what to expect from 3rd year?

littlepinkstars44

I have just finished doing my HND in Tourism at college, and am going straight into 3rd at uni of International Travel and Tourism Business Management with languages.

As i have never been to uni before, and none of my friends or family have been either i have no idea what to expect, especially as i am going straight into 3rd year.

What are the classes like, are there exams, or is it all based on essays etc like in college?

How long do classes last, how many days will i be in uni for a week?

Will there be alot of homework?

What should i buy for going to uni?

Just basic things really i guess, but i have no idea about any of this stuff, and have no one who i can ask, i'm the first person in my family to go to uni.

blue_ashleigh

It depends a lot on your course.
Mine was 20% 'homework' based and 80% exam based for maths, and 50% dissertations and essays and 50% exam based for psychology (roughly).

You'll, probably, do modules (I did 8 a year) which are like topics. You'll learn about a topic, then sit the exams at the end of the year, like in college.

I had, roughly, 14 hours per week for maths and 3 hours a week for psychology. So you may have days off from uni. It tends to be just a few hours a day maximum rather than everything in one or two days, but it does depend on your course and uni.

The majority of your work will be done out of lecture time. Lectures tend to be a brief outline, the bare bones, of what you need to do and you're expected to read around the subject - using the internet (Google Scholar's a good one), books, and journal articles. You're not necessarily set work each week, but if you keep on top of reading and making some notes it'llmake it a million times easier when it comes to exams!

You'll need basics like pens, paper, highlighters, files etc. Take paper and pens to lectures to take notes.

You won't need to buy everything off the reading list - but just check there are enough copies in the library that you're not caught sure during exam time. Apart from the end of semesters (terms), you should have no problem getting hold o fthe books.

It may sound quite scary, but it's lots of fun!!! There's more emphasis on studying things you like, rather than things MrExaminer things you ought to know. Universities set the exams themselves, in most cases.

Good luck and congrats on your HND :T

littlepinkstars44

blue_ashleigh wrote: »

It depends a lot on your course.
Mine was 20% 'homework' based and 80% exam based for maths, and 50% dissertations and essays and 50% exam based for psychology (roughly).

You'll, probably, do modules (I did 8 a year) which are like topics. You'll learn about a topic, then sit the exams at the end of the year, like in college.

I had, roughly, 14 hours per week for maths and 3 hours a week for psychology. So you may have days off from uni. It tends to be just a few hours a day maximum rather than everything in one or two days, but it does depend on your course and uni.

The majority of your work will be done out of lecture time. Lectures tend to be a brief outline, the bare bones, of what you need to do and you're expected to read around the subject - using the internet (Google Scholar's a good one), books, and journal articles. You're not necessarily set work each week, but if you keep on top of reading and making some notes it'llmake it a million times easier when it comes to exams!

You'll need basics like pens, paper, highlighters, files etc. Take paper and pens to lectures to take notes.

You won't need to buy everything off the reading list - but just check there are enough copies in the library that you're not caught sure during exam time. Apart from the end of semesters (terms), you should have no problem getting hold o fthe books.

It may sound quite scary, but it's lots of fun!!! There's more emphasis on studying things you like, rather than things MrExaminer things you ought to know. Universities set the exams themselves, in most cases.

Good luck and congrats on your HND :T

Thanks...confused you said there are exams at the end of the year, like college. but i didn't have any exams in college

As for lectures...what exactly are they, and what happens?
You have to read???? honestly?

surfsister

littlepinkstars44 wrote: »

Thanks...confused you said there are exams at the end of the year, like college. but i didn't have any exams in college

As for lectures...what exactly are they, and what happens?
You have to read???? honestly?

lectures you all troop into a lecture rom and the lecturer talks. You listen and take notes. Then there are tutorials which ar emore informal and involve discussions between smaller groups etc activities done etc.

.look in the prospectus for the uni and see if the course has exams, also send for the course details. look online at the uni site. some have exams esp more traditional unis but newer unis tend to have assignmnents/exams/presentaions instead. Don't worry about exams as many are open book eg you can take books in and some ared done out of uni eg 24/7 exams. do the reading now and it wil be much easier in lectures as you will know what they are talking about. get a readig list fro the uni.

good luck all you need is a laptop/pen/paper/the books don't waste money until you get to uni and se what you realy need.
god luck!

redpete

littlepinkstars44 wrote: »

What are the classes like, are there exams, or is it all based on essays etc like in college?

How long do classes last, how many days will i be in uni for a week?

Will there be alot of homework?

What should i buy for going to uni?

Just basic things really i guess, but i have no idea about any of this stuff, and have no one who i can ask, i'm the first person in my family to go to uni.

The answers vary enormously between different courses, different universities, and different subjects.

In general at university you are expected to take more responsibility for your work, how much you do and how you approach it than at college. You will tend to get less time in lectures or other supervised sessions (lectures are like classes at college) and more time where it is up to you to read/research/write on your own. This can be a shock at first and you need to be self-disciplined because there will not be someone "forcing" you to do the work.

You might get exams, these might all be at the end of the year or spaced through the year as you complete modules (if the course is organised by modules).

You might also get assessed on work that you do through the year, essays or longer written projects; some projects might be carried out as part of a small group.

As well as lectures you will probably have tutorials or similar where you are part of a small group with a member of staff and discuss things in a more interactive way.

You need to contact the university to get the information such as the course structure and a weekly timetable.

littlepinkstars44

thanks for the help...god i'm so nervous about starting!

Fire_Fox

littlepinkstars44 wrote: »

Thanks...confused you said there are exams at the end of the year, like college. but i didn't have any exams in college

As for lectures...what exactly are they, and what happens?
You have to read???? honestly?

If it's a full time course you should expect to be spending at least thirty seven hours per week studying - depending on the course this might be just a few hours lectures and the rest reading textbooks, taking notes and writing reports/ dissertation. I would strongly recommend you buy some of the textbooks before the course starts/ in the first week and read ahead of the lectures.

Don't spend the first month having an easy time cos there is nothing due in. Otherwise you are going to end up spending December stressed out of your head doing sixty hour weeks between your job (presumably you get overtime before Xmas in a supermarket?) and trying to get caught up on your assignments. You will not get extensions unless you have doctor's notes.

Most universities offer a programme of workshops aimed at first years - scientific writing, report writing, research skills, dissertations, time management, etc. etc. Attend every single one that you can, even if you don't find them useful you can put them all down on your CV.

Don't expect anyone to help you unless you ask - lecturers and support staff expect you to be an adult and find things out for yourself. If you are a good student and put the effort in to your reading and turn up to lectures they will bend over backwards to help you. If you do everything at the last minute and miss lectures you will find you are pretty much on your own.

littlepinkstars44

Fire_Fox wrote: »

If it's a full time course you should expect to be spending at least thirty seven hours per week studying - depending on the course this might be just a few hours lectures and the rest reading textbooks, taking notes and writing reports/ dissertation. I would strongly recommend you buy some of the textbooks before the course starts/ in the first week and read ahead of the lectures.

Don't spend the first month having an easy time cos there is nothing due in. Otherwise you are going to end up spending December stressed out of your head doing sixty hour weeks between your job (presumably you get overtime before Xmas in a supermarket?) and trying to get caught up on your assignments. You will not get extensions unless you have doctor's notes.

Most universities offer a programme of workshops aimed at first years - scientific writing, report writing, research skills, dissertations, time management, etc. etc. Attend every single one that you can, even if you don't find them useful you can put them all down on your CV.

Don't expect anyone to help you unless you ask - lecturers and support staff expect you to be an adult and find things out for yourself. If you are a good student and put the effort in to your reading and turn up to lectures they will bend over backwards to help you. If you do everything at the last minute and miss lectures you will find you are pretty much on your own.

Thanks for that, whats an extension? sorry never heard of the term to do with school/college before.

I doubt i'll be able to sign up to and of the extra classes as i am going into 3rd year, not starting from the begining at first year. Will have to find out about that though.

The main thing i am really worried about is not having enough help about, in college my lecturers really helped me out, telling me the answers etc. When i handed in essays and a bit wasn't right they would give us it back to fix, tear up the first one and pretend the fixed essay was the first attempt at it So i'm guessing they won't be doing that then at uni.

No idea what the textbooks will be, no idea what the classes even are yet either. God i've not used textbooks since standard grade maths!!

How much do textbooks cost roughly?

alwaysonthego_2

You will be very lucky if you find a lecturer at uni willing to look at a draft. You can book tutorials to discuss problems you are having, but they don't tell you the answers or hand back your essays to edit it. Hand-in dates are stricter and if you don't hand in on time your essay does not get marked.

littlepinkstars44

alwaysonthego wrote: »

You will be very lucky if you find a lecturer at uni willing to look at a draft. You can book tutorials to discuss problems you are having, but they don't tell you the answers or hand back your essays to edit it. Hand-in dates are stricter and if you don't hand in on time your essay does not get marked.

oh god really? We were just told to hand things in when we could in college...which always meant the last 2 weeks were a riot

I dont think i'm cut out for uni now

GrammarGirl

I think you really, really need to do some research into what university is actually like. Have you read the prospectus description of your course and what it involves? Prospectuses usually have information on the modules you'll study each year, some even give an idea of the hours you'll actually be in uni too.

It sounds like you're expecting uni to be a lot like college... if you were going into your first year, your expectations wouldn't worry me, but you're going straight into the third year so you're in for a nasty shock if you don't fully prepare yourself. There's lots of reading, and depending on your course I'd expect you'll have some kind of intensive final assignment, like a dissertation. Many third year courses also involve career planning modules to prepare you for the outside world.

Aside from the work involved, have you considered the fact that you'll be going into uni at the end of a course when friendships have already formed? I'm sure that everyone you meet will be lovely and you'll soon make friends, but it might not be as easy as it would've been in the first year.

I really don't mean to put you off - uni's a great experience and the qualification you'll get at the end will really help your career. Just make sure you're prepared for it!