Study in the UK Blog

Time for an update Thing’s are certainly hectic over here now that the mid semester assessment is coming up. I can hardly believe it, but I’ve almost been here for half a semester now. With 4 exams next week, and two other bits of coursework due very soon, I’ve been trying to focus a bit on more on the studies. Everyone seems to have quietened down a bit since the beginning of semester, but there’s still some fun nights to have.

One thing that I noticed is that, despite them being in the same faculty, the two schools that I take classes in here aren’t as synchronised together as I’m used to. This resulted in things like exam/lecture clashes and days off being scheduled after the exam week had taken place, rather than before/during. It seems here that most people pick a single major, and solely do the modules from that school, which is quite different to the amount of free electives we get back home.

Despite classes heating up, I’ve still made time to get a bit of travel in amongst it all. I find the location here amazing, theres things to see everywhere. There’s plenty of groups here that organise fun, cheap trips for international students. This makes it even easier for students to see the country. I’m in the midst of planning my winter break, which should involve some fabulous travel around Europe. Something exciting to look forward to throughout the rest of this semester

Freshers’ week for me kept going right into semester, with the time between parties and classes being incredibly fine. It seemed like it was never going to end, but now things have started to quieten down. By the end of the second week, I’m now proud to say I’ve now been to all my classes.

Since starting, I’ve encountered a few differences between classes here and in Australia. The assessment is structured much differently, with the overall grade usually being made up of 80% from the final exam and 20% from coursework and assignments. Most of my classes back home have been a 60/40 ratio. I’ve seen this difference reflected in the module material, as they seem more theoretical than my past classes, which included a lot of practical work which was needed to complete assignments.

As for the actual facilities that the lectures take place in, everything is much the same. Whilst most rooms have computers for the use of PowerPoint, some of my lectures still make primary use Overhead Transparencies. The buildings you need to be in are much the same distance apart and you’re given the same, impossible 10 minutes of time to get from one side of campus to the other.

Study load is something I can’t really touch on until later in the semester, once everything gets more underway. In Australia, I took 4 subjects per semester -in Leeds, I’m taking 7. Both is the full-time load, and have much the same amount of contact time. So I think it will end up being similar, but we’ll just have to wait and see.