Study in the UK Blog

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.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 8th, 2007 at 6:12 pm and is filed under Study in the UK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.