Is 3rd year of uni really harder than second?

Doing 3rd year Chemical Engineering here and yeah, much more difficult. My multiphase thermodynamics module is an exercise in being confused :/
 
I didn't find it harder academically, just busier socially and in terms of work load - best year of uni for me though.

I'd agree with this. First year to second year was a massive leap in difficultly for me (Physics at Exeter). Second year to third year was no more tough overall. It was a lot more enjoyable because I had a greater say in which options I took, meaning no more statistical thermodynamics!
 
Depends what course you're doing, surely?

Science degrees usually have a limited selection of dissertation titles because they're usually research based (and therefore you'll usually be integrated into a team already carrying out said research for a short time).

Non-science degrees seem to be more flexible and allow you to write about what you want.
 
3rd Year computer science and it is an absolutely crazy step up. In honesty the work isnt much harder, in fact one module in agile development is the one that is completely battering us. Get basically no spare time to do other stuff or work on my final year project.

Second year is 25% for me, third year 75%
 
It's more time consuming for me as I have to take more higher level modules than the previous year. I've also undertaken a research project which although takes away two modules it doesn't have a set criteria as such so seems forever ongoing.
 
Yes, more hours in lectures and for personal study, not to mention usually has a much higher weighting than other years.
 
Wasn't for me, I had done more than half of my modules in my second year! Was very busy with sports, commitees etc, but not much work :D
 
I found the first 2 years too easy and the jump in difficulty for the 3rd year was huge.

Did Mathematics and Computing at the University of Aberdeen
 
Chemistry - every year just gets harder and harder.

Usually:

1st year = relatively easy
2nd year = Hard work expected
3rd year = You will have little social time except whilst working with those off your course.

Masters = You have more freedom, but the additional reading is massive.

PhD 1st year = see first year of uni.
PhD 2nd year = See 2nd or 3rd year of uni depending how worried you feel about things not working.
PhD final year = You have no social life, you are owned by the university :P
 
Yes, if your doing a half decent course. ;)

My workload now for 3rd year aero masters is ridiculous, and it's only week five.

Last five days i've been doing other things and i've done NOTHING. My 21st this weekend so nothing is going to happen then either.

Christmas is going to be 90% work 10% Gran Turismo 5 :( Not the other way round!!!
 
Mathematics and Computing Science BSci, heavy on the Maths in the final year.
In my case the 3rd year was definitely more difficult than the 2nd and 1st, though it has to be said that most of the 1st was waiting for some students to catch up to a decent level.

Masters year of my Astrodynamics MSci was much, much more difficult though. Contact hours were easy to deal with, but you really need to keep on top of set texts and project. To be honest, I almost screwed it up just by being too blasé about the whole thing.
 
I worked my backside off in 2nd year and was well over a 1st class.
Then I went on placement for 13 months.
Now I come back into uni with a huge advantage over those who have not done a placement.

I would say because of this, I am finding 2nd and 3rd year about the same difficulty. It really helps that I can relate things from placement to my modules. Also my individual project is with my placement company.
 
Yes, if your doing a half decent course. ;)

My workload now for 3rd year aero masters is ridiculous, and it's only week five.

Last five days i've been doing other things and i've done NOTHING. My 21st this weekend so nothing is going to happen then either.

Christmas is going to be 90% work 10% Gran Turismo 5 :( Not the other way round!!!
Having lived with a Bristol Aero, when your project gets fully underway later in the year, I assure you, there will be no fun in your life :p

He worked insanely hard in his final year. Must have averaged 9am-8pm every term day, which is a huge amount for self-motivated studying :eek:
 
I found the third year to be a lot easier than the second year for a number of reasons

1.) I was able to choose ALL of my subjects. I could drop the stuff I didn't like doing and focus on the ones I enjoyed. Second year was basically all chosen for me.
2.) The dissertation and the final project represent a lot of the effort allocated to the third year and I was free to focus on it early and get them both out of that way. It wasn't like a course where I had to be spoon fed info - I could put as many hours as I wanted into it.
3.) Third year came after a sandwich placement in the USA so the same housemates all came together after a refreshing break with money in our pockets, lots of catching up and a drive to just get uni finished.

Due to the project and the dissertation I found I had lots more free time. I think I was only in Uni for two days in my third year - Tuesdays and Wednesdays!!
 
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Mine was harder in terms of difficulty as you would expect, but I was happier as I got to choose which modules I studied. Also had a Dissertation to do which ate up a lot of time :D
 
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