Planning your Programme of Study

Congratulations on taking the first step in deciding to advance yourself through tertiary study. We at Te Pua Wānanga ki te Ao understand that tertiary institutions can be frightening places for those who have not studied for a while. Our staff are here to help you to design your programme of study so please feel free to ask for advice.

First Year Students

A full-time first year programme for students undertaking a bachelor degree normally involves seven or eight Level 1 papers equivalent to 105 or 120 points respectively. That is, three pairs of papers (two papers in each of three subjects), plus one or two additional papers. Your papers should be balanced as evenly as possible over both semesters (for example, 4 papers in the A semester and 4 papers in the B semester). Students admitted under provisional entrance regulations may be limited to a full-time programme of six papers, or to three papers in a single semester. This will still count as a full-time programme for student loans. Please note that our School can tailor programmes that will cater for students who have special needs requirements.

To plan your first year programme

Choose two papers from your major subject and check for any core papers required for your major. Also check the papers you should take depending on your level of knowledge at entry.
Select two subjects that you wish to study as possible supporting subjects and choose two papers from each of these subjects.
For your remaining papers, you can choose any that interest you, remembering to check for timetable clashes.

Part-time Study

Contact the School Office.

Returning and Transferring Students

Although the School checks each student's programme to ensure they are meeting the requirements of their qualification, students are responsible for choosing the correct papers to fulfil the requirements (e.g. core papers for your major).

Choosing papers

Before completing enrolment, you should check the following:

You have a balanced semester workload
You have no timetable clashes (the library, enrolment and each school student advisory person should have timetables)
You have met any prerequisite criteria for your selected papers

There are sample certificate and degree planners at the back of this handbook that may assist you in planning your programme. See appendix One.

Checking your Timetable

Your selection of papers will also depend on the timetable. Write out your timetable and check that there are no clashes between lectures or your programme will not be approved. Some of the most popular papers usually have a choice of times (called streams), which helps to avoid clashes. Tutorial times are normally decided during the first week of lectures and begin in the second week.

The online timetable is available at: http://timetable.waikato.ac.nz