| Credits to be earned | Hours per week, 7-week course | Hours per week, 8-week course | Hours per week, 14-week course |
| 1 credit | 6 hours | 5 hours | 3 hours |
| 3 credits | 18 hours | 16 hours | 9 hours |
| 6 credits | 36 hours | 32 hours | 18 hours |
| 12 credits | 72 hours | 63 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.
College courses are measured in credit hours. A 3-credit course meets for 2.5 hours per week. Balancing the course load is vital to academic success.
Typically, for a 3-credit class, students will have 3 contact hours — or 3 hours of in-class or online lectures. Contact hours are for lectures only, and other types of courses such as labs, internships, research, and fieldwork are calculated according to hours spent working on class related materials.
15 to 16 hoursOne credit hour is equal to 15 to 16 hours of instruction. Your credit hours are calculated over the full semester, which is generally 16 weeks. Most lecture and seminar courses are worth 3 credit hours. You must complete at least 45 – 48 hours of class time in one semester.
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.
Typically, 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.
A 3-unit course is equivalent to a 3-hour (lecture) class period per week. Classes are usually scheduled Tuesdays and Thursdays (TTH), Wednesday and Fridays (WF), with 1 and one-half hours per meeting and Tuesdays-Wednesdays-Thursdays-Fridays (TWHF) with 1 hour per meeting.
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.
1 credit hour = 50 minutes of lecture or recitation per week (along with two hours of out of class activities) or 2 or more hours of laboratory per week throughout the semester.