Is taking 4 classes in the summer too much?

grpearlface · May 14, 2014

Honestly, I have taken Developmental Life Span Psychology, College Algebra (when I had not taken math in years), Western Civ II and Criminal Investigations all in one summer.

The Life Span course was a lot of reading--about 4 chapters per week, there were quizzes every week as well, and forum posts every week. College algebra just about killed me, I was glued to my computer doing homework, I was literally in tears, the book is worthless, the tutorials online are worthless, and I spent literally 8-9 hours just doing math, and sometimes I had to redo the same problem over and over and over again because I kept getting the answer wrong. Western Civ was a breeze, but Criminal Investigations required a lot of writing, had quizzes, forum posts and a 7 page final essay in the end, and we had a quiz every week.

Your classes MAY be tougher; however, considering I had to teach myself math along with everything else, I'd say my courses may have been even more time consuming than yours. The thing is, it's not about what, it's about when. My life-span course was summer C, it overlapped the entire summer. Math was summer A, and western civ and criminal investigations was summer B. So I was focused strictly on math and life-span for the first half of summer, the second half I was focused strictly on western civ, criminal investigations, and the second half of life-span. This made it doable. If you were about to tell me that you were going to try to take all four in Summer A, or Summer B... then FORGET IT. If you have split them up well enough for them to be in sections, separate from each other, then it's doable.

Summer is NOT hard, but it IS time consuming, BUT it's doable. I have a 4.0. I am actually planning on taking four classes this summer as well, 3 of which are science courses, one even has a lab. But I have them split up between summer A (first half of summer), summer C (the entire summer), and summer B (the second half of summer) so they are spaced out much better.

Don't let anyone tell you you can't do something. You have to be Okay with the fact that you will be doing homework all day, every day, and you will not be going out with friends, etc. As long as you're ok with having no life, you'll manage. Also, being that you won't have to teach yourself math like I did, all you have to really do is read the chapters, and refresh the material before the tests/quizzes. Your schedule will be much easier than mine, just go for it.

pmabraham, BSN, RN · May 14, 2014

Good day:

11 credits would roughly mean 22 hours per week study time, and 11 hours per week lecture time for a total (typically minimum) time commitment of 33 hours. If you can schedule it, be disciplined to keep it up, and allow some extra wiggle room for extra study time, paper time, etc. you should be ok.

Thank you.

tnicnat · May 14, 2014

Okay I must be a glutton for punishment then, two bio courses and their labs, and a chem course and lab. I work full time too. Fall I have already picked out my courses, a and p and lab, micro and lab and algebra. I only work three days, 12hour shifts, so the rest of time are classes and study. Life, who me? Hahaha! I'm lucky tho my fiancée is very supportive and understanding, and will wake me up if I fall asleep when studying. Lol

BusyBee91 · May 14, 2014

For me, that load would be a snap. However, in the interest of making your life simpler, here's what I'd actually recommend.

If psychology across the lifespan is what I think it is, (aka human growth and development) save yourself time, money, and the headache of writing pointless papers by CLEPing out of it. See if your school will accept a passing score on the human growth and development CLEP exam, and just study for that instead. It's not a hard or lengthy exam, especially if you've ever taken a psychology course before. RTI makes a fantastic, easy to read, very focused test review book with some practice tests that will definitely give you all the info to pass the exam. Just my two cents.

mzrainydayz, BSN, RN · May 14, 2014

If you are not working and able to study and do assignments in six week, it may work for you. That is a lot to take on I can see if it was 10 weeks or 12 weeks but 4 classes in six weeks, i would be in brain over load. I have taken 2 classes in six weeks and my brain was pushed to the max sometimes 2 test in 1 week, and lots of assignments. Good luck.