Credits to be earned | Hours per week, 7-week course | Hours per week, 14-week course |
---|---|---|
1 credit | 6 hours | 3 hours |
3 credits | 18 hours | 9 hours |
6 credits | 36 hours | 18 hours |
12 credits | 72 hours | 36 hours |
So a class that meets 3 times a week for 1 hour each time is worth 3 credits or 3 semester hours. So in your example since your class is 3 credits and it meets twice a week, that does not equal 6 semester hours. How many courses should I take per semester?
In a typical American university, one 3-credit hour course means that you are in class for approximately three hours per week for 15 weeks in the semester system.
This totally depends on school....but in general, one credit hour corresponds to one hour of lecture time in class per week. For instance, if you take a 3 credit hour class, you would have 3 hours of in-class instruction per week . Depending on school, a credit hour can have 2 to 4 hours of class work like labs, home work, project work etc.
Typically, each 3-credit course will require you to spend three hours a week listening to or reading the actual coursework, similar to the three hours you would spend with in-person instruction in a traditional classroom.
A 3-credit course meets for 2.5 hours per week. Balancing the course load is vital to academic success. In addition to time spent in class, some courses which carry only one credit are often as time-consuming as a lecture class.
One credit hour is typically equivalent to 15 contact hours, and three credit hours is typically equivalent to 45 contact hours. This is the total amount of time spent in official lecture or lab during a specific duration.
Most lecture and seminar courses are worth 3 credit hours. You must complete at least 45 – 48 hours of class time in one semester. This averages about 3 hours of classroom time per week for the full 16-week semester. Generally speaking, one class is about 3 credit hours.
What is a Credit Hour?Credits to be earnedHours per week, 7-week courseHours per week, 8-week course1 credit6 hours5 hours3 credits18 hours16 hours6 credits36 hours32 hours12 credits72 hours63 hours
For one session, a student should expect to spend six hours a week on course work for every course credit. In other words, if a student is signed up for two or three courses during a session and each course is worth three credits, that student should plan to spend between 36 to 54 hours a week on course work.
The total quality points earned for a course are computed through multiplying the number of credits for the course by the quality point value of the grade received (ex. An A- in a 3-credit course earns 3×3.7=11.1 points.)
Therefore, a student carrying 15 credit hours should plan to spend 30 to 45 hours each week studying beyond the classroom. With a web class, it is calculated the same way, a 3 credit class requires an additional 2 hours of outside work per credit, which equates to 5 to 9 hours of work per week for the class.
nine hoursTypically, one unit, or one hour of class, will require two hours of study time. Consequently, a 3 unit course would require three hours of lectures, discussions, or labs and six hours of independent studying. A 3 unit course will, therefore, necessitate about nine hours of your time.
Credit Hours for an individual course are calculated by adding together the lecture hours (LEC) plus one-half (0.5) of the laboratory hours (Lab). Total Credit Hours for your academic program are calculated by adding together the Credit Hours for each and every credit attempt listed on your transcript.
One semester credit hour is defined as a weekly minimum of 1 hour in class (or other required educational meetings like labs, studios, etc.) plus 2 hours of out-of-class work. Formally, therefore, a 4-credit course should require 4 classroom hours and 8 hours of out-of-class hours each week in a fifteen week term.
Each credit hour translates to one hour of lecture time in class per week, so for example 6 hours of course means you need to attend 6 hours of instructional classes.
As summarized in the above article, undergraduate courses use the following formula: For every 1 credit, the student has 3 hours of work each week for a full semester session. So in other words, a student in a full semester 3-credit course should expect to spend nine hours a week on the course.
Graduate students should expect to put more time into a course. The following is our estimations by number of weeks and credit hours for graduate courses. Please note that we’ve only indicated the time on task amounts for the credit + duration combinations offered by our program.
This means that a semester-based schedule will include approximately 15 weeks of work for 9 hours per week or 135 hours total for the semester for each 3-credit course.
To better understand how much time an online class takes, consider a breakdown of what you will need to do each week. Typically, each 3-credit course will require you to spend three hours a week listening to or reading the actual coursework, similar to the three hours you would spend with in-person instruction in a traditional classroom.
The 135 hours of coursework is typically relegated to actual time in the virtual classroom. In other words, this is the time you spend reading materials, interacting in online forums, or watching your instructor’s videos. This is not the amount of time you will spend on your homework and assignments.
Another benefit of online coursework is the ability to save some money. While the credit hours may be priced the same as on-campus credits at the same school, you can continue living at home and avoid the costs of commuting to campus.
Greater Flexibility. Flexibility in when and where to study is one of the biggest reasons many students choose online courses or online degree programs. These programs can often fit in around work schedules when on-campus programs do not. This can allow a college student to pursue a degree even while working full-time.
If the school follows a quarter-based approach, which has three school-year terms and a summer term, the same type of course would have the same 135 hours, but with 11 weeks of course work. Thus, the student would spend approximately 12 hours a week on their course activities.
Online education provides the opportunity to earn a degree and take classes from a school that isn’t near your home. If you have a particular interest in a school that is far from where you live, you have the freedom to earn that degree without the need to relocate. This means access to higher quality education for many students.
Research shows that students are most successful with distance education when they start their coursework on time and make steady progress.
NOVA Online Orientation is a two-part video recording providing a general overview for students enrolled in NOVA Online courses offered through Northern Virginia Community College.
Figure two hours of study time for every credit hour for elective classes or classes in subjects that come easier for you. Plan four hours a week for every credit hour for difficult classes and three hours for the classes that fall somewhere in the middle.
You will spend roughly three hours in class per class each week. A standard load is 12 credits, which is usually four classes. That means that you will spend 36 hours per week in class, leaving you 76 hours for study and other things.
That’s 24 hours of homework per week, leaving Gail with 16 hours per week for other things, which is a little more than two hours a day. That’s not a lot of time, especially if Gail has to do work study to pay for college. She could cut back on the sleep, but that’s not healthy. Of course, these are average numbers.
Gail is taking four classes online. As stated, she has 76 hours with which to work. Budgeting her time, and shooting for an A in every class, she studies three hours per week for each of her credits. That adds up to 36 hours a week of study, leaving her with 40 hours for other things, which equates to a little less than six hours a day.
You can dramatically reduce the amount of time you need to spend studying by studying at the right time. Allow yourself a half-hour before each log-in to review your notes and downloads from previous classes and schedule a half-hour after each log-in to go over what you have just learned. This will trim hours from your weekly study schedule. Each week, review all online notes and downloads, personal notes and old tests or quizzes. Read your textbook as you go along. It will make it much easier to understand the work. Complete all assignments by the date on the syllabus, even if they aren’t due until the class ends. These steps will usually take much less than the traditionally recommended 2-4 hours of study each week. However, you will need to schedule in extra study time before tests and quizzes.
Conventional wisdom holds that a B student should plan two hours of study each week for every credit hour and an A student should hit the books for three hours per week for every credit hour earned. This isn’t necessarily bad advice. However, most classes don’t require that much studying, and some actually require more.
It’s possible to sit with material in front of you for hours upon hours and to retain nothing. It’s equally possible to study for just a few hours and to retain nearly everything. Your affinity for the material is also important.
If you’re like most adults attending college online, you work, and you work full-time. This means at a minimum you’re committing 40 of your weekly waking hours to your job. This obviously doesn’t count commuting or anything else you do in a week.
A. Undergraduate. B. Graduate. A. Most full-semester undergraduate courses are 3 credit hours. For each 3-credit course, you’ll need to plan about 8 hours per week for study and coursework. The amount of study time can change from week to week and by course. B.
A traditional-length semester runs between 14 and 16 weeks. It doesn't cover more content than short-term courses, but there's typically more time for you to do the work. B. If you take courses that are compressed into a shorter period of time, you’ll need to account for the additional weekly study time.
Only you can determine how much of a course load you’ll be able to carry, repeatedly, every semester, for the length of time you’ll be enrolled in college. That initial excitement of taking additional courses so you finish quickly may not be realistic over the long term. 7.
Remember, short terms don’t typically cover less content — they cover the same content in less time. This isn’t always the case, but it’s important to find out before you find yourself taking on a course load that’s too heavy. 4.
Going to — and finishing — college isn’t easy. It takes a lot of hard work, research, reading, writing, presenting, and learning to complete a degree. For those adults who know they want to pursue a college education — whether it’s an undergraduate or graduate degree, or a graduate certificate — being able to take courses online is a big deal.