Top Ten No Sympathy Lines

I was, happily, a pretty decent student when in college… but I knew a few who had this list of Top Ten No Sympathy Lines down pat, and would pull one or more out as an excuse for a poor grade in a class, or a plea for a better grade:

I Studied for Hours

How many? A college credit is defined as three hours’ work per week; one in class and two outside. That’s why adding a three-hour lab to a class only results in one additional credit.

This means that 12 credits translates to an average of 36 hours’ work a week. That’s why 12 credits is considered full time; it’s the equivalent of a full-time job.

If you have a course that meets three hours a week for 3 credits but doesn’t require six hours of outside work a week to keep up, consider yourself lucky. Other courses may require more time. Also, individual students require different amounts of study time. It does no good to complain that three hours a week per credit is excessive, any more than it does to complain that 26 miles is too long for a marathon. They are what they are.

The one thing you can count on is that a few hours of cramming before the final will not give good results. I recently heard from a student who lamented that she stayed up until 2 A.M. studying, then got up at 6 A.M. and studied some more, and did poorly. And she was surprised? She’d have been better off getting a decent night’s sleep.

Suck it up, kids. College is tough, but real life is much, much tougher.

Hat tip to John Scalzi.