Understanding the Timetable
With the subject registration comes the option to take additionals, electives, and breadths. But an important thing to look out for is time slot clashes. It would seem very confusing with time slots like A3, B4, R2-D2, and E-MC(2). So in this article, we will understand the flow of time in KGP.
Central Time Table
This is the most important file for making sense of time slots. It can be found in ERP at Academic > Time Table > Central Timetable {Academic Year} {Semester}. Once downloaded, you will encounter this madness.
The table uses the following conventions:
- Starts with an alphabet
- Followed by the number of hours in the table slot per week (Not applicable to Labs)
- Lab slots are three hours long and just have a single alphabet
- When the slot is split over several days, the parentheses include the number of hours in that slot that will be taken up that session.
Ex: C3(2,3): 3 signifies there will be 3 hours for that week and (2,3) represents the second and third hours of the time slot.
So where is the remaining one hour in the above example? It would be where C3(1) is, that is on Monday from 10:00 am to 10:55 am.
Following the Time Table Slot Matrix, there are tables of common subjects and breadths for each year. Here is one such table:
Each row corresponds to a department and each column represents a timetable slot. The number beside some courses represents the section for the course. (Look at EX B3). The cells with B, HSS, and M are slots that are open for Breadth, Humanities, and Management Breadth respectively. However, you are not restricted to just the above slots. More on this later.
More detailed information regarding the sections can be found in the next section titled “Slot Allocations For Common Subjects Of Second, Third And Fourth Year”. Here, you’ll find a table for each of the common courses. It shows the section number for each department, the strength of the section, and the time slot.
Finding Free Slots
By now, you know how the Central Time Table is structured, but when do you actually have your core classes and when do you have free slots for additionals? Again, this information can be found in ERP at Academics > Time Table > Subject List With Time Table Slots. Here you have to select the department providing the course you are taking. From the list shown, you can find out the slots corresponding to the course. Here’s an example for the Electrical Engineering department.
Now, knowing the slots that are occupied, you are free to select a breadth, an elective, HSS, Management Breadth, or an Additional, in non-contradictory time slots (free slots).
