Mis-sold the required hours for my masters degree

catalogueoferrorz

So I started a masters degree in September. according to the prospectus it would require "On a typical week during term you will work around 30 hours: 10 contact hours and 20 hours of self-study. " but on starting I've have found it is actually 54 hours: 18 contact and 36 hours of self-study. I've spent the past five weeks trying to manage the work load even though I have only 40 hours in total to complete the work. 

I have had a meeting with my personal tutor and although they were sympathetic they said that the weighting of the course was heavier this semester than next and basically left me with the fact that masters are hard. This dose not seem fair. By next semester I may have failed four of my modules leaving me in a dire situation for my overall result. Is there anything I can do?

ElefantEd

You have my sympathy, Masters degrees are hard work. But I don't think you've been mis-sold anything. A typical week doesn't mean that all weeks will be like that, only that a significant proportion, spread over the year will be. And although the contact time can be stated fairly confidently, the self-study aspect must depend substantially on the individual - some will read, write or think faster than others, or just work harder.

Could you maybe see if you could do the course over 2 years instead of one, and spread the modules out thinner to give yourself breathing space?

Emmia

My current module for a part time masters estimates 12 hours of study a week, the reality is I really spend around 20 hours (I have one day off a week from work, do reading in my commute and lunch breaks and normally spend at least one day at the weekend working on it... and I don't get through absolutely all of the recommended reading. I normally do the core stuff and then pick the additional stuff from what is either relevant for the assignment, or what I find interesting.

I also personally consider the bang for buck requirements - I am marked on 4 assignments (no exams) I am not marked on whether I do all the reading. Therefore in busy weeks, I do the core stuff but otherwise prioritise my assignment research and writing.

Can you drop back to doing it part time, or spread the course length?  It's a tough gig studying but I don't think you've been mis-sold.

What are your marks like? Scraping a pass? Or getting distinctions?

pinkshoes

catalogueoferrorz said:

So I started a masters degree in September. according to the prospectus it would require "On a typical week during term you will work around 30 hours: 10 contact hours and 20 hours of self-study. " but on starting I've have found it is actually 54 hours: 18 contact and 36 hours of self-study. I've spent the past five weeks trying to manage the work load even though I have only 40 hours in total to complete the work. 

I have had a meeting with my personal tutor and although they were sympathetic they said that the weighting of the course was heavier this semester than next and basically left me with the fact that masters are hard. This dose not seem fair. By next semester I may have failed four of my modules leaving me in a dire situation for my overall result. Is there anything I can do?

Were you not given or did you not ask for an outline of the course before committing to it?

Most courses will give a typical expected week, but then there's usually an information pack that outlines the entire course, when deadlines are, weeks that have intense lectures etc... 

Having said that, 18 contact hours and 36 hours of self study is quite a long way of the 10 and 20 they suggested, and if this was only for a week or two then fair enough, but for an entire semester this is a huge difference, especially if you're trying to fit this round childcare or a job. I'd be quite annoyed but also quite surprised that this wasn't highlighted. 

Why do you only have 40 hours to fit this into?

Flugelhorn

it is hard work but I am not sure why you are saying you only have 40 hours to do it in ? Many students spend far more than this studying 

theoretica

Given the cost of many masters degrees, I would have questioned how worth while a short hours degree was going to be.

Discuss with other students how they are managing, are they putting more hours in, not meeting the 2 hours self study for one of contact, or finding other ways?

As suggested above make sure you are using all your time as efficiently as possible - what do you need to do now for a grade, what can you schedule for out of term?

Combining these two suggestions, are there any deadlines that you (and other students) want to ask to be delayed to even workload out?- eg to be due at the start of next term, rather than the end of this one

Grumpy_chap

Arguably, the OP was expecting (and paid fees on the basis of) 10 contact hours per week.
The OP is receiving 18 contact hours per week, so nearly double.  
It is the contact hours that cost the University the money.
It could be taken that the OP is receiving excellent value as twice the contact hours they expected.

The non-contact / reading hours are down to the OP's efficiency to some extent.

A Masters Degree is hard.  If that were not the case, the Masters Degree would not be worth having if they just handed them out to everyone.

born_again

Self study is going to be a very personal timing.
Some people will use less & others more depending on their knowledge & study styles. 
Some might even simply skip that side of things in the hope of blagging it later on.

Okell

@catalogueoferrorz

what is the subject?

is it by exam, assignment, thesis or what?

are you doing it part time while working?

who is the provider?

What does the contact consist of? I did a full time LLM by examination 40 years ago and the only tutorial or lecture time we had was eight hours a week. 18 hours a week sounds like a lot...

Voyager2002

I have been on the other side of this situation, as a module coordinator...

The thing is, academics have other (more important?) things to do beside teaching. So they plan to deliver a module in one semester, and then they get a research grant or consultancy and need the time, so they shift it to the next semester. Over the course of the year the teaching hours and workload will be as described, but some months will be lighter than expected while others will be very heavy. At one point several academics had to bring their teaching forward at the same time, and so the required workload for a Masters students shot up to 60 hours per week! They coped, but always looked worn out and stressed.

catalogueoferrorz

Thanks for all the responses! 

For those asking why i only have 40 hours., its because i have childcare commitments.

Had I known it would require so much time i think i would of considered something else.