Are all classes suppose to be 50 minutes long (except for evening classes)? Because Bio 2A03 runs from 17:30 to 18:30. It's just odd since I've never seen a full hour class before. Maybe it's just a typo?

That is odd - I have had 530-620 classes before, they were all 50 mins, but you may want to check with other people who have taken that specific course.

Most classes are 50 minutes, but some are in a 2h or even 3h slot, depending.

I think only one of my courses next year are 50 minutes long. I have many classes that start at 8:30 and end at 11:20. I have others that are 2 hours one day and an hour on another. However, 60 minutes is odd, it could be a typo. However, night classes aren't the only non-50 minute classes.

Originally Posted by jhan523

Are all classes suppose to be 50 minutes long (except for evening classes)? Because Bio 2A03 runs from 17:30 to 18:30. It's just odd since I've never seen a full hour class before. Maybe it's just a typo?

Hey Jeremy! I think that's just a typo. If I remember correctly, I had a class that was written for an hour in MTT too, but it was actually only just 50 min.

Classes run in 'Lecture hours.' A Lecture hour, as defined by the registrar, is one 50 minute session followed by a 10 minute break, per week for one semester. There is no such thing as a '60 minute lecture' as it would entail getting 3.6 units instead of 3 (and presumably, units only take on integer values).

A 3 unit course involves 3 Lecture hours (Tutorials don't count for credit since they're optional...but courses with excessive numbers of labs may count for 4 or even 5 units while running in a single semester).

So these 3 hours can be distributed in one of three ways:

1) 3 x 1 hour sessions...meaning 50 hour classes followed by 10 minutes of travelling time, every week.

2) A single 1 hour session as above, and a single 2 hour session. This 2 hour session should go from say, 11:30 until 1:20, with a 10 minute break somewhere in the middle. Some profs don't follow this though, and end up lecturing an extra 10 minutes per class (even though they technically do so off the clock).

3) A single 3 hour session. The only 3 hour blocks I've seen are night and summer courses...but ferreinm says she has a bunch that go from say, 8:30 - 11:20. They should involve only 2 and a half hours of lecture material. Each prof handles this differently, some let you leave half an hour early, others give you one large half hour break right in the middle...but it's at the prof's discretion.

Hope that helps!

Fourth year seminar classes for Humanities classes are usually in three hour blocks, although sometimes only two (yay!). Sometimes upper-year (usually third) Humanities and Soc Sci classes are in three hour chunks too. I think those are typically more seminar-based though opposed to lecture-based.

Mowicz, I'd also like to mention for Humanities and Soc Sci class tutorials are considered mandatory, unlike those for the Sciences, Math and Eng.

Originally Posted by lorend

Mowicz, I'd also like to mention for Humanities and Soc Sci class tutorials are considered mandatory, unlike those for the Sciences, Math and Eng.

They may be considered manditory by individual instructors, but not by the registrar...it's an important distinction to be made. (There are manditory tutorials for science too, in the sense that participation/attendance is worth xx% of your grade...but having a tutorial hour is not worth any credit in sense of a unitary courseload...usually? Now I'm not so sure, I'm just saying what it says on the back of the McMaster Transcript, haha.)

I have heard of a course 'dropping' one lecture session and substituting it for a manditory tutorial...this is different I suppose?

So complicated...

Thanks for all the awesome replies!

Mowicz, I've seen that as well... There's a course in the calendar, I can't remember which, but it says something like: 2 lectures and 1 tutorial or 3 lectures.

KINESIOL 3I03 ETHICS IN KINESIOLOGY: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

An examination of ethical issues in health research and allied professional practices.

Two hours (lecture), one hour (tutorial); one term

Prerequisite(s):

Registration in Level III or above



I stand corrected...if a lecture slot is replaced by a manditory tutorial, then it counts as a lecture session.

why is bio 2f03 so long? it goes from 19:00-22:00 on tues + there is a three hour lab with the course

Originally Posted by manu

why is bio 2f03 so long? it goes from 19:00-22:00 on tues + there is a three hour lab with the course

It's a night class. Night classes are usually 3hrs long, all in one day instead of having ~ 50 min long lectures 3x a week.