How do classes work?

To successfully pass your courses, you will need to allocate an appropriate time commitment to your study.  

There are two components to your study: formal contact time and non-contact time. Formal contact time is made up of lectures, tutorials and practicals.

Lectures

Lecture class sizes – especially in first year courses – may be very large. You are expected to listen carefully and take notes with little guidance from the lecturer in identifying what should be recorded – learning to take good notes may be a new skill.

Lectures usually run for 50 minutes - though some last up to two hours - and all lectures start at 10 minutes past the hour. They contain vital information and you may receive handouts or other information. If you are sick or have a genuine reason for missing the lecture, see your lecturer to catch up. Some lectures are audio or video streamed and can be downloaded from MyUni.

Tutorials

Tutorials are small discussion groups of students lead by a tutor. You are usually required to attend one tutorial per week for each course. Weekly assignments are often set and may involve a presentation to the group, a written exercise or participation in group discussion. Attendance at tutorials is usually recorded, especially where tutorial participation forms part of the course assessment. A tutorial (sometimes called a seminar or a ‘tute’) is a small class of 10-30 students, in which tasks are set and completed and discussion of the topic occurs. Some courses even require you to attend a minimum number to sit the exam. Check your course outline or with your Faculty or School about the rules relating to the tutes in your particular course.

Practicals

Some academic programs have practical classes of up to three hours duration. This is common in science-based courses (eg biology) and many language courses. Practicals (or ‘pracs’ as they’re more commonly known) are very hands-on sessions and usually is a small class of 10-30 students. This is, as the name suggests, where you actually get to do stuff. If you're a science student, for example, you get to do lots of pracs, but other programs may not have any at all.

Non-contact time

Non-contact time is time not scheduled for lectures, tutorials or practicals, but is still important for doing uni. You will need time to do a range of activities which may include assessment tasks, reading, researching, note-taking, revision, writing, consultation with staff and informal discussions with other students – this is non-contact time. Joining or starting your own study group will make this time more enjoyable. Information on studying with friends can be found at the Counselling Service.

While the relative proportion of contact and non-contact time may vary from course to course, as a guide, a full-time student should expect to spend, on average, a total of 48 hours per week (or 12 hours per course) on their studies during teaching periods.