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How you decide to schedule your college classes as well
as what type of classes you choose can make a huge difference
in your academic success. When you are most alert, what
times of day you work best, and whether you can handle back-to-back
classes or need a break in between, can all determine how
you build your college schedule. It is also important to
consider such aspects as the number of course credits you
are taking, who is teaching a particular class, your high
school curriculum background, as well as what to do if a
class isn’t available when building your schedule.
Personal scheduling preferences
One of the most important factors in deciding how to create
your course schedule is your personal preferences and work
habits. This doesn’t mean you will always get the
times you want, but you can at least try to schedule toward
your strengths. If you aren’t a morning person, you
might try to avoid 8am classes. Similarly, if you’d
prefer to get your work out of the way in order to have
the rest of the day open, you may want to stack your courses
toward the morning and early afternoon.
It is also important to remember that you will need time
to get from one class to another, so distance and travel
time may play an important part of your decision making
process. Depending on the size of your campus and available
transportation, leaving yourself 15-minutes to get from
one class to another might be cutting it too close. You
must also leave time to eat at some point during the day,
and while you might want to get your classes done with quickly
to leave yourself with free days or large gaps of time available
during the week, packing all your classes into one or two
days can leave you exhausted, and decrease your learning
effectiveness.
Credits and coursework
When planning for your semester workload, you have to find
the balance between taking enough credits to keep yourself
busy and meet your coursework requirements, and not overdoing
it. The average number of credits for most students during
a typical semester ranges between 12 and 16. Since most
classes are three credit hours, many students will take
five classes for a total of 15. However, if you are taking
a class that might not require much study time, such as
bowling or archery, 16 or 17 credits might be feasible.
To help you determine the complexity and time requirements
of particular courses it can helpful to read the course
descriptions ahead of time. However, this isn’t always
enough. It can also be beneficial to talk to classmates,
roommates, and friends if they have taken a course you’re
interested in, to find out their thoughts as well as any
helpful information regarding various professors who have
taught the class.
Finally, when it comes to planning how many credits you’ll
want to undertake in a given semester, it can be helpful
to know whether you have any credits transferring from high
school. High school AP courses will often count toward college
credit or at least allow you to exempt out of certain course
requirements. Carrying these credits over into college can
put you ahead of the game and may allow you to take a fewer
number of courses during certain semesters. Sometimes college
entrance exams will also allow you to skip certain introductory
courses, but you must be careful since these tests will
sometimes place you in courses that might be beyond your
skill level.
Have a backup plan
In the case of college course scheduling, it is always a
good idea to have a backup plan in the event that one or
more of your courses is unavailable. You don’t want
to restrict your schedule so that if or when you have to
drop a class, you are left short on credits to graduate,
don’t have the course requirements needed to fulfill
your major, or have to overload an upcoming semester with
more work than you feel comfortable taking on.
Be sure that when you prepare your schedule, you have several
classes you can substitute in if one or more of the classes
you are planning to take are not available. It is also a
good idea to meet with your counselor ahead of your scheduling.
This way you can ensure that you are on track for your graduation
requirements, get their advice on what classes you should
be taking and in what order, and discuss any problems you
may foresee with your schedule.
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