The nominal expectation for a university level course is to spend two hours outside of class for every 50-minute class period. Since many courses meet three days a week, this "rule of thumb" implies nine hours of time spent with the course material. Of course, for some weeks more time is spent studying for an exam, as an example, and some weeks require less time, but on the average nine hours per week is the nominal expectation.

For a fifteen-week semester this amounts to a total of 135 hours. This total includes in-class presentations, working homework problems, getting help, studying for tests, etc. And in addition, there is the "sixteenth week" studying for and sitting the final exam!

Some Distance Education students wait for several weeks after the semester begins to start their study for a given course. This can create some insurmountable problems. The following table gives the average hours/week required to obtain the 135 hr total.

wait (weeks)	weeks left	hours/week
	19	7.1
	18	7.5
	17	7.9
	16	8.4
	15	9.0
1	14	9.6
2	13	10.4
3	12	11.3
4	11	12.3
5	10	13.5
6	9	15.0
7	8	16.9
8	7	19.3
9	6	22.5
10	5	27.0
11	4	33.8
12	3	45.0

And this does not even address the fact that some students need more than the nominal time to achieve success.

This also does not address the fact that a Distance Education course may need extra real time for homework to be submitted via mail, graded, and returned and tests mailed to your proctor, etc. That is, just because you may be able to study 45 hrs per week, does not mean that the course can be completed in three weeks because of the time involved in submitting and receiving materials via the US Postal Service.

Concepts in mathematics tends to build on the mastery of earlier concepts. Thus success in mathematics tends to require extended real time. That is, the same study time spread over a longer period tends to be more effective than concentrated in a few weeks.

Note, it is possible to utilize more than the nominal fifteen-week semester. The on-campus spring semester is actually 16 weeks in length because a week is taken up with spring break. By registering early and starting work on a course even before the semester officially begins, you can gain one, two, or three additional weeks.

A wise student will plan his or her course of study to finish somewhat early in case there is an unanticipated last minute crisis or delay!