We study at the University of USA
In a previous article, I wrote about how they enter American universities, now I will tell about the study itself. Education is very different from the methods of Russian universities. I want to talk about how subjects and teachers are selected, take tests and sometimes write off.
Item selection
After admission, the student is given a list of subjects that must be passed to obtain a specialty.
This list contains both compulsory and optional subjects. The choice is limited to a given subject area, and the student himself will decide what is more interesting to him.
Each item includes several difficulty levels - this is the first digit in the designation of the item. For example, Computer Science, CS110 and CS 213. 110 is an introductory course (most often for those who have not decided who he wants to become) and CS213 is more complicated, already for those who have chosen this profession as a profession. I hasten to note that the course number of the subject at different universities is likely to be different. When transferring from one university to another, they look at special correspondence lists and the name of the subject itself, and not just its number.
(you can see larger if you click on the picture)
Within 4 years (usually it takes so much time for an average student to complete a bachelor's degree) a student goes through different levels of compulsory subjects, starting from the 100th (simple) and ending with the level of 400-500. As for selected subjects, they are designated in the curriculum as a group.
For example, for the bachelor of Computer Science, you need to pass 2 subjects from the Behavioral Science group . The group includes psychology, sociology, philosophy, etc. And here is freedom of choice. Do not like philosophy? take two classes in psychology.
“Announce the entire list, please!”
There are catalogs of subjects, most often in electronic form on the university’s internal website. Naturally, there are dependencies ( "prerequisites" ) of objects, i.e. Before rushing to Computer Science 354, you will have to go through CS254, MATH218 (matan), PHYS338 (physics). In this case, you need to get an assessment of at least C for each subject, which is equivalent to a triple with a minus.
Registration for classes takes place naturally electronically.
Credit system
Each item has a certain amount of credits. They are given by the number of hours / lectures (laboratory) per week. For example, 3 credits indicate that the subject lasts three lecture hours. Such subjects as biology, chemistry, physics most often consist of three lecture hours = 3 credits and 3 laboratory hours = 1 credit. The rating is set for the subject: 70-75% lecture part and 25-30% for the forehead. If the student fills only the lab and passes the lecture part, the subject is still littered and must be sorted out. In such cases, universities sometimes divide labs and lectures into two separate classes, BUT it is necessary to register and pass them always within one semester. Here the difference is only in the assessment, it is calculated and set separately from the lecture.
Benefits of item selection
The student can make a schedule for himself and choose all subjects either on Wednesdays and Fridays, or on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or whatever he wants. Often items are duplicated in the evenings, it is very convenient if you need to work in the morning.
Another big plus is the ability to choose a teacher. The lighter the level of the subject, the more teachers are led at different times.
There is a website www.ratemyprofessor.com where students write reviews of teachers. Naturally, like many others, I first looked in there and chose teachers. A very useful resource!
Items can be taken at different universities. We had a terrible physics teacher at the university, so I studied it in a nearby college, and then I simply transferred the grade to the “native” university (with a transcript about them in the previous article ).
Specialized Universities
Studying at professional universities is very different. Here you can no longer choose objects and their number per semester. Here everything is chosen for you and the blockage of one subject per semester leaves you in the second year since they are not repeated. At our university, every subject during the semester consists of a lecture, and 2-5 (approximately) tests (control). If you add the number of subjects (6-7 per semester) and the number of tests, it turns out that we pass 2-3 tests per week. Skip the test or reschedule it only with medical help.
Tests
Many (including myself) argue about what is better, a test system for testing knowledge or a classic exam with tickets. I do not know the answer so far. I’ll tell you how the usual test goes. For a semester there can be from 2 to 5 tests plus the final (exam). The final test may cover material for the entire semester or only new material that has been completed since the last test.
There are all kinds of questions: with answer options, questions that need to be answered in a free form, or all together. As for the free questions, I think everything is clear - write the answer in your own words. It all depends on the teacher who checks. He / she can look at the general answer, or look for keywords and evaluate you by whether the student described all the key points in the answer. The answer options are simple, where the question and 4-5 answers (multiple choice ). The most difficult ones are “K-type” :
Example of a K-type question:
How is karma taken into account?
I publish a new habratopik on my personal blog: karma ≥5
II increase / decrease the karma of another user: karma> 5
III comment without restriction “1 comment in 5 minutes”: karma> 0
- Only i
- Only III
- I and II but not III
- II and III but not I
- I, II, III
Questions most often include several sections of material that need to be analyzed, put together several pieces of learned information and answer, and not just remember a paragraph from a textbook.
“So what?” Many will think, or “what's so complicated?” The complex begins with the realization that the TEST IS NOT POSSIBLE .
“What really, really?” Honestly, over the years of my studies I have not heard of a single case of retake. The test is taken once and everyone gets what they deserve. The ballroom system has already been described (link)
Then the question is, what should I do if I received F (fail) in a subject for a semester, in other words, I failed? Then the item can be taken a second time. BUT! We have to put up with the following:
- Tuition is paid. The subject can cost from $ 600 to several thousand - it all depends on the university. Well ... suppose this is not a problem for some ... Then another problem arises
- A record of this assessment will remain with the student for 8-10 years. At first glance, what’s the difference? In America, they are often transferred from university to university. For example, you get a bachelor in one university, then you go to a more prestigious university, say, to a master. Or simply the desired specialty was not found in your university, but in the neighboring one. Upon translation, the university sends a transcript - a document with all the grades. Bad grades will also be there and they will be looked at first.
Cheating
This is strict here. I won’t lie, you can write off and some succeeded (I also succeeded), BUT! it is not worth it. To write off during the exam (on the test or control) is one thing, another thing is plagiarism. Cheating during the test may end:
- class obstruction (at best)
- deduction from the university with recording in a private matter (worst case).
What is it? Fortunately, I don’t know the worst option, but I’ve heard that they’re not taken to other universities. This can mean practically a cross on a career.
Plagiarism
This is more serious. There is a website www.turnitin.com . There, each student at the request of the teacher must register. For example, a student wrote a review of an article. The teacher requires you to upload a document to this site. The site checks all databases (all articles and all works that have ever been downloaded through this site or published on other sites, in other magazines, etc.) and issue a report within a few minutes or hours. And there is the percentage of cheating, and each sentence that is at least somehow similar to someone else's offer is highlighted in different colors. Naturally, if someone took and charmingly used their favorite copy / paste buttons, the report will be appropriate. And an important detail - the report immediately goes to the teacher. The student, for frequent, will see this report together with the mark for work.
Well, and if I use someone else's article and just replace the words with synonyms, then what? Will not pass! System developers are no fools either. Remember the school wrote the presentation, only articles and abstracts are written on this basis.
This system is not the only one and often teachers can not say whether they use such checks. There was a case, two works written off from mine were revealed by the teacher in one evening, provided that she submitted more than 60 articles, each of 3-4 pages.
The consequences are the same as during cheating during the test - up to deduction.
Finals - Session
The hottest time. All "finals" ( final test ) pass within one week . Yes, only five days. In one day, a student can have up to three tests with a break of one hour. The exam is only taken when more than 2 drops (if a good teacher) or 3 per day.
In specialized universities, the schedule is compiled individually for the specialty. For example, we had 7 exams in 5 days this semester.
The amount of material in the final tests depends on the teacher. It happens that they ask only new topics that have been covered after the last control (consider yourself lucky), or else the material for the whole semester (well ... got ...).
And lastly, they practically do not give time to prepare for the final tests. 2 - 4 days for all items. For example, on Friday there was the last lecture (on which a new topic was still taking place), and on Monday two exams. By the end of the week, the session will be over. It is on these days that the phrase my blood type is coffee is especially relevant.