Science degrees and buying text books

studentphil

cupid_stunt wrote:

how much reading do you have to do for your degree (say per 20 credit module)

is it a lot more than science

and how many hours do you have in uni a week?

I would say about 60-80 pages per tutorial of mind numbingly boring and difficult reading and there are normally 10 tutorials a unit.

I am not really sure how much you have to do in science

About 10 hours a week in classes roughly.

cupid_s

studentphil wrote:

I would say about 60-80 pages per tutorial of mind numbingly boring and difficult reading and there are normally 10 tutorials a unit.

I am not really sure how much you have to do in science

About 10 hours a week in classes roughly.

what is a unit?

studentphil

cupid_stunt wrote:

what is a unit?

Same as a 20 credit module.

cupid_s

studentphil wrote:

Same as a 20 credit module.

ah

per 20 credit module we had about 80 papers to read (average length probably about 15 pages)

per week we had 25 hours in uni

studentphil

cupid_stunt wrote:

ah

per 20 credit module we had about 80 papers to read (average length probably about 15 pages)

per week we had 25 hours in uni

We might have 80 pages a week per module. It is not the fault of the degree, but me is a rubbish and slow reader that causes my problems.

anewman

studentphil wrote:

We might have 80 pages a week per module. It is not the fault of the degree, but me is a rubbish and slow reader that causes my problems.

With time you will get used to reading academic papers. Generally there is an abstract at the beginning giving an overview of the whole paper. Papers in a specific journal will follow the same loayout and in some cases headings. If you know what you are looking for (and know you don't need to bother with the rest) you can skim read. Sometimes you do not need to read the method whatsoever, for example.

cupid_s

i never bothered reading the method apart from when doing method based exam modules

studentphil

anewman wrote:

With time you will get used to reading academic papers. Generally there is an abstract at the beginning giving an overview of the whole paper. Papers in a specific journal will follow the same loayout and in some cases headings. If you know what you are looking for (and know you don't need to bother with the rest) you can skim read. Sometimes you do not need to read the method whatsoever, for example.

I have tried skim reading and then I just look completely stupid at tutorials because I have no real idea what it is about. To be honest when I go to tutorials I see there is little point in me going as I am clearly on the wrong course and everyone seems far more able at it than me.

cupid_s

studentphil wrote:

I have tried skim reading and then I just look completely stupid at tutorials because I have no real idea what it is about. To be honest when I go to tutorials I see there is little point in me going as I am clearly on the wrong course and everyone seems far more able at it than me.

you said you realised this almost as soon as starting your course.
can i asked why you didn't switch?

studentphil

cupid_stunt wrote:

you said you realised this almost as soon as starting your course.
can i asked why you didn't switch?

Because I did not want to lose a year of my life having to start again the next year and it is not really that easy just to transfer to a complete new degree programme right at the start of the course anyway.