Plan
Choose courses
The process of choosing courses can be slightly different for everyone. The amount of flexibility you have depends on your program's requirements.
Academic resources to get you started
Log in to see your program and course requirements, and other helpful information just for you.
Understanding courses
When you look at your courses for the first time, there are a few things you need to know. The following advice can guide you:
Course codes
Every course is given a code, made up of four letters and four numbers.
The four letters are an abbreviation of the academic discipline, while the four numbers are used to uniquely identify the course.
First-year undergraduate students normally only enrol in courses that begin with a '1' – these are at the right level for new students.
Postgraduate courses usually begin with a '6', '7' or '8' and programs might offer a mix of different course levels.
Course levels
The first number in a course code indicates the level of the course and how difficult it might be:
Compulsory and elective courses
Most programs will have compulsory courses and elective (free choice) courses. The amount of flexibility you have when choosing courses depends on:
- your program requirements, and
- the number of compulsory courses you have to complete.
Check your program requirements for more information.
Prerequisite and incompatible courses
You can’t enrol in a course if you haven’t passed its prerequisites, or if you've studied an incompatible course:
Check each course to see if it has any prerequisites, companions or incompatibles.
Full time or part time
The number of units you enrol in each semester determines whether you are full time or part time. Here's what you need to know:
Have a look at each course to see its unit value.
How long do I have to complete my program?
How can we help?
Need a hand choosing courses? No worries:
starting@uq.edu.au Contact Student CentralRead more on my.UQ
Report any problems you experience with the Starting at UQ website.