5 Allocate+ tips most students miss

Not all universities use the same enrolment model. Some run FIFS (first-come first-served), where the fastest clicker wins. Others - including USYD - use preference-based allocation, where you rank your preferred class times and the system allocates based on your rankings after a processing window closes.

This distinction matters more than most students realise. At FIFS universities like UTS and Macquarie, being online the moment enrolment opens is a real advantage. Popular tutorial times fill in minutes. If you have not already decided which classes you want - with backups ready - you will be left choosing from whatever remains.

At preference-based universities, the calculus is completely different. There is no benefit to clicking fast. What matters is ranking thoughtfully - making sure your acceptable options are all ranked, not just your top choice.

At UTS, USYD and ANU, Smoov can pull your classes straight out of Allocate+ rather than you entering everything by hand. Read the step-by-step importing guide for full instructions for your specific university.

1. 1In Smoov, choose Import from Allocate+ and copy the script it gives you.
2. 2Run the script in your browser console on your Allocate+ page, then paste what it returns back into Smoov.
3. 3Your subjects and class options load instantly - times, types, and all available groups - ready for optimisation.
4. 4No manual entry, no typos, no missing time slots that only show up later.

If you're at UTS, import works now. At UNSW (which uses myUNSW, not Allocate+) or anywhere else without import, you type your classes in. Your university's page has the specific steps.

Allocate+ shows class availability in real time during FIFS rounds, but the numbers move fast. Before you build your timetable plan, screenshot or note down which class groups are actually available.

There's no point optimising around a tutorial that fills before you get there. If you're using preference mode, availability is less urgent - but it's still worth knowing which options are oversubscribed heading into the allocation window. An oversubscribed class in preference mode does not mean you will not get it - allocation factors in everyone's rankings - but it does mean your lower-ranked preferences matter more as a fallback.

A quick availability check also tells you which tutorial times are genuinely popular. Popular times are popular for a reason - they tend to be the good ones. If a 10am Wednesday tutorial filled immediately and an 8am Monday one still has 20 spots, that is useful signal about which option is worth fighting for.

In preference mode, skipping a preference ranking for one activity can leave the system to allocate you whatever's left.

Even if you have a strong preference for just one or two time slots, fill out rankings for the full list. A lower-ranked option you're okay with beats a random assignment from the system. And random assignments tend to cluster in the slots nobody wanted - which are usually the early mornings and late Fridays that filled last.

Think of it this way: ranking every option takes five extra minutes. Getting assigned an 8am Friday lab because you did not rank it at all costs you every Friday morning for 13 weeks.

Beyond the tips above, a few patterns show up repeatedly:

• Treating FIFS like preference mode and vice versa. Students at preference unis stress-refreshing on enrolment day for no benefit; students at FIFS unis calmly ranking options while their preferred tutorials fill.
• Only checking the first page of available classes. Allocate+ often paginates results, and the later pages can include later-opening spots or classes on satellite campuses.
• Not accounting for clash detection. Allocate+ may warn you about clashes but some configurations slip through, especially for back-to-back classes on different campuses that require travel time.
• Treating each subject in isolation. More on this below.

In FIFS mode, your preferred tutorial filled before you got there. In preference mode, you were allocated your third or fourth choice. Either way, the plan you built is now invalid. Here is how to approach it:

First, do not assume the situation is fixed. In FIFS mode, spots open throughout the first two weeks of semester as students adjust their enrolments. Set a reminder to check back two or three times in the week after results come out. Many students get their preferred option through a second check rather than the initial enrolment window.

Second, rebuild your timetable plan from the new starting point. Do not try to salvage the old plan by working around one bad class. Feed your updated available options back into Smoov and regenerate - the solver will find the best combinations from what is actually available, not what you originally hoped for.

The biggest mistake students make is picking the best time for each subject independently. That ignores how they interact.

• The 10am Tuesday tutorial that looks great in isolation might clash with your Monday lecture running late.
• It might create a dead two-hour gap, or mean four consecutive campus days.
• Two subjects that both have good individual options might combine into a terrible week when placed together.
• Smoov evaluates combinations across all your subjects at once, so you see how each schedule actually stacks up as a week - not just as individual selections.

This is the core reason timetable optimisation is worth doing properly. The combinatorial space is large enough that human intuition consistently misses better options. Running the numbers across all subjects simultaneously surfaces combinations that would never be obvious from a subject-by-subject approach.