>>14308744It was fairly chill. I took all the courses my department offered (except one which seemed boring), since the minimum you'd need was laughably little.
Since I didn't go to lectures, I was basically fully free on about half the days in a week and also in the first week of each term. The other days I'd have a deadline for a problem sheet or two on the next day, so I'd just do them, which would take 2-6 hours usually (this includes reading the lecture notes for the subject). Most terms would also have 1-2 weekly 2 hours practical sessions, to which you'd go to write code until you are done and sign off the practical. Due to COVID though, I just did most of those the day before the final practical session, so I can sign them off.
As for the exam period, the way it used to work (they changed it now since it was apparently two difficult for people or sth) is that we had all our exams at the end of the year. Additionally, the exams for all optional subjects would be done at the end of 3rd year (you have to take at least 10 options in 2nd and 3rd year combined). Also in 3rd year you write a project report (which in my case was a more bloated version of this paper). So I wrote the final draft in the vac before Trinity (the last term, when exams are) and then I just prepared for exams during the Trinity in the days before the exam by solving 1-2 past papers and looking through 1-2 more. (I had also done 1-2 past papers per subject while studying it.)
So yeah, overall not too intense, maybe like 20 hours of stuff per week during seven (of eight) term weeks and mostly 0 during vacs, with the exception of the project report. First year and one term of third year were even less work.
