Covering a Syllabus After Losing Two Weeks
A college lecturer teaching a 12-week, 48-lecture course in a science subject loses two full weeks (8 lectures) to unscheduled closures. The syllabus has 10 units; Units 1–6 are foundational and each later unit depends on the one before. Unit 10 carries 20% of the final marks but is largely descriptive; Units 1–6 together carry 55%. The final examination is centrally set and will cover all 10 units. The lecturer has 40 lectures left, no extra hours, and a class of 55 students, 12 of whom are already struggling with Unit 3. There is one mid-term test at week 8 worth 20% and a final at week 12 worth 80%.
1. How should the lecturer reallocate the remaining 40 lectures across the 10 units? Show the arithmetic.
Read the worked answer
Preserve the dependency chain first, then allocate by marks and risk.
Baseline: 48 lectures for 10 units ≈ 4.8 each. After losing 8, 40 lectures remain - a 17% cut.
Priority rule: Units 1–6 must be taught in full because each depends on the previous; skipping Unit 3 would break Units 4–6. So protect 6 units at roughly 4 lectures each = 24 lectures. Unit 10 (20% of marks, descriptive) gets 4 lectures - self-study-friendly but not skipped. That leaves 40 − 28 = 12 lectures for Units 7–9, i.e. 4 each.
Result: Units 1–6: 4 each (24). Units 7–9: 4 each (12). Unit 10: 4. Total 40.
Adjustment for the 12 struggling students: Give Unit 3 five lectures (one extra) and trim Unit 10 to three, since its content is descriptive and can be covered by a structured reading guide. New total still 40.
2. The mid-term at week 8 covers Units 1–5. How should the lecturer use its result without letting it derail the remaining schedule?
Read the worked answer
Use the mid-term diagnostically, not just summatively.
Design: Weight it toward Unit 3 and its prerequisites so it tests the dependency chain, not isolated recall.
Decision rule set in advance: If more than 15 of 55 students (about 27%) score below 40% on the Unit 3 items, insert one remedial lecture in week 9, paid for by cutting one Unit 10 lecture to two and relying on the reading guide. If fewer than 15 fall below 40%, proceed as planned and offer the 12 struggling students a single after-class session instead of a lecture slot.
Why this works: The threshold is fixed before the results are seen, so the decision is not driven by anxiety. The remedial cost is drawn from the least exam-critical unit, preserving the dependency chain. The mid-term's 20% weight still counts toward the final grade, so students take it seriously.