Academic Session

The dates for the session, including examination periods, are published on the University's webpages on semester dates.

Orientation Week is an integral part of the University semester, and students are expected to devote some time in this period to their studies. Many classes will run on the Thursday and Friday of Orientation Week.

Independent Learning Week (ILW) has no scheduled classes, and is an opportunity to consolidate your studies and prepare for the remaining teaching period. Work may also be set to be completed over that week.

Dates for future examination diets are found on the University website. Students are expected to be available for the entire examination period.

 
Student Work

Physics and astronomy, in common with most other worthwhile learning, needs study, practice, reflection, and further work for a student to come to terms with the material and gain the ability to use it (and to pass exams). There is a good deal of support available for learning here in terms of staff time, fellow students, online and paper-based resources, libraries and IT suites, teaching labs and lecture rooms, but it is up to every student to organise themselves to do what is necessary for their own learning.

Keeping Up

Most courses build concepts on top prior learning and so it is essential to keep up with the work covered. Lectures should be about listening, understanding, asking questions if necessary, and making notes on what is happening. They should not deteriorate into a mere copying exercise! For that to be the case, you will need to be comfortable with the topics in one lecture before the next one occurs. At the end of each day of lectures, it is important to read over notes, add additional comments while ideas are still fresh in your mind, and sort out any difficulties you may have. Reading a textbook, discussing with a friend, or asking your tutor or lecturer can all help. As well as preparing you for the next lecture, this is likely to have the added benefit of aiding your memory of the topic for the end-of-module exams.

Please bear in mind that just covering material in previous study does not mean you may be as familiar with the ins and outs of the material as what is required here. Here we are as much interested in where physical and mathematical relationships come from as in being able to use them. By understanding the ideas (and limitations) on which a relationship is built, we are better placed to know how and when to use it.

Practice

In a subject such as ours, memorising facts is not enough (though it is still important). We aim to develop an understanding of the subject, and how it can be applied. To help in this, we encourage you to try appropriate questions and problems. Questions in the tutorial sheets and labs should help you practise your physics in the same way that any other skill has to be practised to improve it. Where you find difficulties, look again at the lectures and your notes, textbooks, or discuss with friends and tutors. Bring questions and queries to tutorials for discussion   that is what tutorials are provided for! If there are not enough questions on the tutorial sheets, then there are many more relevant questions in your course textbook.

We aim to teach our students to understand physics and astronomy, not just to pass exams. However, we realise that examination results are important, and it is useful to practice past exam questions. Students may access past papers through MySaint. Example past exam solutions are available via the School's webpage.

Responsibility

We hope you are here because you have an interest in physics and astronomy. There are many attractions to life as a student, but a sensible balance between study and recreation must be found. To be a successful physicist or astronomer (even for those doing only one module) you will need to think about the science and practice in applying it to different situations.

Time Allocation

In addition to attending scheduled classes, students are expected to consolidate their knowledge through independent study. The QAA specifies that each unit of credit should correspond to 10 hours of study time for the average student at that level. This corresponds to a time commitment of around 40 hours per week for students taking the normal 120 credits per year. This means that the average student in the 20-credit 1000-level modules in the School should be allocating about 13 hours a week to each module, and in the 30-credit 2000-level modules about 20 hours a week.

Forty hours a week of study should allow time for students to undertake other activities. While we realise that some students may wish to take paid employment, we suggest that during semester time where possible this should not be so many hours that it impacts significantly on your abilities to study.

Self-directed Study

One of the aims of our teaching programme is "To develop the ability to be a self-directed learner, including fostering a healthy intellectual curiosity in this and other disciplines, and the ability to determine one’s own learning needs and to organise one’s own learning". Students are expected to use information in the library and online to help their studies, as well as discussing physics with other students and with staff.

The School encourages students to form groups that can meet on a regular basis to discuss the material being covered. The School also strongly encourages students to approach lecturers and tutors to help with problems that cannot be solved through independent study.