School of Arts and Sciences (NSW)

Studying more than a full load

2003

The normal load per semester is 4 units. On occasion a student will ask if they are permitted to take extra units in a given semester. Reasons given have included:

  • I want to finish my course faster.
  • I missed a unit last year and want to catch up.
  • I don't like one of my subjects and want to change to a new one.
  • I failed a unit and want to do it again as well as my normal units.
  • I am interested in a particular unit and want to do it as well as my normal units.

The regulation that applies states:

3.11 Credit Point Limit in a Semester
Students wishing to enrol in more units than the normal full-time course load in any semester must first obtain the written approval of the Course Coordinator. The student's previous academic record will be taken into account in determining approval.

To enrol in units beyond the normal full-time load you must apply to you Course Coordinator for written approval. Please bear in mind the following recent statistics. The columns list the semester, the total number of students who were enrolled for at least one extra unit, the total number of units failed by that group of students and the failure rate for that group.

Semester No. students Units failed % fails
1998-1 3 7 43%
1998-2 15 33 40%
1999-1 0 - -
1999-2 14 25 33%
2000-1 2 7 62%
2000-2 21 31 26%
2001-1 2 1 6%
2001-2 24 19 15%
2002-1 8 7 17%
2002-2 11 5 6%

In most cases if a student takes more than the normal load they fail the extra units. A closer look at the statistics suggests that students in years 1 and 2 will generally fail more than one unit while students in later years generally do not fail the extra units.
To give approval a Course Coordinator must be satisfied that a student has some chance of successfully completing every unit. To give you an idea of whether your application is likely to succeed here are some guidelines.

  • Applications from students with a good academic record will usually be considered.
  • Applications from students with recent fails will generally not be considered unless their record since the last fail has been good.
  • Applications from students in the first 2 years of their course will usually not be considered, unless they have a good academic record.
  • Applications from students in their final year will generally be considered unless they have recent fails.
  • Applications from students who wish to study a unit and its corequisite in the same semester will usually not be considered.

Note that these are guidelines only, each application will be considered on its merits.
Regulation 4.2.1 states that any student that fails a core unit, or equivalent unit, in the course on three occasions will have their enrollment in the course terminated. The following always applies.

  • If a student is repeating a unit that they have failed twice they will not be allowed to enroll in more than the normal load in that semester.