How to choose optional courses

Step 1: Use PATH to explore your optional course choices (recommended)

PATH is the easiest and most student-friendly way to research optional courses and should be your starting point.

Access PATH (MyEd login required)

Using PATH, you can:

• Search for optional courses using helpful filters (subject, semester, level, credits)
• See a visual overview of how courses could fit into your programme
• Understand how your choices may act as pre-requisites for future courses
• Explore how your selections may influence your later years of study
• Generate a draft, simulated timetable to help you plan

Important: PATH is a planning tool only.
Your course selections in PATH are not sent to your School. You must still follow the instructions provided in your School emails to formally submit your choices.

Step 2: Confirm your degree rules using DRPS

While PATH is the easiest tool to use, DRPS (Degree Regulations and Programmes of Study) is the official source for programme and course regulations.

Degree Regulations and Programmes of Study (DRPS)

Use DRPS to:

• Confirm which School your degree programme belongs to
• Check how many optional course credits you must take

Once you have located your degree programme in DRPS:

1. Under the Year 1 section
2. Review the list of compulsory courses
3. Read the course options section underneath
   This section explains how many credits you must choose as optional courses and where those options can be selected from

Step 3: Understand Schedules in DRPS

You may be directed to choose courses from one or more Schedules in the DRPS Course Catalogue.

• A Schedule is a list of courses offered by a School or subject area
• Schedules are labelled with letters (e.g. Schedule A, B, or C)
• These letters allow cross-referencing from the individual degree programme table

When you select a School or Schedule:

1. You will first see a list of degree programmes
2. Select the programme you wish to choose a course from
3. You will then see all courses available to that programme within that Schedule

Step 4: Check key course details (PATH or DRPS)

Whether you are using PATH or DRPS, always check:

• The course level
  • SCQF Level 8 = first-year undergraduate
  • SCQF Level 11 = postgraduate
• Which semester the course runs in
• Any entry requirements (pre-requisites)
  (e.g. prior courses or restrictions to specific degree programmes)
• How the course is taught and assessed
  (coursework, exams, or a combination)

Student’s Guide to the DRPS

Step 5: Deadlines/Questions 

If you have questions about a specific course:

• Open the course page in DRPS
• Use the listed email contact for:
  • The Course Organiser, or
  • The Course Secretary

They can advise on course content, expectations, and suitability.

Your School will contact you before you start (some time from mid-August) with detailed information on your next steps to register/enrol on your chosen courses. It is very important to follow their instructions carefully and submit your choices before the deadline that they provide. Missing this deadline will mean that you will likely not get your first choice of course.  

You will be unable to see a Timetable for any course within DRPS until closer to the start of teaching. It is important to consider if there will be any clashes with your core courses and there are other helpful tools to help you.  

Access your Course Timetable Browser (MyEd login) 

Course Timetable Browser shows you a number of possible timetables and acts as an aid to plan classes and courses. It lets you explore and generate a timetable so you can see how courses will fit together and what each day will look like. 

Tips for navigating Course Timetable Browser: 

• Search for your compulsory 'core' courses first as these will be set in the schedule from July onwards
• You can then add in any potential optional courses and view how this would look on this simulated timetable (courses will show in different colours)
• If you open course information on the timetable, it will bring you back to the DRPS  

Course Timetable Browser is a simulation only and your optional courses will only be confirmed when you start with your School.