Graduate students have much the same reaction as they make the transition from undergraduate life. A typical full-time course load is 9 hours. This means less time spent in class, but the demands of a graduate course are much greater than those of an undergraduate one, and students might spend three or four hours of preparation for every hour in class. A masters student typically completes a specified set of courses in the first year or so, and then spends time working on a research project with an individual faculty member. The entire process may take two years, perhaps three.
Some schools allow a written exam plus a scholarly paper to substitute for the research project.
The Ph.D. student follows a similar track, perhaps taking some required courses and a written exam. There may be a foreign language exam as well. The student then completes the thesis research, writes it up, and has an oral defense. The matchmaking of students to thesis advisors is a rather informal process. The student needs some initiative in order to seek out an advisor with compatible ideas and working style.