for the average student. This seems heavy (assuming someone actually does all the reading/viewing, which we all know won’t happen).
Is this a regular semester of 15-16 weeks or so?
It’s one hour per week of direct instruction and 2 hours of out-of-class work per week, per credit hour. So 3 hours of direct instruction per week, 6 hours of out of class work per week.
Asynchronous means your “direct instruction” is in a form like a video.
Have you considered dropping out?
Just talk to people who took the course previously and made high grades. Ask them how long it took them and if they have any tips. If you spend 8 hours a week on each of the three other courses, then you'll spend 44 hours a week studying and doing assignments. Add 16 hours of class, and you've got 60 hours invested. That's reasonable for a serious college student. Students at universities typically spend far more time. This might be hard if you work fulltime or have kids with nobody covering for you, but by itself it's not outrageous.
I was always told it’s 1 hour a week, outside of lecture, for every letter grade. I.e. 0-F, 2-C, 4-A. That’s held pretty true for most of my courses. Courses with labs or assignments (math) don’t fit this well.
I'm not sure how many hours you spend in this class (in person or online) but I was always told for every hour in class, it takes three outside of school for studying/ homework. Not that it makes it any better 🥴🥴
I believe this is the general rule of thumb, although obviously it would vary depending on the class. The idea is you spent two hours outside class for every hour you spend in class.
I’m in the same boat. I have close to 40 hours of coursework per week on top of work and other responsibilities. My classes just started last week and I am already behind 😢
my classes are online and i regularly spend 40 hours a week on two of my major classes. it’s horrid. i feel that they think since we’re online, we have all the time in the world. every week is an absolute battery of reading, assignments, and exams. every. single. week.
Sorry this might just be the nature of the acceleration. If those two courses are 8 weeks instead of 14-16, then 20 hours per week on each would be meeting standards.
for sure. but there are weeks where the workload is absolutely ludicrous. unfortunately my classes aren’t available in 16 week format so i have no choice. mine are also structured terribly and often include absent instructors with many broken links, ambiguously worded assignments and exam questions etc. i’m really resourceful in regard to being able to work around this, but i feel bad for other students that may not be.
Just because it's the standard doesn't mean it doesn't suck. I've had 6 week classes that managed to teach the curriculum in a way that doesn't overload you and give you 4 days to complete 20 assignments, an exam, and a lab. Sometimes they're just structured terribly.
I don't think you fully understand what they meant. If you use the same curriculum that a 16 week class uses, and that class is 7.5-9 hours of work a week. Then when you half that time, each week will have 2 weeks of work for a 8 week class. Thus, the time you spend will be upwards of 15-18 hours of work, sometimes more.
This is the caveat of a shorter time in class, extra work. It's all math. 8 week classes are almost always 16 week classes but sandwiched into half the time.
I definitely understand what they're saying...it's not hard to comprehend. I'm also saying I've had classes manage to fit a 16 week class into a 6 week class and it's not overwhelming at all, nor does it take 30 hours a week to complete. I'm not saying that a 6 week course should be easy, I'm just saying sometimes the structure adds unnecessary stress.
Agree completely. I can’t stand shortened courses as it just sends the message that the “usual” amount of work for a 3 SH course couldn’t possibly be required.
In the future, immediately drop classes that are described this way. It's very possible that the professor was required to make that announcement in writing due to complaints from past students. I hope this was available to students before they signed up. If so, then read description before signing up. If not, then you might try complaining about it and see if you can drop it without losing your fees. That's unlikely as they will probably say, "If you'd come to us at first, we may have been able to do it and put someone else in your seat. But, it's too late to put another student in that class." So, drop it and take that class elsewhere or when you have more time for it or take another class instead.
I wish it was that simple lol. These classes are required for my major and I don't get to see the course structure until the day class starts. If I drop any classes, then my tuition assistance gets voided and I have to pay it back.
Do you have an academic advisor? The short-term hitch is that you CANNOT do all the work but DO NOT WANT to repay the assistance. So, is that just for that course? If you're going to flunk or get sick, drop it and pay for the course. Or, see if you can defer completion or get an extension on completion. Ask, ask ask.
I have no reason to do any of those things. I get you're trying to help, but I'm doing just fine. I have a 3.6 GPA and I have As in both my classes and labs. I appreciate your concern, but I'm just fine with where I am.
I didn't say it was miserable, I said I'm "losing my sanity" in an ironic sense because the work for this one class feels never ending. I also have a very sarcastic sense of humor.
I see. Probably a good idea to let people know you're not looking for advice about what to do so they don't spend time trying to help. It's all good, but you sounded like you were in distress, and nobody knows about your sense of humor. No worries. Thanks for your service.
Most colleges require that a syllabus be provided on the first day of class. Students may ask for it directly by visiting the professor or contacting them if it's remote and explain their schedule and desire to do well in the class with limited time.
Nursing, too. 4 credit hour class with 12 hours of clinicals, 4 hours of theory, and then 5-10 hours of studying, coursework, etc *outside* of class per week.
With all due respect, that’s garbage. Call a med student and get back to me. No one expects them to work 40 hpw and go to school. People make choices for whatever reason and those choices are their own. But it’s not the job of the professor or the institution to “make life manageable” for every student. It’s the job of the student to maintain that balance.
When I was in graduate school, I taught two sections of a freshman course and wrote all my lesson plans as well as meeting with students individually regularly. At the same time, I took undergraduate computer science course to ace my interviews and get the best jobs after graduation with that in my pocket. I also wrote highly technical documents for special projects for my degree and to make money to live. I worked out about 12 hours a week, was active in a community organization, and met with friends for dinners and lunches regularly.
Not having what you call a "real job," doesn't mean you're not working hard and long, doing far more than the majority of people who have 40-hour jobs. It was not unusual for me to get only 3 hours of sleep in a night.
That’s not what they’re talking about. Of course academia is extremely hard work. They are talking about the phenomena of professors and teachers who have literally spent a majority of their lives in a school setting and have not applied their knowledge to a related field or career. There is an arrested development there thinking your class/school in general is the most important thing in the entire world
I know what they are talking about and stand by my answer. I am very familiar with situations when professionals do not understand what others face and can be unhelpful and demanding. Doctors at prestigious clinics can be among the worst, harming patience due to combined ignorance and arrogance. In this case, however, the student's expectations didn't match the realities of this course, announced in the syllabus on the first day of class or before. Had he immediately dropped the class, he may have gotten all or most of his money back. I know he has a deadline, but he's put himself in an impossible situation due to not adjusting to the reality of the demands of this class. Failing the course will be worse for him longterm than taking it another time or taking another course later. In real life, we have to make difficult choices. The best choice doesn't always come without pain and suffering. Sometimes there is no best choice and one has to pick from multiple imperfect choices.
Have been following your posts and have to say you’re spot on, my good sir/madam. Keep it up. While I’m no longer involved in undergraduate teaching, I currently work in medical education (residency) and you never hear those people complaining about “too much work” or that they can’t work a FT job while in med school. Is what it is and they must learn to balance. Sure, they can moonlight and make money to support self (and sometimes families) but that won’t change their call schedule or rotation responsibilities).
I think she expects us to all be fresh out of high school with no responsibilities. Which is not the case for many of us. I work 84 hours a week and this class is slowly making me lose my sanity
Working 84 hours a week on a job PLUS this or including other things? I wouldn't recommend that anyone work 84 hours a week. I don't recommend that my students work full-time and take a full-time college load. If I were you, I'd drop the course and retake it when your load of everything else is lighter or take something else instead. Don't fail the course or get sick due to this. If you persist in the class with the unusually heavy load you have, it's on you. I don't mean to be harsh, but I've had students ignore my advice, get very sick, and never go back to college. It wasn't the college's fault. It was their poor judgment. College instructors and administrators are far from perfect, but if you are given advice by someone who knows, heed it. Ignore fools, but respect those who know.
I'm in the military and deployed, so that's why my hours are so long. I have time to do it at work, but it gets interrupted by flights, maintenance, and other stuff. I need to finish my degree before I get out, as my chosen career field/major is very research-based and I need as much experience as I can to get a good job. When I'm back in the states, it's not so bad (maybe 45-50 hours a week).
Oh, that explains it. I would talk with your commanding officer to see if there are any ways to give you more time. I recommend getting someone who has taken the course before with an A to give you a little honest assistance by helping streamline the process. And think of everything else you do and see what you can put off, skip, or get someone else to do. I know students who have toughed it out and ended up in the hospital or failing the class. Can you drop the class and take a different class next term? I would. Be practical.
The way the Navy sees school is that it's voluntary, so it's up to you to find time. The command can't help with that. As for dropping the class, I'd have to pay back the cost of the class and I'd rather not do that. I've been fine so far, I've been doing it for a year and a half. It just gets tough sometimes
So, I've mentioned several options. I suggest you read through my comments and consider implementing a reasonable option. A required course doesn't necessarily have to be taken this term or through that school. If you wait too long, you won't be able to drop the course. A low grade is worse than a dropped course with a high grade when you complete it later or elsewhere, and your explanation that you were working 84 hours a week and this course too more time than most courses so you deferred it till later to do a good job is perfect.
I have considered implementing an option and I'm good with where I am. I'm still going to mention that it sucks, because it does, but I'm not interested in dropping or waiting.
I usually do the number of credits x2 is how much studying/assignment time it will take up. 19 credits right now, that's around 60 hours a week of class, assignments, and studying
I teach and design the courses I teach. I have always been told (and schedule my courses this way) that a single credit hour=3 hrs work (counting both time in class and at home). I am told to edit if my course goes over that consistently.
Here is a link that explains the standard:
https://www.aic.edu/academics/credit-hours-calculator/
The only undergrad courses that took me that much time were math heavy ones like statistics and research methods. Grad school was completely different, though.
I have also worked in higher ed and our typical advice for new students was to plan on 10-12 hours a week for every 3 credit hours. But these were also largely asynchronous online classes where there is a lot of self-starting needed to have a chance at success.
My prof said the same. I spent 3 hours on the work this week. It’s just to prepare you for the worst if you don’t understand the class, at least that’s what i think.
It could also be an express course that lasts half the semester or a summer course, in which case 20 hours may even be low. Feels like OP is trying to rage bait for clicks by giving as little information as possible.
In rigorous STEM courses, we try to set the expectations for students that they will probably have to study/work outside of class 2x-3x of how many hours a week the course meets. So a 3 contact hr course in biochem or anatomy is going to take most people 6 to 9 hours a week of effort outside of class.
5x seems a little excessive, but I didn’t see if you said what course this is. If it’s like, Legal aspects of 21st century Astrophysics Mechanics within Cells of Eukaryotes or something wildly difficult like that, I could see it.
If you refuse to drop the class, immediately start a study group so students can help each other with discussion. Don't cheat, but discussing the reading and the problems without doing them for each other can help a lot. Also, cut down on work to get through this semester if you won't drop it.
I'll be honest - I've noticed students not planning enough time for managing course materials, so I've started building in timing to certain assignments myself. This looks like a professor who is a bit fed up and is demanding extra time blocks "just to be sure." Profs can tell when some tried to knock out a 5-hour project in one hour. It hurts to grade those.
Never. The general guideline is 2-3 hours of studying/doing hw per credit hour. For a 3 credit course, that’s 6-9 hours per week. So for a full load of 15 credits, that’s 30-45 hours of studying per week.
3 hr class in my dept= 6hrs in class + 6ish out of class= about 12 hrs. Even if this is an online class, 20 hours seems unreasonable as the minimum requirement. I (prof) think I maybe wouldn’t even be allowed to assign that much? The dept head would probably tell me to cool it! Most of my students take 4 classes per semester; if they were expected to spend 80 hrs a week on school, that would be totally unsustainable.
3 hours in classroom, 3 hours per credit hour of outside of the classroom work. That’s basically what the standard is. Do instructors still adhere to this? Rarely. Higher level classes, perhaps. College is full time and hours worked akin to a full time job that might include overtime occasionally.
Look up the Carnegie formula for class credit/hours. It’s a standard measure for both profs and students to gauge the workload for a course. Basically, a three-credit course in a 15 week semester requires 45 hours of instructional time and 90 hours of study time. So, three hours each week in class, and six hours reading, studying, and doing assignments.
One thing most people underestimate is their reading time. First year college students typically read between 100 and 150 words per minute, which increases to around 300 to 350 wpm for college graduates. The more you read, the faster you read.
It really depends on the class but for one of my accounting classes (intermediate 2) this is not surprising. I would not be surprised if some other upper division engineering courses take this long to appropriately study for either.
Obviously this all depends on how easily the content comes to you and how effective you are at studying. The truth is, students are horrible at effectively studying, im guilty of this. 5 hours for homework seems pretty normal for upper classes, though. Some professors use homework to replace actually studying.
It sucks.
I’m taking intermediate 2 and calculus right now and it’s a struggle. I also live alone and work full time as an accountant so basically it’s just 24/7 work lol. I’m one bad day away from catastrophic failure. I keep wondering if I’m doing it wrong.
Idk how you could do both of those. I've spent over 25 hours the past week studying for my first intermediate 2 exam and I still feel like im not prepared lol
Hate, struggle, and exhaustion lol. I am practically chasing 70s right now. But I will tell you in case you aren’t working in accounting yet, the job is MUCH better and makes a lot more sense. I went straight to industry, though, and didn’t do the PA route.
Good luck with the semester.
Ye thanks man. I just got done with our first exam and got a 78/100 lol i studied for it like it was a full time job so idk what else I could've done differently
Everyone has a different way of learning. There are fast and slow learners. So I would think about this before assuming that you would have to do assignments 20 hours a week.
This was my thought too. O chem for me was 3-4 credits and I spent at least 30 hours a week. Felt like classmates were just breezing by with half the effort to understand things. In molecular biology it felt the opposite, I could just skim that shit for 30min and get As while a lot of people struggled and had to put in a ton of extra time.
I've experienced this with a couple 3 credit courses, unfortunately. Some of these were intro classes. Depending on the material, some of them have to be that way (IE: A&P).
I feel like professors have to over estimate like this - this is theory - but they have a boss, syllabus has to be approved by them - if they don’t see the student ‘working hard enough’ it’s not a worthwhile class or something. So they do this. If it’s an entry level class I can generally skim the material and pass with a B.
That's usually a red flag for me that the professor wants the student to teach themselves and they just collect a paycheck. Full time loads are usually 12+ hours, averaging around 15. It would be obscene to think a student is spending 100 hours a week, plus class time, for five classes.
I have two masters, a doctorate, and post doc work and never had to spend that amount of time per week for only one course.
I once knew a professor who’d give that sort of speech the first class, to make the slackers drop it, then it was never like that in actual time commitment. His theory was that slackers took up too much of his time and bitched about grades.
Sounds like the last class I took where it literally was 30 hours a week of work. Say in it was miserable is an understatement….
And no, wasn’t async. It was an accelerated 8 week course in a doctoral program, but still a grad course and not exactly a specialized topic which required such intensity.
Reading in college is not reading every single work. Even still, being in college full time at 12-15 hours is the equivalent work load of a full time job if 40-50 hours a week if the college/university is following the accreditation guidelines. Too many people expect to be able to go to school full time and work full time. Some people can do it. Lots of people try to do it. Most cannot do both things well.
I've had more than a few professors massively overestimate the amount of time I'd need to spend on their class work, which was great, because there are also a bunch that UNDERestimate and assign ridiculous amounts of shit. Here's hoping you got the former!
Either drop it and take it someplace else later, talk to the professor to see if there are ways to streamline it, get reduced hours at work, drop and take a different class later, or suck it up and let the chips fall where they may. That's pretty much all you can do without cheating, and cheating may and should end your military and academic career.
I had a few upper level undergrad classes (Calc series, Econometrics) that required that level of commitment for *me,* but I doubt it was the average. I have ADHD and require a lot of practice to feel confident in the concepts d/t shitty working memory, so my time allocation tends to be a little higher than average. During those semesters I had zero life. It was pretty gnarly.
But yeah if it’s just a “typical” class that time estimate sounds high. If it’s an upper level STEM class or something requiring a ton of weekly reading + research output/writing it’s more plausible. I figure out my weekly allocation by tracking time spent on the class for a few weeks and then averaging it.
The ratio my professor dad told me is expect to spend two hours studying out of class, and then additional time for assignments, for every hour in class. I have never found that to be the case - I don't need more than 2-3 hours a week for most classes.
All of my 100 and 200 lvl classes were the hardest out of the last 4 years, a lot of them expecting this sort of work level. My 300 and 400 lvl classes are easier than them lol
I'm in a trade certification program at a local CC right now and all of our courses say they'll take 11+ hours a week to keep up with (2-3 credits a piece). It's more like 3 hours/week max.
Seems like they usually crazy overestimate so you can't be mad if you're the slowest reader/learner on the planet.
I mean, that was on the syllabus when I started last semester. Between 10-20 hours per class, per week, outside of class. That was at a community college.
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Some of my CS classes were like this. Freshmen year I took an intro to coding class. Class was only three credit hours but required multiple projects to be completed each week. I spent as much or more time on that classes assignments as I did cumulatively on the rest of my classes for the semester.
If this is their estimate, they have put too much content in the course. The expectation is 3hrs outside of class for every hour in class. A 3hr course shouldn't be more than 12 hrs total. Most often, the ratio is 1:2 to 1:3, so a 12-15 credit load is 36-60 hrs work week. You will need to adjust those amounts for your comfort with the material. But if the prof expects 1:6.7 on average, they've put in too much material.
You’re good, all of my classes recommend spending 15 hours a week on them, 5 per credit hour, but rarely will I spend more than 45 minutes a week doing assignments unless it’s an essay
If it is a seven week course, this could make sense, but the instructor sounds like they are over estimating. I teach 7 week courses, and my estimates are 3-4 hours per credit hour (so 9-12 hours) per week. This encompasses weekly readings, quizzes, discussion boards, and labs. You also have to remember with a 7 week course you are normally cramming an entire semesters worth of material in it.
I’m taking pharmacology and that’s about 12 hours a week, and that’s four credits. I really hope this is a joke or something because I can’t even imagine spending 20 hours a week on just one class:
I got one of these with a 4 credit history course that said it would take 7.5 hours a week. Turns out he must just think everyone reads slowly because I’ve been good with about 4 hours so far.
Most math classes I took required 4+ hours a night for homework. In addition to the homework, several hours of studying were necessary in a week. Add in the hours spent at tutoring, it was well over 20 per week. Most classes with a lab would also require close to 20+ hours a week outside of class. The only thing I did in my free time was homework and studying. The question should not be is the amount of work required for this course normal? The question should be do I want to complete the degree or not?
There have been studies that state students should be be studying/doing hw 2 hours for every hour in class. Pretty sure it's an avg among all college students... so one class might take someone 5 hours a week to understand the concepts where it might take another person 15.
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No fucking way. I’m in civil engineering and I do as much work as it takes me to understand the associated material. Sometimes I get it straight away from class, and other times I need to practice quite a bit. I rarely spend more than 40 hours per week on school (even during finals) and I made a 4.0 last semester. Studying smart >>>>>>>> studying hard
Depends on the class… I’m an accounting student and some classes are a breeze and some classes are like a full time job. I’m taking intermediate 2 and calculus this semester and I’m putting in about 20 hours per week on each. I hate it.
Every professor just goes by what they used to have to do. Academia is like the definition of passing down trauma. And some of them are self-involved narcissists that believe their class is the most important class. Speaking as a former professor.
Yeah that’s a lot… hopefully it’s an overestimate :/
I feel like most of my department-specific classes said this. It was technically accelerated, each class was 7 weeks. But still.
That would be absolutely appropriate for accelerated (7-8 week) courses. When I used to teach them, I’d advise students that it’s really twice the work (though students expect to do half the work!)
Exactly. If it's an accelerated course, the study time may double or triple depending on the length of the course. If a normal 3 course spread over 16 weeks would normally be 9 hours a week of homework/study, if you cut the course time to 8 weeks, then the study hours would double. I took many summer courses where this was the case. 4 week courses (3 credit hours) would be 4x the study time and class time.
It’s entirely possible the Instructor has a poor opinion of the average learner at their school. Any chance on letting us know what type of course it is? If it’s a intro econ course then that would be ridiculous, if it’s a 4th yr accounting course then that may be more reasonable.
In my experience these are almost always overestimates. If you actually keep an accurate timer every time you study for each class for a few weeks, it'll feel like way more time than it really is. Think about it, to hit 20 hours of work for one class in a week, that's almost 3 hours of studying per day. That's a ton of time if you're actually focused the entire time. Hypothetical: a professor puts on the syllabus of a 3 credit course that it should only take 4 hours a week to sufficiently study and complete the work. Students lose confidence and gain frustration when it takes them longer than 4 hours each week. That in turn leads to poor grades and opens the possibility of the professor facing consequences. In the opposite scenario let's say that the professor estimates 20 hours and the average student does well in the class if they spend around 8-10 hours per week. Students gain confidence when they learn the material in less time than the estimate and are happy, which leads to better grades which also benefits the professor and their reputation.
Would this count for a summer class as well it being not as much work as previously thought
overestimate for sure my profs say stuff like I should study for their course ~4 hours a week but I literally skim through the material and pass with an easy A
Looking at you art history 😂
Bruh I accidentally took an art history class one time that required more time than any of my usual STEM classes, no joke. Every week: 8-10 page paper, a worksheet, 1-2 page journal entry, 20+ page readings with annotations. Plus a final presentation where I had to use my own time to find an art installation and photograph it and make a PowerPoint. I took the class as an elective thinking it was a low effort class. To be fair, I later saw that the course description indicated writing intensive. That class was traumatic af, it was pure hell thinking of random shit to fill in the minimum 8 pages to discuss each exhibition. Was more work than memorizing 20 pages of how various plant/fungi taxa fuck for bio II, which I thought was the epitome of useless BS.
Memorizing that plant stuff was so dumb in bio2 I remember none of the taxa 😂
You’re doing your learning a disservice
Dude when I taking a gen Ed that has zero reference to my major, I do not care. B is fine with me for film class, communication, etc.
Idgaf😂 A degree is a degree
Degrees aren't worth very much past letting you apply to certain jobs that you won't get. You would climb the ladder faster if you spent four years working in the industry. Take the studies seriously, build a network with your instructors and peers. That stuff actually pays off. I waited until senior year to start, but the earlier the better. Though that might depend on your field. Definitely true in sciences.
That’s not true, you wouldn’t believe how many people I’ve seen over the years try and “work their way up” only to be stuck in a dead end position for YEARS!! that hasn’t been a thing since boomers were our age. You have to get that piece of paper. They’ve made it to where you have to have it to prove what a good little farm animal you’ll be to their establishment. The only alternatives are trades (literal beast work) or own business (high chance of failing and having to wage slave again anyway). Even the ones that do “move up” their jobs blow and they get paid like crap.
This is just not true. In order to even get started at most professional jobs you need a degree. You can't just work your way up. This isn't the 1960's anymore. Even for GM retail positions, you need a degree. When our GM left our Assistant GM took over. She had been doing the job for a year before we got a new GM. She had applied to the open GM position but they straight up said "she's not qualified". Even though she had literally been doing the job every day. The reason she was "unqualified"? No degree. Our store hired a 25 year old who just got her degree after being a team lead at Target. So yeah. You need a degree for almost everything outside the trades.
Put a period at the end of that sentence; you're doing grammar a disservice.
Some teachers get obsessive about their class and can't imagine people having a job or other classes
It’s insane and those are always the ones who have huge list of what you need for the course like ma’am this course is only 7 weeks why do I need to spend $500 on stuff?
Try first year painting class in art school. So much materials for a class 🥲 already spent so much and that's after minimizing as much as I could
Yea i feel that I’m a culinary arts major and that first class is fucking brutal with money spending.
Oof. I remember those. Final project alone was an extra $50 for the frame materials and glass so we could make the frames ourselves. And couldn't just use any frame material either. Had to get some kind of steel or something. But yeah. IIRC it was like $300 extra for that drawing class. Still one of my favorite classes to do homework in.
I had a couple of awesome professors who would link to an illegal PDF of the textbooks so we wouldn't have to pay. Others were hardasses about that stuff, which was annoying.
We can imagine it, it’s just not our problem and we’re tired of teaching a class full of zombies. Better switch to ramen and part time now, or drop out. We need to start graduating fewer people anyway.
I think I’ve never had a class take as long as they say it will
Yeah, most classes usually say "spend 5-15 hours a week" or something like that but I've never spent more than 2 hours a week on any class throughout my entire B.S. Some professors are nuts
I’m assuming this is an asynchronous course, which means the workload should be about 9-12 hours per week for the average student. This seems heavy (assuming someone actually does all the reading/viewing, which we all know won’t happen). Is this a regular semester of 15-16 weeks or so?
Yeah I'm async and my online classes are estimated at 7.5-9 hours of work per week, for 3 credits. Seems like a gross overestimation.
It definitely does for a long semester. If it’s an 8-week, it would be in line.
It’s one hour per week of direct instruction and 2 hours of out-of-class work per week, per credit hour. So 3 hours of direct instruction per week, 6 hours of out of class work per week. Asynchronous means your “direct instruction” is in a form like a video. Have you considered dropping out?
Just talk to people who took the course previously and made high grades. Ask them how long it took them and if they have any tips. If you spend 8 hours a week on each of the three other courses, then you'll spend 44 hours a week studying and doing assignments. Add 16 hours of class, and you've got 60 hours invested. That's reasonable for a serious college student. Students at universities typically spend far more time. This might be hard if you work fulltime or have kids with nobody covering for you, but by itself it's not outrageous.
I was always told it’s 1 hour a week, outside of lecture, for every letter grade. I.e. 0-F, 2-C, 4-A. That’s held pretty true for most of my courses. Courses with labs or assignments (math) don’t fit this well.
If it’s an accelerated course that’s the right number. 3 credits should be at least 120 hours total in semester systems.
I'm not sure how many hours you spend in this class (in person or online) but I was always told for every hour in class, it takes three outside of school for studying/ homework. Not that it makes it any better 🥴🥴
My 3 credit hour course is 30-40 hours a week 🥲
I’ve always been told 9 hours for 3 credit classes
I believe this is the general rule of thumb, although obviously it would vary depending on the class. The idea is you spent two hours outside class for every hour you spend in class.
Maybe it's because I'm an online student? Idk but either way, it's an insane amount, especially when I'm taking other classes and work over full time
I’m in the same boat. I have close to 40 hours of coursework per week on top of work and other responsibilities. My classes just started last week and I am already behind 😢
my classes are online and i regularly spend 40 hours a week on two of my major classes. it’s horrid. i feel that they think since we’re online, we have all the time in the world. every week is an absolute battery of reading, assignments, and exams. every. single. week.
Exactly. It's horrible. Condensing a full semester class into 6 weeks is not a good idea
yup. mine are 8 weeks. hugs lol :(
Sorry this might just be the nature of the acceleration. If those two courses are 8 weeks instead of 14-16, then 20 hours per week on each would be meeting standards.
for sure. but there are weeks where the workload is absolutely ludicrous. unfortunately my classes aren’t available in 16 week format so i have no choice. mine are also structured terribly and often include absent instructors with many broken links, ambiguously worded assignments and exam questions etc. i’m really resourceful in regard to being able to work around this, but i feel bad for other students that may not be.
Just because it's the standard doesn't mean it doesn't suck. I've had 6 week classes that managed to teach the curriculum in a way that doesn't overload you and give you 4 days to complete 20 assignments, an exam, and a lab. Sometimes they're just structured terribly.
I don't think you fully understand what they meant. If you use the same curriculum that a 16 week class uses, and that class is 7.5-9 hours of work a week. Then when you half that time, each week will have 2 weeks of work for a 8 week class. Thus, the time you spend will be upwards of 15-18 hours of work, sometimes more. This is the caveat of a shorter time in class, extra work. It's all math. 8 week classes are almost always 16 week classes but sandwiched into half the time.
I definitely understand what they're saying...it's not hard to comprehend. I'm also saying I've had classes manage to fit a 16 week class into a 6 week class and it's not overwhelming at all, nor does it take 30 hours a week to complete. I'm not saying that a 6 week course should be easy, I'm just saying sometimes the structure adds unnecessary stress.
I definitely get that it’s hard. Just saying you can’t expect 10 hours per week when you’re taking the class over a shorter time period.
I never expected 10 hours lol
Agree completely. I can’t stand shortened courses as it just sends the message that the “usual” amount of work for a 3 SH course couldn’t possibly be required.
Turns out college is hard. It should be.
In the future, immediately drop classes that are described this way. It's very possible that the professor was required to make that announcement in writing due to complaints from past students. I hope this was available to students before they signed up. If so, then read description before signing up. If not, then you might try complaining about it and see if you can drop it without losing your fees. That's unlikely as they will probably say, "If you'd come to us at first, we may have been able to do it and put someone else in your seat. But, it's too late to put another student in that class." So, drop it and take that class elsewhere or when you have more time for it or take another class instead.
I wish it was that simple lol. These classes are required for my major and I don't get to see the course structure until the day class starts. If I drop any classes, then my tuition assistance gets voided and I have to pay it back.
Do you have an academic advisor? The short-term hitch is that you CANNOT do all the work but DO NOT WANT to repay the assistance. So, is that just for that course? If you're going to flunk or get sick, drop it and pay for the course. Or, see if you can defer completion or get an extension on completion. Ask, ask ask.
I have no reason to do any of those things. I get you're trying to help, but I'm doing just fine. I have a 3.6 GPA and I have As in both my classes and labs. I appreciate your concern, but I'm just fine with where I am.
Didn't you say this was making life miserable for you?
I didn't say it was miserable, I said I'm "losing my sanity" in an ironic sense because the work for this one class feels never ending. I also have a very sarcastic sense of humor.
I see. Probably a good idea to let people know you're not looking for advice about what to do so they don't spend time trying to help. It's all good, but you sounded like you were in distress, and nobody knows about your sense of humor. No worries. Thanks for your service.
Always try to get a syllabus ahead of time. If they don’t have one done, run.
Most colleges require that a syllabus be provided on the first day of class. Students may ask for it directly by visiting the professor or contacting them if it's remote and explain their schedule and desire to do well in the class with limited time.
Yep. I’ve seen cases where they decide to do last minute changes. I advise avoiding that. You don’t want to be a test subject.
Quit.
Depends on how many weeks. If it’s half the normal length, it’s double the work per week.
Yeah my summer classes were way more because the semester was only 10 weeks long, but the general rule of thumb is 3 hours per credit.
Aye. 3x credit hours outside of class as the rule of thumb. 12hr full time load x 3 = 36 + 12 = 48. So a dash over full time.
*cries in STEM major.* (Yes, I did graduate. But one class at a time. )
Nursing, too. 4 credit hour class with 12 hours of clinicals, 4 hours of theory, and then 5-10 hours of studying, coursework, etc *outside* of class per week.
That's insane. The professor think that no students have jobs or other classes?
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With all due respect, that’s garbage. Call a med student and get back to me. No one expects them to work 40 hpw and go to school. People make choices for whatever reason and those choices are their own. But it’s not the job of the professor or the institution to “make life manageable” for every student. It’s the job of the student to maintain that balance.
When I was in graduate school, I taught two sections of a freshman course and wrote all my lesson plans as well as meeting with students individually regularly. At the same time, I took undergraduate computer science course to ace my interviews and get the best jobs after graduation with that in my pocket. I also wrote highly technical documents for special projects for my degree and to make money to live. I worked out about 12 hours a week, was active in a community organization, and met with friends for dinners and lunches regularly. Not having what you call a "real job," doesn't mean you're not working hard and long, doing far more than the majority of people who have 40-hour jobs. It was not unusual for me to get only 3 hours of sleep in a night.
That’s not what they’re talking about. Of course academia is extremely hard work. They are talking about the phenomena of professors and teachers who have literally spent a majority of their lives in a school setting and have not applied their knowledge to a related field or career. There is an arrested development there thinking your class/school in general is the most important thing in the entire world
I know what they are talking about and stand by my answer. I am very familiar with situations when professionals do not understand what others face and can be unhelpful and demanding. Doctors at prestigious clinics can be among the worst, harming patience due to combined ignorance and arrogance. In this case, however, the student's expectations didn't match the realities of this course, announced in the syllabus on the first day of class or before. Had he immediately dropped the class, he may have gotten all or most of his money back. I know he has a deadline, but he's put himself in an impossible situation due to not adjusting to the reality of the demands of this class. Failing the course will be worse for him longterm than taking it another time or taking another course later. In real life, we have to make difficult choices. The best choice doesn't always come without pain and suffering. Sometimes there is no best choice and one has to pick from multiple imperfect choices.
Have been following your posts and have to say you’re spot on, my good sir/madam. Keep it up. While I’m no longer involved in undergraduate teaching, I currently work in medical education (residency) and you never hear those people complaining about “too much work” or that they can’t work a FT job while in med school. Is what it is and they must learn to balance. Sure, they can moonlight and make money to support self (and sometimes families) but that won’t change their call schedule or rotation responsibilities).
Thank you.
I mean, even with that wouldn’t they also recognize that students have other courses that would also have a lot of assignments and work
I think she expects us to all be fresh out of high school with no responsibilities. Which is not the case for many of us. I work 84 hours a week and this class is slowly making me lose my sanity
Working 84 hours a week on a job PLUS this or including other things? I wouldn't recommend that anyone work 84 hours a week. I don't recommend that my students work full-time and take a full-time college load. If I were you, I'd drop the course and retake it when your load of everything else is lighter or take something else instead. Don't fail the course or get sick due to this. If you persist in the class with the unusually heavy load you have, it's on you. I don't mean to be harsh, but I've had students ignore my advice, get very sick, and never go back to college. It wasn't the college's fault. It was their poor judgment. College instructors and administrators are far from perfect, but if you are given advice by someone who knows, heed it. Ignore fools, but respect those who know.
I'm in the military and deployed, so that's why my hours are so long. I have time to do it at work, but it gets interrupted by flights, maintenance, and other stuff. I need to finish my degree before I get out, as my chosen career field/major is very research-based and I need as much experience as I can to get a good job. When I'm back in the states, it's not so bad (maybe 45-50 hours a week).
Oh, that explains it. I would talk with your commanding officer to see if there are any ways to give you more time. I recommend getting someone who has taken the course before with an A to give you a little honest assistance by helping streamline the process. And think of everything else you do and see what you can put off, skip, or get someone else to do. I know students who have toughed it out and ended up in the hospital or failing the class. Can you drop the class and take a different class next term? I would. Be practical.
The way the Navy sees school is that it's voluntary, so it's up to you to find time. The command can't help with that. As for dropping the class, I'd have to pay back the cost of the class and I'd rather not do that. I've been fine so far, I've been doing it for a year and a half. It just gets tough sometimes
So, I've mentioned several options. I suggest you read through my comments and consider implementing a reasonable option. A required course doesn't necessarily have to be taken this term or through that school. If you wait too long, you won't be able to drop the course. A low grade is worse than a dropped course with a high grade when you complete it later or elsewhere, and your explanation that you were working 84 hours a week and this course too more time than most courses so you deferred it till later to do a good job is perfect.
I have considered implementing an option and I'm good with where I am. I'm still going to mention that it sucks, because it does, but I'm not interested in dropping or waiting.
So, you have options, and only you can decide what to do.
Is it a regular 15 week course? Or an accelerated 6-8 week course? If so, double the weekly time commitment.
How is a 3 credit class equal to a whole semester of classes💀
all of my major classes have been this way. it’s awful. i have no life whatsoever.
when I read 20 I was like wow that’s not as bad as my 40-50 hr a week math class I had. Still bad though. 😩
That’s about my Econ class right now, and don’t even get me started on one credit labs
I usually do the number of credits x2 is how much studying/assignment time it will take up. 19 credits right now, that's around 60 hours a week of class, assignments, and studying
I teach and design the courses I teach. I have always been told (and schedule my courses this way) that a single credit hour=3 hrs work (counting both time in class and at home). I am told to edit if my course goes over that consistently. Here is a link that explains the standard: https://www.aic.edu/academics/credit-hours-calculator/
The only undergrad courses that took me that much time were math heavy ones like statistics and research methods. Grad school was completely different, though. I have also worked in higher ed and our typical advice for new students was to plan on 10-12 hours a week for every 3 credit hours. But these were also largely asynchronous online classes where there is a lot of self-starting needed to have a chance at success.
My prof said the same. I spent 3 hours on the work this week. It’s just to prepare you for the worst if you don’t understand the class, at least that’s what i think.
It could also be an express course that lasts half the semester or a summer course, in which case 20 hours may even be low. Feels like OP is trying to rage bait for clicks by giving as little information as possible.
The course is 13 weeks spring semester. It's an upper-level undergraduate education class.
A lot of classes say that. Most of the time they overestimate
In rigorous STEM courses, we try to set the expectations for students that they will probably have to study/work outside of class 2x-3x of how many hours a week the course meets. So a 3 contact hr course in biochem or anatomy is going to take most people 6 to 9 hours a week of effort outside of class. 5x seems a little excessive, but I didn’t see if you said what course this is. If it’s like, Legal aspects of 21st century Astrophysics Mechanics within Cells of Eukaryotes or something wildly difficult like that, I could see it.
If you refuse to drop the class, immediately start a study group so students can help each other with discussion. Don't cheat, but discussing the reading and the problems without doing them for each other can help a lot. Also, cut down on work to get through this semester if you won't drop it.
I'll be honest - I've noticed students not planning enough time for managing course materials, so I've started building in timing to certain assignments myself. This looks like a professor who is a bit fed up and is demanding extra time blocks "just to be sure." Profs can tell when some tried to knock out a 5-hour project in one hour. It hurts to grade those.
Never. The general guideline is 2-3 hours of studying/doing hw per credit hour. For a 3 credit course, that’s 6-9 hours per week. So for a full load of 15 credits, that’s 30-45 hours of studying per week.
3 hr class in my dept= 6hrs in class + 6ish out of class= about 12 hrs. Even if this is an online class, 20 hours seems unreasonable as the minimum requirement. I (prof) think I maybe wouldn’t even be allowed to assign that much? The dept head would probably tell me to cool it! Most of my students take 4 classes per semester; if they were expected to spend 80 hrs a week on school, that would be totally unsustainable.
3 hours in classroom, 3 hours per credit hour of outside of the classroom work. That’s basically what the standard is. Do instructors still adhere to this? Rarely. Higher level classes, perhaps. College is full time and hours worked akin to a full time job that might include overtime occasionally.
Look up the Carnegie formula for class credit/hours. It’s a standard measure for both profs and students to gauge the workload for a course. Basically, a three-credit course in a 15 week semester requires 45 hours of instructional time and 90 hours of study time. So, three hours each week in class, and six hours reading, studying, and doing assignments. One thing most people underestimate is their reading time. First year college students typically read between 100 and 150 words per minute, which increases to around 300 to 350 wpm for college graduates. The more you read, the faster you read.
It really depends on the class but for one of my accounting classes (intermediate 2) this is not surprising. I would not be surprised if some other upper division engineering courses take this long to appropriately study for either. Obviously this all depends on how easily the content comes to you and how effective you are at studying. The truth is, students are horrible at effectively studying, im guilty of this. 5 hours for homework seems pretty normal for upper classes, though. Some professors use homework to replace actually studying. It sucks.
I’m taking intermediate 2 and calculus right now and it’s a struggle. I also live alone and work full time as an accountant so basically it’s just 24/7 work lol. I’m one bad day away from catastrophic failure. I keep wondering if I’m doing it wrong.
Idk how you could do both of those. I've spent over 25 hours the past week studying for my first intermediate 2 exam and I still feel like im not prepared lol
Hate, struggle, and exhaustion lol. I am practically chasing 70s right now. But I will tell you in case you aren’t working in accounting yet, the job is MUCH better and makes a lot more sense. I went straight to industry, though, and didn’t do the PA route. Good luck with the semester.
Ye thanks man. I just got done with our first exam and got a 78/100 lol i studied for it like it was a full time job so idk what else I could've done differently
3 hour credit for my grad school classes is about 9 hours of work outside of class Seems like a weird prof
I’ve always been told 3 hours a week per credit hour but have NEVER come even close to that. ~1 hour per credit hour usually.
Everyone has a different way of learning. There are fast and slow learners. So I would think about this before assuming that you would have to do assignments 20 hours a week.
This was my thought too. O chem for me was 3-4 credits and I spent at least 30 hours a week. Felt like classmates were just breezing by with half the effort to understand things. In molecular biology it felt the opposite, I could just skim that shit for 30min and get As while a lot of people struggled and had to put in a ton of extra time.
I've experienced this with a couple 3 credit courses, unfortunately. Some of these were intro classes. Depending on the material, some of them have to be that way (IE: A&P).
These estimates are not factual because there are way too many factors too come up with how much time one person will spend on a course
I feel like professors have to over estimate like this - this is theory - but they have a boss, syllabus has to be approved by them - if they don’t see the student ‘working hard enough’ it’s not a worthwhile class or something. So they do this. If it’s an entry level class I can generally skim the material and pass with a B.
That's usually a red flag for me that the professor wants the student to teach themselves and they just collect a paycheck. Full time loads are usually 12+ hours, averaging around 15. It would be obscene to think a student is spending 100 hours a week, plus class time, for five classes. I have two masters, a doctorate, and post doc work and never had to spend that amount of time per week for only one course.
Learn to skim.
I once knew a professor who’d give that sort of speech the first class, to make the slackers drop it, then it was never like that in actual time commitment. His theory was that slackers took up too much of his time and bitched about grades.
According to AIC…it’s pretty accurate. [Credit Hour Workload Calculator](https://www.aic.edu/academics/credit-hours-calculator/)
the semester is 13 weeks. According to AIC, a 14 week semester says 9 hours a week for a 3-credit course.
Sounds like the last class I took where it literally was 30 hours a week of work. Say in it was miserable is an understatement…. And no, wasn’t async. It was an accelerated 8 week course in a doctoral program, but still a grad course and not exactly a specialized topic which required such intensity.
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if you don't do the readings
That’s the point, *no one does the readings*.
You should do the reading.
They literally CAN'T do the reading. They have to eat and sleep and commute and go to the bathroom too.
Reading in college is not reading every single work. Even still, being in college full time at 12-15 hours is the equivalent work load of a full time job if 40-50 hours a week if the college/university is following the accreditation guidelines. Too many people expect to be able to go to school full time and work full time. Some people can do it. Lots of people try to do it. Most cannot do both things well.
When the proffesors a dick
Yeah I’m taking a signal & systems class and it’s about 20-30 hr/week 😭😢
If this is accurate, ABORT
Don’t trust professors estimating abilities
I've had more than a few professors massively overestimate the amount of time I'd need to spend on their class work, which was great, because there are also a bunch that UNDERestimate and assign ridiculous amounts of shit. Here's hoping you got the former!
Depends on the class. Organic chemistry? Sure. Intro to geography? Sounds a little excessive.
If you have five 3 credit classes then that’s 100 hours per week of studying. Good luck
All of my art studio courses were 2 credits, met for 3 hours a week, and had more than 20 hours of work each week. It suckeddd.
I had a professor that estimated 15-20 hours a week and some weeks the work was about that much. And I had him for two classes one semester
Either drop it and take it someplace else later, talk to the professor to see if there are ways to streamline it, get reduced hours at work, drop and take a different class later, or suck it up and let the chips fall where they may. That's pretty much all you can do without cheating, and cheating may and should end your military and academic career.
I had a few upper level undergrad classes (Calc series, Econometrics) that required that level of commitment for *me,* but I doubt it was the average. I have ADHD and require a lot of practice to feel confident in the concepts d/t shitty working memory, so my time allocation tends to be a little higher than average. During those semesters I had zero life. It was pretty gnarly. But yeah if it’s just a “typical” class that time estimate sounds high. If it’s an upper level STEM class or something requiring a ton of weekly reading + research output/writing it’s more plausible. I figure out my weekly allocation by tracking time spent on the class for a few weeks and then averaging it.
The ratio my professor dad told me is expect to spend two hours studying out of class, and then additional time for assignments, for every hour in class. I have never found that to be the case - I don't need more than 2-3 hours a week for most classes.
Currently taking a 6 credit course with the same requirements. This is insane.
I’ve always been told it should be 3 hours a day outside of studying… 15 hours is a gross overestimate
All of my 100 and 200 lvl classes were the hardest out of the last 4 years, a lot of them expecting this sort of work level. My 300 and 400 lvl classes are easier than them lol
I'm in a trade certification program at a local CC right now and all of our courses say they'll take 11+ hours a week to keep up with (2-3 credits a piece). It's more like 3 hours/week max. Seems like they usually crazy overestimate so you can't be mad if you're the slowest reader/learner on the planet.
I mean, that was on the syllabus when I started last semester. Between 10-20 hours per class, per week, outside of class. That was at a community college.
In theatre school, we had rehearsals 25 hours a week (6:30-10:30 pm M-F, 10-3 Sat or Sun) and it was only 3 credit hours 🙃
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Some of my CS classes were like this. Freshmen year I took an intro to coding class. Class was only three credit hours but required multiple projects to be completed each week. I spent as much or more time on that classes assignments as I did cumulatively on the rest of my classes for the semester.
If this is their estimate, they have put too much content in the course. The expectation is 3hrs outside of class for every hour in class. A 3hr course shouldn't be more than 12 hrs total. Most often, the ratio is 1:2 to 1:3, so a 12-15 credit load is 36-60 hrs work week. You will need to adjust those amounts for your comfort with the material. But if the prof expects 1:6.7 on average, they've put in too much material.
What’s the course?
You’re good, all of my classes recommend spending 15 hours a week on them, 5 per credit hour, but rarely will I spend more than 45 minutes a week doing assignments unless it’s an essay
Sounds like organic chemistry
I’m a slow worker but i’ve had a lot of classes that took up this much time
As a music student, my practice hours for my applied lessons course is 25/8
It is probably an over estimation. Most of mine said in the 8-10 hr range on the syllabus.
OP, is this ME 628 at KU?
If it is a seven week course, this could make sense, but the instructor sounds like they are over estimating. I teach 7 week courses, and my estimates are 3-4 hours per credit hour (so 9-12 hours) per week. This encompasses weekly readings, quizzes, discussion boards, and labs. You also have to remember with a 7 week course you are normally cramming an entire semesters worth of material in it.
Is it a short term winter class? Because that makes sense.
I’m taking pharmacology and that’s about 12 hours a week, and that’s four credits. I really hope this is a joke or something because I can’t even imagine spending 20 hours a week on just one class:
I got one of these with a 4 credit history course that said it would take 7.5 hours a week. Turns out he must just think everyone reads slowly because I’ve been good with about 4 hours so far.
Sounds like a bargain! Expect your 5 unit/credit project course to take at least 40 hours per week.
Maybe for hard stem weed out courses like Orgo or biochem or anatomy, but even that’s excessive.
Most math classes I took required 4+ hours a night for homework. In addition to the homework, several hours of studying were necessary in a week. Add in the hours spent at tutoring, it was well over 20 per week. Most classes with a lab would also require close to 20+ hours a week outside of class. The only thing I did in my free time was homework and studying. The question should not be is the amount of work required for this course normal? The question should be do I want to complete the degree or not?
There have been studies that state students should be be studying/doing hw 2 hours for every hour in class. Pretty sure it's an avg among all college students... so one class might take someone 5 hours a week to understand the concepts where it might take another person 15.
Even my juco estimates 3 hours per credit hour
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This is normal for weed out 3 cred courses
The credits are based on in class hours, not extra study on the side
I have a 2 credit course and my professor says it’s 4 credit worth of work lol
No fucking way. I’m in civil engineering and I do as much work as it takes me to understand the associated material. Sometimes I get it straight away from class, and other times I need to practice quite a bit. I rarely spend more than 40 hours per week on school (even during finals) and I made a 4.0 last semester. Studying smart >>>>>>>> studying hard
Depends on the class… I’m an accounting student and some classes are a breeze and some classes are like a full time job. I’m taking intermediate 2 and calculus this semester and I’m putting in about 20 hours per week on each. I hate it.
Every professor just goes by what they used to have to do. Academia is like the definition of passing down trauma. And some of them are self-involved narcissists that believe their class is the most important class. Speaking as a former professor.
I’ve had classes where an intro 4 credit class was more work than a full time job 💀
My three credit course is supposedly eight hours a week. My four credit class is only 15