Questions to Ask About a Class
Questions to ask before you register for a course: the ones for the instructor, the ones only former students can answer, and the ones that belong with an adviser. They cover how the grade breaks down, the real weekly hours, hidden costs, and what happens when a week goes wrong.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Can I see the syllabus from the last time you taught this?
Why ask it
The real syllabus answers half of these questions at once, and reluctance to share one is itself information. Read the assignment dates rather than the topic list: three deliverables in the final fortnight is a different course from the one the catalogue describes.
How many hours a week outside class did students actually spend on it?
Why ask it
Ask former students rather than the instructor, since instructors estimate from the design and students report from experience. Get a range, and ask about the heaviest week specifically, because that is the week that will collide with everything else you are taking.
How does the grade break down, and is any single piece worth more than a quarter?
Why ask it
You are looking for where the risk concentrates. A course with sixty percent riding on one final rewards a strong exam-taker and punishes one bad week. If the percentages do not add up to a hundred, the grading is likely to be improvised as the term goes.
Is the final cumulative, and is the grade curved or on a fixed scale?
Why ask it
A cumulative final changes how you study from week one rather than from week ten. Curving matters as much: on a strict curve your result depends on who else enrolled, which is worth knowing before you commit to the section.
What do people usually struggle with in the first three weeks?
Why ask it
Instructors know exactly where students fall behind because they watch it happen every year. This is the most practically useful question here, and the answer tells you what to review before term starts rather than after the first bad quiz.
Which prerequisite actually matters day to day, and what if mine is rusty?
Why ask it
Listed prerequisites are usually broader than what gets used. A specific answer, such as needing to integrate by parts or read a basic proof, lets you test yourself in advance. Take it seriously if they name something you last used three years ago.
Is attendance part of the grade, and what happens if I miss a session?
Why ask it
Policies range from unrecorded to a fixed slice of the final mark. Ask about mechanism rather than principle: whether one absence needs documentation, and whether a missed quiz or lab can be made up at all. The second answer is the one that bites.
Which edition of the textbook do I really need, and is a copy on reserve?
Why ask it
Reading lists routinely name a new edition that differs slightly from one costing a fraction as much, and instructors will often say so when asked directly. Many also keep a library copy on reserve. This single question can save a genuine amount of money.
Beyond the book, is there software, an access code, or a lab fee?
Why ask it
Hidden costs are common: a code that cannot be bought secondhand, a studio materials fee, a licence for a statistics package, printing for a design course. Ask for the total, because the book is frequently the smaller half of it.
How are the sessions run, and are recordings available afterwards?
Why ask it
Format is not only a preference. Recorded lectures make shift work or caring responsibilities survivable; a discussion-only seminar does not. Ask whether recording is routine or granted case by case, since that difference decides what happens when you are ill.
How much of the grade rests on group work, and how are groups put together?
Why ask it
Group work hands part of your result to people you have not met. Ask how groups form, whether peer assessment adjusts individual marks, and what happens when a member stops replying. No answer to the last part usually means it has gone badly before.
How long does it usually take to get feedback on an assignment?
Why ask it
Feedback arriving after the next deadline cannot improve anything. Two weeks is common and workable. A whole term with nothing returned is a warning sign, particularly in a course whose grade depends on written work you were meant to develop.
Is there any way back from one bad grade: a dropped score, a revision, a replacement exam?
Why ask it
Ask about recovery before you need it. A dropped lowest quiz or a revision option means a single rough fortnight does not decide the outcome. If none of those exist, you now know to keep the rest of your term light around this one.
What's your policy on late work, and how do extensions for illness work?
Why ask it
Written policy is usually strict while practice is often flexible, and you want to know which you are facing before something goes wrong. Ask who has to be told as well, since some institutions route this through a dean rather than the instructor.
How do you handle AI tools and collaboration on homework?
Why ask it
The rules differ course by course and are still moving, so a general institutional line is not enough. Ask what is permitted for drafts and problem sets specifically, and if the answer is only vague discouragement, ask for it in writing.
What are the add and drop deadlines, and how would dropping affect my funding or status?
Why ask it
The academic deadline and the financial one are usually different dates, and falling below full-time enrollment can affect aid, insurance, or a visa. Confirm this with the registrar or an adviser rather than the instructor, who will not know your particular case.
Who else teaches this course, and how different are the sections?
Why ask it
Sections sharing a course code can differ by ten hours of work a week while carrying identical credit. Asking about the alternatives is not disloyal, and former students will tell you plainly which one they would pick again.
What did last year's students complain about most?
Why ask it
Complaints tell you more than praise, because praise is usually about personality while complaints are usually about structure. If the instructor can name the complaint and say what they changed in response, that is a good sign about the whole term.
What do the students who do well in here do differently?
Why ask it
The answer is usually specific and slightly unexpected: they read before the session rather than after, they show up at office hours in week two, they start the project a month early. It is also an easy question for a busy instructor to answer well.
If I could only take one of two courses this term, why this one?
Why ask it
This asks for an honest pitch, and it often produces a recommendation to take the other one first. Instructors know where their course sits in a sequence, and the ones who tell you to wait a term are generally right about it.
What would you want me to have looked at before the first session?
Why ask it
Preparation advice is worth far more in August than in week one. Sometimes it is one chapter, sometimes it is installing something awkward, and sometimes the honest answer is nothing at all, which is also useful to have confirmed.
How to check out a course before you commit
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Ask the right person
Split the list by source
Instructors can tell you the grading structure, the policies, and what to prepare. Former students know the real hours and where people fall behind. Advisers own the drop deadlines and the credit implications. Ask the wrong person and you get a confident wrong answer.
Read the syllabus before you email
Much of this is already in a document that is often public or available on request. Asking about something clearly stated in it spends goodwill you may want later, when you need a deadline moved.
Plan around the heaviest week, not the average
Weekly averages hide the fact that three courses can peak in the same fortnight. Put every assessment date for your whole term on one calendar before you register, and look at the clusters.
Get the full cost, not the book price
Access codes, lab and studio fees, software licences, printing, and a required trip can together exceed the textbook. Ask for a total, and ask what the library holds on reserve.
Where to look besides the instructor
- Two students from the year above who disagree with each other about the course.
- The syllabus from a previous term, often available by asking the department office.
- Teaching assistants, who know precisely which assignment causes the pile-up.
- Departmental course listings, which sometimes publish past grade distributions.
- The library catalogue, to see whether the required text is on reserve.
- Your adviser, for how this course interacts with requirements and funding.
Common pitfalls
Choosing on the timetable alone
A convenient slot is a poor trade for a course whose entire grade rests on one exam format you handle badly. Look at the assessment structure first and the schedule second.
Trusting an overall rating number
A single score blends personality with workload and tells you neither. The repeated specific complaints in the written comments are where the usable information sits.
Assuming the easier section is the same course
Two sections can share a code and differ by a whole grade band. Ask who teaches which, and whether the final exam is common across sections or written separately.
Leaving it until the first week of term
Registration and add-drop windows close quickly, and instructors are least able to reply once teaching starts. Ask before registration opens, when a considered answer is still possible.
Emailing the instructor beforehand
- Keep it short: say you are considering the course, describe your background in one sentence, ask three questions at most.
- Lead with what only they can answer, usually the grading breakdown or which prerequisite skills get used.
- Ask for last term's syllabus rather than a description of the content.
- Close with what to read or install beforehand, which is quick for them and useful for you.
- Take the drop deadlines and the funding questions to an adviser instead, in a separate message.