GUIDE TO YOUR FIRST Course Selection

PREREQUISITES

HKU’s course selection is special in the sense that you will be choosing your courses for BOTHsemesters at once. So choose wisely and if you plan to major/minor in Language and Communication (LCOM) and/or English Studies (ENGL), make sure you have:

1. a minimum Level 5 in English Language in the HKDSE examination, or an equivalent score;

2. chosen the right courses to fulfill your prerequisite in Year 1:

ENGL: pass at least one introductory ENGL course from List A

LCOM: pass at least one introductory LCOM course from List A

INTERESTS

You might be motivated to choose courses that are known to give you a decent grade, but we highly encourage you to choose according to your interests! On the School of English website, you will have access to course descriptions, assessment methods and assigned texts for each course. Have a read through the web pages and do some research on the texts that you would be studying in the course. Most importantly, make sure that your chosen courses see fit to your preferred style of learning and that you would enjoy yourself studying the texts. After all, how could you handle all the readings and lectures every week if you aren’t even enjoying yourself?

SITES TO VISIT

GOOP

Goop is a discussion forum app that you can download on your phone. You can either start a new discussion post, or search in the search bar to see if HKU students have talked about the courses you are interested in!

REGCOURSE.COM

This site allows university students to comment on their experience in the course. While not all courses can be found on this site (some courses are less popular than the others), it is still a useful tool to grasp a glimpse of the courses offered by the School of English!

ADD/DROP PERIOD

The Add/Drop period happens usually on the first two weeks of classes. In these two weeks, while some professors may start their lectures right away, some will opt for casual housekeeping, talk about the course outline, what they expect of students, etc. You might think this is a good chance to skip classes to catch up on some more beauty sleep. DON’T DO THAT.

The Add/Drop Period is your BEST chance to confirm if those 4–6 courses really are your cup of tea and if you want to spend four months working with the material. If you are having a difficult time choosing among a few courses, you can always “sit in” during the lectures to better help make your judgment. It’s also a great opportunity for you to realize your expectations versus reality, and drop the courses that you don’t actually enjoy. If you are put on the waiting list for a course that you want to take, you can also sit in during a lecture and approach the professor after class. In some cases, they will be able to help you get into the course! Utilize the Add/Drop period wisely and you might as well get a head start into a successful semester.