The following tips, originally posted at the Studentawards Forum, were contributed by students in our membership.

Q. Do universities care whether you took a spare in grade 12? I’m currently taking 8 courses, but it’s just too stressful. I want to drop [a course] which I don’t really need for university but then I’m afraid that they will think I’m just lazy, and pick someone who took 8 courses over me. (Posted by: xugengyu )

A. [Universities] don’t care about whether you take a spare or not, all they care about is your top 6 U/M marks. (Posted by: Joshki)

Take the spare. Universities do not really care about that. And for you, it will relieve stress, may help with studying and grades, and for me…it gave me time to fill out scholarships and applications. (Posted by: Emlily)

Q. It’s almost midterms and I’m doing really badly in grade 12 physics. Should I drop the course and will it affect my transcript? (Posted by: Chelleee)

I currently have a full 8 course load, with 7 of them being U level courses. My question is, will dropping [a course] look bad on my record? I’d like to drop it because I don’t need it for any of the programs I’m interested in, and I feel that if I keep it, my other course grades (which I do need) will suffer. (Posted by Jagxyz)

A. If you can’t keep up with the workload and don’t need that course, feel free to drop it. There is no guilt in that, unless you drop it after full disclosure day when your up-to-date mark appears on your transcript. (Posted by: superstar2011)

If you do decide to drop [a course], do it before the OUAC drop date (early-Nov) so it does not show up on your transcript as a dropped course. (Posted by: Meridian)

Take only 3 courses each semester … you need the extra time to do well in your top 6. I took 3 each semester and it was the smartest thing I have ever done. (Posted by FutureEng)

I only did 6 grade 12 courses towards my top 6. You may still want to plan for 7 in case you totally burn a subject … Start with all 4 and you can always drop [one] if you are having trouble. (Posted by: Meridian)

It’s a good idea to take at least 7 courses in grade 12 because you should have one back up course in case you end up screwing up a mark in a more challenging course. (Posted by emcee0)

I agree strongly with this, but you should keep in mind that the 7th course is not going to save you from screwing up in a mandatory course such as English. (Posted by: superstar2011)

It is better to take 6 courses and get relatively high marks than taking 7-8 and getting mediocre marks, unless you really wish to have that safety net. (Posted by: heesoup)

The only disadvantage of taking 6 courses is that all 6 will be used in your admission average calculation, so you have no “back ups” to fall back on if you end up not doing so well in 1+ of the 6 courses you’re taking. (Posted by: cyynthiia)