Hi,

I have been working to days and have come up with the schedual below. Can some one review it and tell me how to make it better or if the profs I have are horrible.

Plus there are these gaps some days that I don't know how to fill. I think they are going to waste my time, right?

One last thing am I going to have a problem going in between buildings in ten minutes? I don't want to be late.

Thanks whoever.

Damn. Your Monday's, Tuesday's and Friday's are so jam-packed! Well, it is expected of a science student. My schedule was almost the same in year one, as well.

What program are you in?

PS, you're never ever gonna be late. You might not get a good seat, but you're always going to be on time. Though, when the prof doesn't stfu, then maybe, you might be late for the next class xD.

At McMaster we have a program called SOLAR, and when you enter all of your courses into it at your specified time, it makes up a timetable for you. Its good that you were looking ahead and constructing yourself a timetable, but just so you know the one that you made will probably not be the one that you get stuck with. I recommend trying to bunch your classes more. So you have like 5 hours of class and labs in one day without any breaks. Those hour long breaks are boring and not really good for getting any productive work done.

You won't have trouble getting from one class to another on time. Last term I had to get from ETB to KTH in ten minutes, and thats pretty much the farthest walk on campus, or ETB to DBAC but you won't have any class in DBAC unless your in Kin and no classes in ETB unless your in Btech or Eng1 so you should be good to go!!

Originally Posted by kunaltandan

Damn. Your Monday's, Tuesday's and Friday's are so jam-packed! Well, it is expected of a science student. My schedule was almost the same in year one, as well.

What program are you in?

PS, you're never ever gonna be late. You might not get a good seat, but you're always going to be on time. Though, when the prof doesn't stfu, then maybe, you might be late for the next class xD.

I am in Life Science.

Do you have any hint as to how to reduce the load on monday, tuesday and friday? Which term one schedual do you think I should go with?

Originally Posted by erinn

At McMaster we have a program called SOLAR, and when you enter all of your courses into it at your specified time, it makes up a timetable for you. Its good that you were looking ahead and constructing yourself a timetable, but just so you know the one that you made will probably not be the one that you get stuck with. I recommend trying to bunch your classes more. So you have like 5 hours of class and labs in one day without any breaks. Those hour long breaks are boring and not really good for getting any productive work done.

You won't have trouble getting from one class to another on time. Last term I had to get from ETB to KTH in ten minutes, and thats pretty much the farthest walk on campus, or ETB to DBAC but you won't have any class in DBAC unless your in Kin and no classes in ETB unless your in Btech or Eng1 so you should be good to go!!

Isn't 5 hours a long time without a break. Won't I get hungry or tired?

Also the timetable solar makes, are they usualy better or worst?

If you think that five hours is too long without a break you can always bring a snack or a sandwich and eat in lecture, the profs don't mind. The only place you can't eat is in the labs. Also usually when you are passing through buildings there is a cafe or something so you could grab something there if you were feeling like some eats.

The timetables that SOLAR made me this past year were great, I had two classes on fridays, and very little annoying two hour breaks. I could start class on tuesday at 10:30 and be done by 5:30 without any breaks (that was including a lab though). After you get your timetable on SOLAR you can always try and rearrange your timetable to suit your needs, but the problem with that is you may get conflicts. Also, you don't have to go to the lecture on your timetable, the profs don't take attendance so really, if one prof was better, you could just go to there lectures instead.

Originally Posted by erinn

If you think that five hours is too long without a break you can always bring a snack or a sandwich and eat in lecture, the profs don't mind. The only place you can't eat is in the labs. Also usually when you are passing through buildings there is a cafe or something so you could grab something there if you were feeling like some eats.

The timetables that SOLAR made me this past year were great, I had two classes on fridays, and very little annoying two hour breaks. I could start class on tuesday at 10:30 and be done by 5:30 without any breaks (that was including a lab though). After you get your timetable on SOLAR you can always try and rearrange your timetable to suit your needs, but the problem with that is you may get conflicts. Also, you don't have to go to the lecture on your timetable, the profs don't take attendance so really, if one prof was better, you could just go to there lectures instead.

Thanks. I guess I was thinking of High School, we were never allowed to eat in class.

Thanks. I guess I was thinking of High School, we were never allowed to eat in class.

Ya, people eat whole teryaki dinners and pizzas during class so no worries. lol As for loud, annoying wrappers, it's always awkward trying to open a packaged snack when everything is silent. XP

Originally Posted by jachill

Ya, people eat whole teryaki dinners and pizzas during class so no worries. lol As for loud, annoying wrappers, it's always awkward trying to open a packaged snack when everything is silent. XP

Aha, yeah. I always chew gum if I start to fall asleep in a class. But I'm not the only one falling asleep so the class is always quiet and it feels like I make SO much noise XD

Yeah, make sure you eat food that isn't too disrupting. This girl in my french class always ate things like peanuts and granola bars, and you could hear her opening the packaging from clear across the room. She did this during tests as well, which was super annoying haha.

But anyway...

5 hours is a long time. I had 4 hours back to back last year, and it was a pain. Especially when one day I had two midterms, a presentation and an assignment due all in the space of four hours. It can make a person a little crazy lol. But other than that day, it wasn't so bad.

Also, when SOLAR makes up your timetable for you, you CAN still switch the times around, depending on if classes are full or empty. You can even change your term 2 classes throughout term 1.

If you're walking across campus between two classes, try to find the fastest route if you can and don't stop for anything. If you do have a long day, I suggest getting something on campus to eat before you start, or make something at home/res.

so if I understand it right you can either,
a) let SOLAR make your time table for you and change classes around
or
b) make your own timetable ahead of time and input into SOLAR?

Originally Posted by GPat

so if I understand it right you can either,
a) let SOLAR make your time table for you and change classes around
or
b) make your own timetable ahead of time and input into SOLAR?

The idea is that if you make a mock timetable beforehand, it saves you time when you get into SOLAR and you have an idea of what your class times are like and how it all fits together.

At this point, when you choose your classes in a few weeks, you're only choosing the core classes. So if a class has say C01 and C02, you're choosing one of those -- and if you know what time it takes place beforehand, it saves you time.

Then when SOLAR opens again, you're already aware of what time tutorials and labs take place, and you can switch it around in like a few minutes. This also, most importantly, helps you avoid conflicts.

so if I understand it right you can either,
a) let SOLAR make your time table for you and change classes around
or
b) make your own timetable ahead of time and input into SOLAR?

SOLAR makes your time table automatically and you have no influence over that then when it is released, you can change it around according to your preplanned timetable (if you have one), or you can just leave it.

Ah feonateresa beat me lol

The idea of making a timetable before hand is to see if there is a possible way to take those courses. As long as there's a way it can be done, and those sections haven't already been filled by SOLAR with other people that need them, SOLAR will make it work.

If I'm not mistaken, the whole reason why you can not choose your sections when you first log into SOLAR, is to ensure that people are distributed to ensure that as many people as possible get the section they need.

Some time later in the summer you are able to go on and switch things up if there are other sections with space.

Oh, and just thought I'd mention, you CAN choose between day, evening, term 1 and term 2 sections of the same class, just not sections within the same term.