Just wondering because my schedule is packed this term and there is an evening class for psych. The master timetable does not state the teachers and I was just wondering if there is any difference at all? Even the smallest differences I would like to know.

Thanks in advance.

Well, evening classes tend to be once a week for three hours vs. three one hour classes during the week. That's probably the biggest/only difference.

The teachers could be the same or different; depends on the class really.

Pro:
1 Class per week
It's at night, meaning your morning schedule will look a lot emptier

Con:
1 Class per week, if you miss it you have quite a bit of catching up to do.
It's at night, if you have to commute it means getting home a lot later.
It's 3 hours long, if you have trouble sitting, listening and taking notes for a normal class, chances are you are going to find evening classes really boring. But it depends on the material of course.

If it's Psych 1XX3, I think there's only one core a week for day time classes and for evening classes. Meaning anything Jeremy has mentioned may not apply in this particular scenario.

I think i will try to do some of my own Pro's and Con's that i've experienced in Night and Day Classes, i've taken 2 night classes in total.

Pro's:
- As someone previously mentioned, opens up your morning class
- Depending on what kind of learner you are this may be a pro or con, it links material together much more comprehensively giving you a bigger picture overall.
- Most Profs dont keep you for the full 3 hours, most people get off half an hour earlier, others may even get off EARLIER than that, which leads to 3 hours classes being 2/2.5 hours long

Note: You also get at least a 5 minute break of some sort in between

Con's:
- Takes up an evening where you could be stuying or doing something else.
- Missing one class, terrible, but what's worse is that this class will tend to go to the back of your mind and the material isnt as fresh as it would be if you had it almost every other day -- which could mean you falling behind VERY easily VERY fast.
- As someone else also pointed out, if you get tired, which most people tend to, you will not listen, so not only are you out of focus, you'll have to re-learn a weeks worth of material, if you're even keeping the class in mind.
- Walking home at 10, if you live off campus and its winter, its gonna be COLD and busses dont come as often, and if you are hungry, only commons is open at this point so eat before your class.

In general from my past experiences, i do not recommend night courses, you tend to fall behind because its just not in your mind in comparisson to day classes and sitting through them is tiresome, and most laptop batteries die, so you cant even take notes for the 2.5 hours.

3 hour evening classes, ugh. I've had maybe 4 courses that were in the evening. I never made it through an entire lecture in any of them. Maybe I just have ADD.. YMMV.

Originally Posted by Tleilaxu

- Most Profs dont keep you for the full 3 hours, most people get off half an hour earlier, others may even get off EARLIER than that, which leads to 3 hours classes being 2/2.5 hours long

.

How is that a Pro?

You are in total getting less then your 3 course hours per week that you paid good money for. Wouldn't you rather have three 1 hour sessions where the prof gives it his best and keeps you the entire time?

Secondly Evening classes are much more chilled and usually smaller. In other words the work load is less and sometimes even the examination structure is less intense. That was the case for two classes in SocSci, I took day for one and compared to the evening it was much more harder/comprehensive and then for the second I am in the evening one and I heard the day class is harder.

A pro of the evening though would be that you can have better student/prof interaction because the class sizes are smaller. Another random thing I have noticed is that Evening classes in Sociology for example have ALOT of old part time people(30+)

They're not usually bad at all. I have always tried my best to have one each term to keep my daytime schedule nice and light.

Something people haven't mentioned yet -> if your class does go 3 hours (which mine seem to always do), then you usually are given a short break by the prof (lecturing for three straight hours is tough for them too!)

Just a comment on whether night classes going shorter than 3 hours is a pro or a con:

3 x 50 minute classes = 150 minutes = 2.5 hours.

Aka if a night class goes the full 3 hours, you are getting MORE teaching than a day class, and if a class goes 2.5 hours, it is equivalent (time-wise) to taking the class in the day.

And personally, I haven't taken a night class, but I figure that it takes maybe 5 minutes at the beginning of every day class (on average) to get settled, deal with announcements, etc (for most classes, for example Chem 1A03). With only one class per week, I feel like this time could be minimized, meaning even less time wasted which could potentially lead to the ability to end class even earlier without compromising learning time.

Originally Posted by huzaifa47

How is that a Pro?

You are in total getting less then your 3 course hours per week that you paid good money for. Wouldn't you rather have three 1 hour sessions where the prof gives it his best and keeps you the entire time?

Secondly Evening classes are much more chilled and usually smaller. In other words the work load is less and sometimes even the examination structure is less intense. That was the case for two classes in SocSci, I took day for one and compared to the evening it was much more harder/comprehensive and then for the second I am in the evening one and I heard the day class is harder.

A pro of the evening though would be that you can have better student/prof interaction because the class sizes are smaller. Another random thing I have noticed is that Evening classes in Sociology for example have ALOT of old part time people(30+)

As Jade177 mentioned, the 2.5 hours actually adds up to the same amount that you would have had if you took the day class. As for the examination structure being less intense -- if you have day classes AND evening class, which alot of course tend to especially Psych and Econ, then No, you are getting the exact same exam as the people in day class so no difference in difficulty in exam. But if you mean the course is only offered in the evenings then maybe it is easier -- however alot of course tend to have tutorials and labs as well so its not necessarily the case where night classes are easier than the day classes.

As for class sizes being small, that depends on the course -- Psychology, Anthropology and Economics were all offered as night classes at one point and all of them had 300/350 + with econ being in MDCL 1305 with 600 people. Anthropology 1Z03 last year for first term was offered only as a night class and class size was still 300, but i guess this differs in upper years.

Most night classes blow...hard.

I look at it this way: If you miss the class one week, unlike with day classes that have other lectures throughout the week, thats pretty much it...you miss one class, thats it until next week. Plus, I find it difficult to sit through a night class after a full day, but thats just my hyperactive wanderlust kicking in.

Originally Posted by c.erl

Most night classes blow...hard.

Agreed.

I've only taken 2 and I really hated it both times. Sitting there for the whole time was difficult and it was worse b/c it was night and I was tired and I found it difficult to focus the way I would in a day class.

I've taken probably about ten night classes by now (I usually end up with at least two per year), and sometimes I really hate them, and sometimes I really like them.

My pros and cons:

Pros:
- class is concentrated so I don't have to go back and forth to school multiple times a week for this one class
- usually have less textbooks than other classes
- usually easier to find a good seat
- given more time to digest concepts from class to class
- get a "big picture" faster

Cons:
- having an early morning class the next day
- having coffee and as a result staying up too late
- profs office hours are typically only before the class
- makes dinner time awkward

However, I also would prefer if all of my classes were in three hour chunks, regardless of time. If I had three hours of class a day each day I'd be a much better student...there wouldn't be awkward breaks in between classes where time is wasted.

i took a night class last term and liked it alot (i live in edwards and the class was in TSH lol...a 10 second walk) Anyways, for night classes, we usually covered 3 chapters/class so make sure you stay on top of things. Sometimes your prof will let you go early...our class was SUPPOSED to be from 7-10pm but we were always let out at 845.

Well because this is only psych 1xx3 i think ill take the night class. However the three hour class thing does seem to repel me... Thanks for the help guys. Plus becasue its only an hour and I live on rez it sounds interesting.

haha, I actually just found out the psych "evening" course is just one hour after the english "day" class.