Prospective waterloo student -- failed courses?

[daemonic9]

I was reading through stuff on waterloo's website and noticed this: http://ugradcalendar.uwaterloo.ca/page/MATH-Math-Faculty-Policies#courseload
Specifically, where it mentions what happens in the term after a student's 1A term.
So this means if I fail a first semester class I will have less classes next term? Or does it mean that if I fail a second semester class then I'll have less classes next semester?

This is making first semester sound kinda stressful :/.

[DemonWasp]

I think the idea of that policy is to help students who find themselves over their head the instant they show up at university (which is more common than you'd think).

This only applies to the term immediately following the 1A term, so it means that if you fail courses in 1A then you will be required to take a lighter courseload in 1B. The idea is that by having less work, you can focus more, pass all your courses, and then you'll be ready to take more courses in the future.

This doesn't apply to later terms, so even if you fail a bunch of courses in 1A and only get to take a few in 1B, you can go back to a full courseload (if you want!) in 2A. Be aware that there's a maximum number of failures before you face consequences (such as dropping down to a General degree rather than Honours, though that's not the only one).

Personally, I found that 5 courses in a term is a lot of work, and I was always happier in the terms where I was taking 3-4 courses anyway. One strategy that UWaterloo actually supports is this:

Start the term with 5 courses, attend 2-3 weeks of class, then choose 3-4 courses to keep and drop the other two (BEFORE the first drop date; check the Important Dates section on the UWaterloo website). You'll get a full refund for the courses you drop, and there's no academic penalty. You can evaluate which professors and courses suit you better, then get out of the ones that don't.