Studying at the University of the USA

In the previous article I wrote about how they enter American universities, now I’ll tell you about the study itself. Education is very different from the methods of Russian universities. I want to talk about how to choose subjects and teachers, take tests and sometimes write off.

Item selection

After admission, the student is given a list of items that need to go to get a specialty.
This list contains both compulsory and optional items. The choice is limited to a given subject area, and the student himself will decide that he is more interested.
Each item includes several levels of difficulty - this is the first figure in the designation of the subject. 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 specialty as a profession. I hasten to note that the course number for the subject in different universities is likely to be different. When transferring from one university to another, they look at special correspondence lists and at the very name of the subject, and not just at its number.
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(you can look larger if you click on the picture)

During 4 years (usually so much time the average student needs to complete a bachelor’s degree) a student goes through different levels of compulsory subjects, starting with the 100th (simple) level and ending with a level of 400-500. As for selective 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 group “Behavioral Science” . The group includes psychology, sociology, philosophy, etc. And here freedom of choice. Do not like philosophy? Take two classes in psychology.

“Announce the entire list, pzhalsta!”

There are catalogs of items, most often in electronic form on the internal website of the university. Naturally, there are dependencies ( "prerequisites" ) of objects, i.e. before rushing to Computer Science 354, you have to go through CS254, MATH218 (mat), PHYS338 (physics). In this case, it is necessary to obtain an estimate for each subject not lower than C, 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 mean 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. Appraisal is set for the item: 70-75% of the lecture part and 25-30% for the lab. If a student only collapses the lab and goes through 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, they must always be registered and passed within one semester. Here the difference is only in the assessment, it is calculated and set separately from the lecture.

The benefits of selecting items

The student can make his own schedule and select all the items either on Wednesdays and Fridays, or on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or as 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 choice of a teacher. The easier the subject is, the more teachers lead it at different times.
There is a website www.ratemyprofessor.com , where students write teacher reviews. Naturally, like many others, I first looked in there and chose teachers. Very useful resource!



Subjects can be taken at different universities. We had a terrible professor in physics at the university, so I studied it at a nearby college, and then simply transferred my assessment to my “native” university (in a transcript, about them in the previous article ).

Profile universities

Studying in professional universities is very different. There is no longer possible to choose subjects and their number per semester. Here everything is chosen for you and the obstruction of one subject per semester leaves you for the second year since they are not repeated. In our university, each subject during the semester consists of a lecture, and 2-5 (approximately) tests (controls). If you add up the number of subjects (6-7 per semester) and the number of tests, it turns out that we take 2-3 tests per week. Skip the test or transfer to another time only with a certificate from the doctor.

Tests

Many (including me) argue about what is better, a test knowledge test system or a classic exam with tickets. I do not know the answer so far. I'll tell you how the usual test passes. For a semester there can be from 2 to 5 tests plus a final (exam). The final test may cover material for the entire semester or only new material that has been passed since the last test.
All sorts of questions are different: with answers, questions that must be answered in a free form, or all together. As for free questions, I think everything is clear here - 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 according to whether the student has described all the key points in the answer. Variants of answers are simple, where a question and 4-5 answers ( multiple choice ). The most difficult - "K-type" :
Example K-type question:

How is karma counted?
I post a new habratopic in a personal blog: karma ≥5
II increase / decrease the karma of another user: karma> 5
III comment unlimited "1 comment in 5 minutes": karma> 0

1. I only
2. Only III
3. I and II but not III
4. II and III but not I
5. I, II, III

Questions most often include several sections of the material that need to be analyzed, put together several pieces of learned information and answer, and not just recall a paragraph from a textbook.
“So what?” Many will think, or “what’s so complicated?”. Difficult starts from the realization that the test can not be transferred .
“What really, really?” To be honest, during the years of my studies I have not heard of a single case of retake. The test is taken once and everyone gets what he deserves. The ballroom system has already been described (link)
Then the question is, what to do if I received an F (fail) on a subject for a semester, to put it more simply, I failed? Then the subject can be taken a second time. BUT! You have to put up with the following:

1. Study 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
2. A record of this assessment will remain with the student for 8-10 years. At first glance, well, what's the difference? In America, they are often transferred from university to university. For example, you get a bachelor's degree in one university, then you enter a more prestigious university, for example, a master's. Or simply the desired specialty was not found in your university, and in the next there. When translating, the university sends a transcript - a document with all grades. Bad grades will be there too, and they will be looked at first.

Cheating

With this here strictly. I will not lie, you can write off and some succeed (I also succeeded), BUT! it is not worth it. Writing off during an exam (on a test or a control) is one thing, another thing is plagiarism. Cheating during the test may end:

• class blockage (at best)
• deduction from uni with entering in a private matter (the worst option).

What is it? I fortunately do not know the worst option, but I heard that those who got caught on cheating are not taken to other universities. This can mean almost a career cross.

Plagiarism

With this more serious. There is a website www.turnitin.com . There, each student at the request of the teacher must register. Here, for example, the student wrote a review of the 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 journals, etc.) and issues a report within a few minutes or hours. And there is a percentage of cheating, and every sentence that is somehow similar to someone else's sentence 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, this report will see together with the assessment for the work.



Well, if I use someone else's article and just replace words with synonyms, what then? Will not work! System developers are not fools either. Remember in the school wrote the presentation, that's just according to this principle, written articles and abstracts.
This system is not the only one, and often teachers may not tell whether they use similar checks. There was a case, two works written off from me were revealed by the teacher in one evening, provided that she submitted more than 60 articles, each 3-4 pages.
The consequences are the same as when cheating during the test - until the deduction.

Finals - session

The hottest time. All "finals" ( final test ) are held 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 taken only when more than 2 falls (if you are 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 on the final tests depends on the teacher. It happens that they ask only new topics, passed after the last control (consider lucky), or the material for the entire semester (well ... got ...).
And finally, the time to prepare for the final tests is practically not given. 2 - 4 days for all items. For example, on Friday there was the last lecture (in which a new topic was still held), and already on Monday there were two exams. By the end of the week the session will be over. It is these days that the phrase my blood type is coffee is especially relevant.