How long is a course unit?

<p>I saw on the EE course catalog that for the "Units" description of
courses, it lists a couple of numbers connected by dashes( for exaple,
Units: 4-2-9). What does this mean, and do you know how long/how many
terms a unit is? How does this translate into time needed to complete a course?</p>

<p>All of the courses in the course catalogue are one term long. (A sequence of courses, not one course, would cover an entire year.)</p>

<p>The units are translated like this: the first number represents the number of hours to be spent in class per week (the 4 in your example), the second number represents the number of hours to be spent in lab per week (the 2 in your example), and the last number represents the number of hours to be spent on outside work per week (the 9 in your example).</p>

<p>Most classes at MIT are 12 units (5-0-7 and 4-0-8 are common distributions), which theoretically means you're supposed to spend 12 hours per week on a typical class. This isn't always the case -- some courses are more work-intensive than their units suggest, and some are less.</p>

<p>would you please post the link to these numbers? I want to major in neuroscience or brain/cognitive science, what are the links (that will give you the units like 5-0-7) to my majors?</p>

<p>what are some links to required coures (chem, bio, physics, etc)?</p>

<p>The degree requirements for course 9 are listed [url=<a href="http://web.mit.edu/catalogue/degre.scien.ch9.shtml%5Dhere%5B/url"&gt;http://web.mit.edu/catalogue/degre.scien.ch9.shtml]here[/url&lt;/a&gt;]; all the course 9 courses offered can either be found linked from that page or [url=<a href="http://student.mit.edu/catalog/m9a.html%5Dhere%5B/url"&gt;http://student.mit.edu/catalog/m9a.html]here[/url&lt;/a&gt;]. Most upper-division course 9 classes are 3-0-9; they meet twice a week for an hour and a half each time.</p>

<p>As for class sites, biology is [url=<a href="http://web.mit.edu/7.01x/7.012/%5Dhere%5B/url"&gt;http://web.mit.edu/7.01x/7.012/]here[/url&lt;/a&gt;], chemistry (the "engineering" version) is [url=<a href="http://web.mit.edu/3.091/www/index.html%5Dhere%5B/url"&gt;http://web.mit.edu/3.091/www/index.html]here[/url&lt;/a&gt;] (the "science" versions are on [url=<a href="http://stellar.mit.edu%5DStellar%5B/url"&gt;http://stellar.mit.edu]Stellar[/url&lt;/a&gt;] and can't be accessed by the public), physics is [url=<a href="http://web.mit.edu/8.01t/www/%5Dhere%5B/url"&gt;http://web.mit.edu/8.01t/www/]here[/url&lt;/a&gt;]. All of these classes are 5-0-7 except physics, which is 3-2-7.</p>

<p>thanks so much!</p>

<p>oh cool, thanks Mollie!</p>

<p>is the last number(outside work) supposed to be like the expected homework/pset time?</p>

<p>Yup, it's supposed to be the average week in terms of psets, reading, or writing -- whatever the homework for the particular course is.</p>

<p>oo okey dokey, thanks again!</p>

<p>o and so like, the whole 4-2-9, 15 units count towards any given unit requirement, including expected homework time?</p>

<p>If the course is 4-2-9, you would get 15 units of credit when you complete it.</p>

<p>I think at other schools they do units by some other method -- like maybe just hours in class per week or something. We just happen to do it this way.</p>

<p>wow. 12-15 hours per week in a course is quite a lot considering that most students would have four-six other classes. How much time does a student work a day usually? Is it hard to manage time at MIT?</p>

<p>most mit students would have 3-3 other classes. the vast majority of the student body never take more than 4 classes a term.</p>

<p>lol ok that's a relief. During CPW, I met this crazy guy who is double-majoring and double-minoring and doing 15 hrs of UROP a week.</p>

<p>who the hell would take more than 4 classes a week....that would be crazy considering the hours mentioned....
but of course i'd like to tell you that at Indian Institutes of technology kids study for straight 8 hrs a day in classes and Homeworks and projects are extra..:)....not that i like that...but just thought should mention that there is no dearth of crazy schools in the world...</p>

<p>As for you tropicalisland: I know people from MIT who wake for straight 48 hrs working on projects and finishing stuff during tense times..so its one hell of a ride there...</p>

<p>I was in class for 5 hours today and have been doing homework for the past 12 or so. That's what happens when you start 8.022 at the last minute.</p>

<p>"As for you tropicalisland: I know people from MIT who wake for straight 48 hrs working on projects and finishing stuff during tense times..so its one hell of a ride there..."
--> perhaps this is what you're referring to: <a href="http://jessie.mitblogs.com/archives/2005/11/itfp.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://jessie.mitblogs.com/archives/2005/11/itfp.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>yep blueriver575..bang on target... i had forgotten whose blog it was..:)</p>

<p>Haha, I usually take about 60 units + 15 hours of UROP a week. Last semester I was taking 5 classes, working 15 hours a week, doing the blog job, cheerleading, and applying to graduate school.</p>

<p>I don't know. It's hard, but you just get used to it.</p>

<p>yeah...u get used to that...and sleep depriviation...;)</p>