Читать книгу How to Succeed At University--International Edition - Danton O'Day - Страница 21

In many aspects university differs greatly from high school; in others it is very similar. In this section we want to give an overview of what you will be up against at university. Later we will get down to details.

The most significant difference between university and high school is the freedom that you have at university. This might seem like a good thing but, as we have seen, it can work against you. For example, since you are free to attend or miss classes at will, you may be tempted to skip them.

Your classes or lectures will often be very impersonal events. You will sit in a large lecture hall listening to an apparently miniscule professor standing in the distance at the front of the classroom lecturing you on topics that were never covered in high school. Except in rare instances, you will not be missed if absent or acknowledged if present. It will be up to you to decide what is important and what is not. It will be up to you to decide whether or not to study; very few professors give unannounced quizzes in the lecture period.

You alone can decide whether or not to do what’s asked. It will be up to you to decide if you should hand in an assignment. It will be your decision whether to attend a lecture, laboratory practical or tutorial session. To the lecturer you will be one of hundreds or thousands of uninspiring first-year faces. It will be up to you whether you remain anonymous or get the most out of your years at university.

Your hours in class will vary with the subjects you have chosen. In each arts subject (English, history, fine arts, etc.) you will have a minimum of two to three hours (depending on the university) of lectures per week. In the sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, etc.) you will have the same lecture periods and you will also have to attend laboratory periods which will range from two to four hours per week. Some disciplines, such as mathematics and computer science, also have tutorials that are designed to give the practical aspects of the subject as well as some individual attention. The number of tutorial hours will also vary from university to university.

Typically students are required to take a number of subjects per academic year, each worth a certain amount of credits, for three or four years to be awarded the Bachelor’s degree. Also, full-year classes tend to be less common with single-semester subjects predominating. Thus depending on your chosen curriculum you will have between ten and thirty hours of class time per week. In disciplines that have few class hours, more outside reading and other assignments are usually required, while in the sciences time will be spent preparing for labs and writing lab reports.

Did You Know?

Nowadays, many students take fewer than the full academic load of credits per year, increasing the time required to complete their degree requirements. It typically takes four to five years for students to complete what is considered a four-year degree. However, that’s the average and it’s not unusual for students to take six or more years to graduate from a four-year programme. As a result, it’s common for students to discuss their progress towards graduation in terms of the number of credits earned as opposed to specific years of study or the amount of time required for completion.

Because of the diversity of university programmes it would be futile to spend any more time giving generalities about what to expect. However, to succeed at university you should spend about twelve hours of work time per class per week. So if you are taking five subjects that means a sixty-hour week, which is longer than a typical workweek. Of course, some students do well with less work and others need more time at the books. Let your grades be your guide. As with anything, the more you work at it, the better things will go. Studying will be covered in more detail in Chapter 5.