How Do I Succeed Taking Anthropology Classes?

UCF Anthropology offers courses in summer, fall and spring in face-to-face, mixed mode and online modes. Do not think summer or online courses are easier; it takes a lot of self discipline to keep up with the fast-paced work of a 6-week summer term! We have a fully online BA degree so we offer many quality online classes; online classes are not easier either! Courses to fulfill your Anthropology degree requirements may be a mixture of campus-based and online formats.

• Be mindful of how many classes you register for each semester and expect the work load to be heavy for those classes. The rule of thumb is that you will put in 3 hours of work for every 1 credit hour of each class, so a 3 credit hour class = 9 hours of work/week.
• If you want to be a full-time student, register for 4 courses in fall and spring. If you work full-time, don’t take 4 courses per term! Consider 2 or 3 and see how that matches with your work schedule.
• Take no more than two courses per summer term (so no more than two summer A or two summer B courses, especially if it is your first semester)! Anything more than 14 credit hours over the whole summer is considered overtime and you will need to fill out a form to take that many summer hours. Summer A and Summer B terms are 6 weeks each-this means they are a full semester (15 weeks) squished into 6 weeks!
• Use a planner or calendar to keep track of all your due dates for assignments and exams.  Due dates will also appear in Webcourses for each class.
• If you are taking online classes, set a chunk of time to work on your courses just like you were attending a class on campus.
• Make sure you are in a quiet and distraction-free area to work on assignments, especially timed quizzes and exams. Maybe you can go to a local library, find a quiet coffee shop, set up a quiet room in your house or find another place if there are too many distractions at home.