General Questions From Curious Students Starting Uni in 2008 (1 Viewer)

[dannobunot]

Heyyy

I'm starting uni probably at UWS in 2008.

I don't know that many current uni students.. and I am the oldest in my family...so I really dont know exactly what to expect at all because I havent really asked all those basic questions from like an older sibling or something.

This lack of knowledge coupled with excitment has resulted in the creation of many random and general questions I would like to ask.

Here is my initial list of questions...any answers will be greatly appreciated..I'll add more as my boredom and overthinking creates more..lol..feel free to add your own questions in the thread.

1. I've heard soooo many ppl mention the "GPA" and of course I know that it shows your general performance...but like how is it worked out?..and what is it out of/ what is the scale?...is it a percentage or a band? What is an example of a poor, average and high GPA? How do you check how your GPA is going?

2. I've heard ppl say that there is A LOT of reading involved in studying law...but how much is A LOT exactly..like how many pages and stuff?...also what do you read..textbooks, legislation? Do you read much legislation/acts..is it hard to read..i've always found that after reading a line or so I've already dozed off...the language is so stiff - making it awkward to read..lol

3. What are "tutes" like? How big are the classes usually? Is it similiar to classes at school? Are they like after a lecture..or before..or usually on different days?

4. Is it better just to use pen and paper in lectures..or do most ppl use laptops..do you need like books or folders for uni..or is that more of a personal choice?

5. Do ppl refer to lecturers and and teachers by their first names..or do they call them Mr or Mrs whatever?

6. For students doing a double law degree..would you do like Business in the Morning and then Law later on..or are there seperate days for each..or a combination of both depending on your timetable.

7. What time does uni usually start in the morning?..And what time should you expect to finish...as a full time combined law degree student.

8. Do full time students usually get any free days or periods..or are they usually full on all week.

So that should just about quench my curiosity for today..thank you everyone for your paitence with my questions and for any answers.

Take Care..Bye

 

[Darkenedjib]

I only started this* year and can only answer some of those questions...

3. They're sorta like study sessions where you review stuff covered in lectures, and complete weekly exercises/assessments. It probably depends on the course, tuts for me usually have 15-20 students. There are several classes held at different times you can choose from, they may or may not be held on the same day as the lecture.

4. Depends on the course, I'm doing Computing and found it a little difficult to take notes with a pen, so gonna be using a lappy this year. Maybe a third of students use them, but it's a personal thing. Might not be as useful if you're doing Law.

5. First names , which is an awesome change from high school.

8. If you're taking 4 units (full time) then there should be about 8 hours of lectures and 8 hours of tuts/pracs a week. You might be able to get 1 or 2 days off depending how you sort the timetable.

edit: * for 1 more day

 

[= Jennifer =]

1 GPA

Cumulative Grade Point Average
The University of Western Sydney uses a Cumulative Grade Point average (GPA) to measure the academic performance of individual students, in order to acknowledge excellence.

The cumulative GPA will be calculated over the duration of a student's enrolment in a course.

The cumulative GPA is reported on a student's Results Notice at the end of each teaching session and recorded on the Student Record System.

Calculation
Each final Grade is awarded a numerical value as shown in Table 1 below:

Table 1
Grade Numerical Value
High Distinction 7
Distinction 6
Credit 5
Pass 4
Conceded Pass (the use of the conceded pass grade ceased from 1 January 2006) 3
Fail (F), Fail-discontinued (E), Unsatisfactory (U), and Absent Fail (AF) 0

The following will not be counted in the calculation of GPA:

A grade of Satisfactory (S)
Withdrawn Without Academic Penalty (W)
Advanced Standing - Unspecified (L)
Aegrotat Pass (Z)
Advanced Standing - Specified (K) and Unspecified (L)
(55) Where a student has repeated a unit, both grades will be counted towards the grade point average, and both results will remain on the official academic transcript.

The formula for calculating the GPA is:

GPA = The sum of (Credit points for the same specific unit x Grade points for specific unit) / Total number of credit points attempted .
The elements of the above GPA formula are:

Grade points for specific unit refers to the numerical value allocated to particular grades (e.g. H = 7 see table above);
Credit points for same specific unit refers to the credit points allocated to the unit studied (e.g. 10 cp);
Total number of credit points attempted refers to the credit points for all units attempted including credit points for units where the grade achieved was F, AF, E and U and excluding the credit points for S grades.
For example, a student takes four units. Three were 10 credit point units and the student achieved grades worth 7, 6 and 5. One was a 40 credit point unit and the student achieved a grade worth 7. The GPA was worked out as follows:

[(10x7) + (10x6) + (10x5) + (40x7)] / (10 + 10 + 10 + 40) = 6.571

2 readings
yes there is a lot of reading for law you are expected to read about 30-40 pages per week per subject for a good week a bad week can be anything over 100 pages. You usually read textbooks which have extracts of cases, legislation as well as some theory. Of course you read legislation, you will read a lot in subjects like torts, criminal law, constitutional law, remember a part of law may be challenging the legislation itself-like in constitutional law. Legislation reading takes time and practice you can not expect to get it right straight away but the way uws structures it's courses allows you to develop these skills. You say you find reading it boring, maybe law is not the area for you-you should do something you enjoy and see yourself doing in the future rather than for the prestige or because your friends are doing it.

3 Tutorials
depends on the faculty for law they are more interactive than business. In a business degree they are usually 20-30 people in a tutorial for a law tutorial there is about 60. Tutorials can be before or after a lecture does not really make a difference. They are usually on the same day but you will find some tutorials run on different days to the lectures. Tutorials usually involve you doing speeches, presentations, group work, going through assignments, answering questions.

4 Is it better just to use pen and paper in lectures..or do most ppl use laptops..do you need like books or folders for uni..or is that more of a personal choice? you can use whatever you like really depends on what you find effective in your note taking ability...most people use spiral books because you can fold them back easily rarely you see anyone with a folder, many people also use those divider books instead of folders...because you have the pocket at the back to store your lecture notes and you can write in the front bit.

5 Names
First name basis

6 For students doing a double law degree..would you do like Business in the Morning and then Law later on..or are there seperate days for each..or a combination of both depending on your timetable.
it depends on the timetable uws does give flexibility but not to the extent you are talking about. You just have to see when the times and days the subjects are offered and work it around best to suit you.

7 What time does uni usually start in the morning?..And what time should you expect to finish...as a full time combined law degree student.

some subjects can start at 8am and i am assuming you are a day student the latest any class can finish is 6pm. It really depends once again on timetabling, you may find yourself going to uni 1pm-4pm or even a full 9-5 day. It really is subject to timetabling. You will expect to be at uni for about 12 hrs a week which is not too bad at all.

8 Do full time students usually get any free days or periods..or are they usually full on all week.


Uni is not like school in the way that you get free periods. Most full time students get at least one day off. It is very rare for a full time student studying combined law to have full days for the whole week.

 

[melsc]

I'll only add stuff that people haven't mentioned as Jennifer has done a great job.

2. I've heard ppl say that there is A LOT of reading involved in studying law...but how much is A LOT exactly..like how many pages and stuff?...also what do you read..textbooks, legislation? Do you read much legislation/acts..is it hard to read..i've always found that after reading a line or so I've already dozed off...the language is so stiff - making it awkward to read..lol
The reading is something you get used to, at first it will be hard but you will find as you get used to it you can read more quickly and efficiently. You will probably find at the beginning that you will need to read rather slow or some things a few times to understand them, but as you become familiar with the language of the law it will be easier and you wont need to do this much. Your first law subject ' introduction to law' will teach you how to read all the types of materials you need to read (and if Simon is back he's a great teacher). From the beginning you will be reading cases, legislation, articles and textbooks and I came across all of these in the first 'substantive' law subject Torts.

3. What are "tutes" like? How big are the classes usually? Is it similiar to classes at school? Are they like after a lecture..or before..or usually on different days?
Tutes can be before of after lectures, or on different days, they can vary in size but are usually around 20-30 students and are much like a class at school except the learning is much more independent and more is expected of you in terms of participations as you are usually marked on this. Generally you need to attend 80% of tutes (unless you have a doc cert etc) to pass the unit but this varies from unit to unit.

4. Is it better just to use pen and paper in lectures..or do most ppl use laptops..do you need like books or folders for uni..or is that more of a personal choice?
Personal choice, in first year I used paper and pen and in second year I used a laptop. I prefer the ease of editting or finding past lessons notes on a laptop but it depends on the person. For a laptop however you must be discplined to use it mainly for study and not to surf the web in class etc (although we all do it). One huge benefit is you can access the internet (thus lecture slides and other related material). I'd suggest a light one with a wireless card if you wan to get one. If uyou are going to use pen and paper write neatly.


6. For students doing a double law degree..would you do like Business in the Morning and then Law later on..or are there seperate days for each..or a combination of both depending on your timetable.
just depends on how the classes are timetabled.

7. What time does uni usually start in the morning?..And what time should you expect to finish...as a full time combined law degree student.
14hrs a week is what i have had as a full time student but again the time you start and finish depends on your classes I have had classes as early as 8am and as late as 5-6pm but I havent done any evening classes that does not mean however I had class for all that time. Some days you may only have one 1-2hr class other days you might have hr breaks between classes. It all depends on the time table.

8. Do full time students usually get any free days or periods..or are they usually full on all week. Most full time students have 3-4 days at uni but these are rarely full days, one or two might be packed and others barely any class at all. So you will have 1-maybe 2 days off each semester but these change each semester.

Good luck

 

[dannobunot]

Thank you very much to all the people who took the time to answer my questions..I have a much clearer idea of the happenings of uni - making me even more excited to start in late Feb

Just in answer to Jennifer's comment on if law if for me, or if I am choosing it because it is popular... Let me assure you Jennifer, I really do love law!..as funny as that may sound..lol..it is a true passion of mine.. I enjoyed Legal Studies and Debating at school very much and I have wanted to study law for some time. So I am certainly not choosing law because of popularity..but certainly out of passion ... I just find reading legislation a bit boring/challenging..but perhaps I'll warm to it after some practice...lol... Are you in the UWSLSA? I saw the website and it looks very exciting..when I start where would I go to join?...the Studnet Centre or the Student's Assocication? and how would I find a member to second my application..just ask around?..Thanks again for your replys to my questions

 

[dannobunot]

More questions..lol..

1. Does UWS have debating teams etc?

2. Could first year students be in the same classes or subjects as sutdents who are in their 2nd, 3rd etc year of study?

Thanks

 

[= Jennifer =]

Just a point-legal studies is not the same as law at university.

When you become accepted into university to study law at uws there is usually reps who will ask law students to sign up to join it costs something like $2 To be a committee member you have missed the elections of members for this year. If you wish to become on the committee you will need to wait until nov/dec of this yr to be on for next year because at this point you have no established a rapport with fellow law students.

More questions..lol..

1. Does UWS have debating teams etc?

2. Could first year students be in the same classes or subjects as sutdents who are in their 2nd, 3rd etc year of study?

Thanks

1- UWS does not have debating teams but there are opportunities for you later in your degree to enter into mooting competitions.

2-yes there is a possibility as some students transfer into a combined program after doing one year of a single degree. Also there are graduate law students in your class (ie people who have already completed another degree)

 

[dannobunot]

Point taken... I guess I'll just have to see how I go with the course.. but at least my motives for studying law are genuine...so i guess that is a good start.

Hmmm...perhaps it's time to start some debating teams @ UWS..lol...and mooting sounds exciting, hopefully I can go watch some moots before I am able to enter competitions?

Ok, thank you Jennifer for the info....HAVE A GREAT NEW YEAR!