Course Workload Estimator
Enter a course's weekly reading, its writing assignments, exams and class meetings, and get an estimate of the hours per week it asks of a student — built on the reading and writing rates of the Course Workload Estimator from Rice University's Center for Teaching Excellence. Free, no sign-up.
Reading
Writing
Exams and other work
Class meetings
Estimated workload
10.1
Total hours per week
7.6
Out of class
2.5
In class
Rates used: 18 pages per hour and 2 hours per written page.
Breakdown
| Part | Hours per week | Hours per term |
|---|---|---|
| Reading | 3.33 | 50 |
| Writing | 2.67 | 40 |
| Exam study | 0.8 | 12 |
| Other assignments | 0.8 | 12 |
| Class meetings | 2.5 | 37.5 |
How to Use the Course Workload Estimator
- 1. Enter the term length. Most semesters run about 15 weeks; use your own calendar so term-long work is spread across the right number of weeks.
- 2. Describe the reading. Enter the pages per week, then choose the page density, how many new concepts the text brings, and why students read it. Add your own pages-per-hour rate if you know it.
- 3. Describe the writing. Enter the total pages of writing due in the term, the page density, the genre and how much drafting is expected.
- 4. Add exams, other work and class time. Enter the number of exams and the study hours for each, any other assignments with their hours, and the class meetings per week with their length.
- 5. Read the estimate. You get total hours per week, split into time out of class and in class, with a breakdown by week and by term.
How the Estimate Works
The calculator implements the Course Workload Estimator that Elizabeth Barre and Justin Esarey built at Rice University's Center for Teaching Excellence in 2016 and later extended with Allen Brown at Wake Forest University. Weekly reading is divided by a reading rate; term-long writing, exam study and other assignments are spread across the weeks; class time is added on top:
Hours per week = reading pages ÷ pages per hour + (written pages × hours per page + exams × study hours + assignments × hours each) ÷ weeks + meetings × hours per meeting
Reading rates in pages per hour
| Purpose and difficulty | 450 words (paperback) | 600 words (monograph) | 750 words (textbook) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Survey, no new concepts | 67 | 50 | 40 |
| Survey, some new concepts | 47 | 35 | 28 |
| Survey, many new concepts | 33 | 25 | 20 |
| Understand, no new concepts | 33 | 25 | 20 |
| Understand, some new concepts | 24 | 18 | 14 |
| Understand, many new concepts | 17 | 13 | 10 |
| Engage, no new concepts | 17 | 13 | 10 |
| Engage, some new concepts | 12 | 9 | 7 |
| Engage, many new concepts | 9 | 7 | 5 |
Based on reading speeds of 500, 350 and 250 words per minute to survey, 250, 180 and 130 to understand, and 130, 90 and 65 to engage, as the estimator's authors set them from the reading research.
Writing rates in hours per page
| Genre and drafting | 250 words (double-spaced) | 500 words (single-spaced) |
|---|---|---|
| Reflection or narrative, no drafting | 0.75 | 1.5 |
| Reflection or narrative, minimal drafting | 1 | 2 |
| Reflection or narrative, extensive drafting | 1.25 | 2.5 |
| Argument, no drafting | 1.5 | 3 |
| Argument, minimal drafting | 2 | 4 |
| Argument, extensive drafting | 2.5 | 5 |
| Research, no drafting | 3 | 6 |
| Research, minimal drafting | 4 | 8 |
| Research, extensive drafting | 5 | 10 |
The authors call these rates far more speculative than the reading rates: they extrapolate from one study in which 493 students reported spending 9 to 15 hours on a 1,500-word essay.
Worked Example
A 15-week course assigns 60 pages a week of monograph-style reading (600 words a page) with some new concepts, read to understand. At 18 pages an hour that is 3.33 hours a week. Twenty pages of argument essays with minimal drafting take 2 hours a page — 40 hours over the term, or 2.67 a week. Two exams with 6 hours of study each add 0.8, four other assignments of 3 hours add 0.8, and two 75-minute class meetings add 2.5.
The total is 10.1 hours a week: 7.6 out of class and 2.5 in class, or 151.5 hours over the term. For comparison, the US federal definition of a credit hour assumes at least one hour of instruction and two hours of out-of-class work per credit each week for about 15 weeks (34 CFR 600.2) — roughly 9 hours a week for a 3-credit course.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How many hours a week should a college class take?
- The US federal credit-hour definition assumes about three hours per credit each week — at least one in class and two outside — so a 3-credit course implies roughly 9 hours a week. The estimator shows how close a syllabus's actual reading and writing come to that.
- How long does it take to read one page?
- It depends on the page and the purpose. For a 600-word page, the estimator assumes 50 pages an hour when skimming familiar material and 7 an hour when engaging closely with a text full of new concepts — from just over a minute to more than eight minutes a page.
- How long does it take to write a page?
- The estimator's rates run from 45 minutes for a double-spaced page of reflection with no drafting to 5 hours for a double-spaced page of research writing with extensive drafting. A single-spaced page holds twice the words and is assumed to take twice as long.
- Where do the reading and writing rates come from?
- From the Course Workload Estimator by Elizabeth Barre and Justin Esarey at Rice University's Center for Teaching Excellence. The reading rates draw on decades of reading research; the writing rates extrapolate from a single study of 493 students, and the authors label them speculative.
- Can I use my own reading or writing speed?
- Yes. Type your pages per hour or hours per written page in the optional boxes and the estimate uses them instead of the tables. Leave the boxes blank to use the published rates.
- Is the estimate an exact measure of my workload?
- No — it is an estimate built on average rates. Students read and write at very different speeds, and the result leaves out anything you do not enter, such as labs or group meetings. Use it to compare courses or plan a week, not as a measurement.