This course gives you 6 study credits (ECTS). This means that you have to decidate a total of about 160 hours to this course.

I am aware that students are different and have many different ways of following courses. However, when I calculated the number of study credits, I used the following estimates (for a total of 160 hours):

• 7 a-lectures, 7*(1 + 2 + 2) = 35 hours
• 6 exercises, 6*(0 + 2 + 1) = 18 hours
• 7 b-lectures, 7*(5 + 2 + 1) = 56 hours
• 5 labs, 5*(0.5 + 2 + 0.5) = 15 hours
• 1 mini-project, 26 hours
• 1 preparation for exam, 8 hours
• 1 exam, 2 hours

The way to interpret the number of hours in parenthesis (a + b + c) is that:

• a is the hours you spend on preparation before the activity
• b is the hours you spend on the activity itself
• c is the hours you spend on "debriefing" after the activity

"a-lectures" are lectures on introductory topics and are usually given by me on Mondays. I expect you to acquaint yourself with the literature before the lecture and to actually read/study (parts of) the literature more in detail after the lecture in preparation for the exercises.

"b-lectures" are lectures going in-depth with a particular topic and are usually given as student (group) presentation of papers on Thursdays. I expect a group to either prepare a presentation of a paper or prepare some discussion questions for the presented papers before the lecture. After the lecture I expect you to spend some time organising your notes from the lecture.

The preparation before the exercises is studying the papers from the preceeding a-lecture (and counted as that). After I expect you to spend some time organising your notes from the exercises.

Before each lab I expect you to read the lab instruction as preparation. I do not expect you to spend much time after the lab, but you should organise the notes you took during the lab.

Each group will have to make a mini project. Most of the work on this project will take place during the final week of the course (3-7/12), but some of the (preparation) work should be done as extensions to the exercise sessions. You should spend a total of 26 hours (more than 3 full days!) of work on the project.

As preparation for the exam you should (at least) look through the course literature, your notes and the results from the exercises to get an overview of the most important concepts in this course. You should also read carefully your group's mini project report, as part of the examination will be based on discussing that. If you have spent the hours indicated for the activities above, 8 hours (one whole day) should be more than sufficient - and if not, then remember to start preparing 160 hours (6,67 days or 20 working days) before the exam date ;-)

The exam itself is an oral exam and is done in the same groups that are used for the exercises, labs and mini project. The examination will last for about 60-80 minutes - and after a couple of minutes we will give you your grades and an evaluation of your performance.

As always your milage will vary and the above numbers are only indicative. Of course you are free to follow the course any way you think is best for you - as long as you attend all labs and get along with the rest of the people in your group.