How to Succeed At University--International Edition. Danton O'Day

How to Succeed At University--International Edition - Danton O'Day


Скачать книгу
such extension courses are not too useful to the full-time student. In addition, not every such class will count towards your degree, so you should check whether you will receive credit for it before enrolling. So if you are having trouble with a subject, try to improve your performance rather than relying on the extension programme to upgrade your marks. You will need the break that summer brings, for students who go at the study routine all year round are prone to mental fatigue.

      Grades and Admissions

image-40.png

      Did You Know?

      The College Board miscalculated the scores of the SAT (a standardized test taken for postsecondary admissions in the United States) for students who had taken the test in October 2005. The results of over 4,000 students were affected by the error. Following a lawsuit, damages totalling $2.85 million were agreed to be paid out to affected students.1

image-41.png

      As we all know, no matter what anyone tells you, grades matter. Marks for classes taken in high school, the grades received on high school leaving exams, the results of independently administered standardized tests, specific university entrance exams, etc. are used to determine acceptance to university. The degree to which a university relies on each of these criteria will differ. For example, in Canada selection is usually based on high school grades, while universities in the United States rely on both high school grades and standardized tests (e.g., ACT, SAT). There is evidence that standardized admission test scores are becoming more important than high school grades in countries that have them, most likely because of grade inflation at many high schools. In other systems the results of leaving examinations (e.g., GCE A-Level exams in England) are the primary determinant for acceptance. Certain programmes of study may have their own admission requirements in addition to these, such as further testing or interviews. On the other hand, in some universities admission is open to all applicants without restrictions based on previous grades or examination results. We could provide more examples but the point here is that the conditions for university acceptance will vary by country and institution. You will have to find out which ones apply to you. In the end, each university selects students in different ways. Emphasis may be put not only on grades but other factors as well such as high school awards, extracurricular activities and application essays, among others.

image-42.png

      Did You Know?

      In the United States, high school grades and standardized test scores are the primary way postsecondary admissions are determined. Thus, there have been many studies attempting to find out if these scores give any true indication of success once the student is enrolled. Are high school grades and admission test scores good predictors of students’ postsecondary success?

      Recent research has verified earlier studies showing that a student’s high school grades give the most accurate assessment of his or her grades at the postsecondary level.2,3 While there is a relationship between high school success and postgraduate grades, typically students get lower grades during their postsecondary studies than one would predict from their high school marks. In other words, high school grades overestimate later success.

      SAT scores are a less accurate predictor of postsecondary grades. It’s interesting that while women score lower on average on SAT than men, their SAT scores underestimate their postsecondary success.4 It should also be noted that today’s postsecondary institutions are more ethnically diverse than ever before and while there are minor variations in results between ethnic groups and between students whose first languages differ from English, fundamentally the results are the same regardless of these aspects of student diversity. Each group brings richness to life after high school that is the heart of any university.

      The next question that comes to mind is the following: is there any correlation between high school grades or admission test scores and graduation from a postsecondary institution? Research studies have shown that high grades in secondary school and high scores on standardized admission tests are both associated with a higher chance of postsecondary graduation.2,5 Thus it seems that using high school grades and/or admission test scores is still one of the best ways for admissions officers to select students for entrance to their institution.

image-43.png

      It is important to keep in mind, however, that neither high school grades, standardized test scores or other admissions criteria are perfect predictors of postsecondary success even though they can determine whether acceptance to the institution is granted. As mentioned before, many students who did comparatively poorly in high school thrive in the less structured learning environment provided at university. In some cases those who have excelled in high school can fail for similar reasons.

      A Word about Grading Systems

      The grading system varies from university to university. Percentages, letter grades, and/or point scales are common evaluation measures. The prevalence of each system depends on the country. Some universities use a complicated grade point system in addition to percentage and letter grades One example involves converting the percentage or letter grade to a 4.0-point scale, as shown in Table 2.1 for the University of Toronto. The grade point ranges used vary between universities, with some calculating grades on 4.33-point, 12-point or other scales.

droppedImage-2.png

      Since this is of little concern to you at this stage and since the grading system varies so much between institutions, it will not be discussed further. We would like to make a comment about grade points, however. Converting a 100% scale to a 4.0 or other scale with 0.3 or similar gradations (as is done in the system in Table 2.1) homogenizes the marks and distils them to a smaller number, putting students into groups. At the University of Toronto a student who gets 85% is given the same grade as one with 100%, completely destroying the concept of excellence. What’s more, depending on where you fall one percentage point of real marks can be quite significant. A 1% difference can mean either a 0.3 or a 0.4 difference in value (which actually represent 7.5% and 10% differences in grade point value, respectively). Similarly, a student with 80% gets only 0.3 less than a student who gets perfect! This becomes even more ridiculous when different universities then have to recalculate your university’s grade point into their own which further fudges the grade. There are numerous other inequities to the system but the point has been made: all universities should use the full 100% scale because it is fairest to students.

      Lectures

      By definition a lecture is a formal discourse before an audience. Not all lectures acknowledge this definition. The lectures you see and hear will be as diverse as the people who deliver them. They will involve sights, sounds and sometimes touch and smell. They will be exciting and they will be boring. “So what’s new,” you might ask, “I’ve been through all of this at high school!”

      Well, there are a lot of differences. First, in your beginning year you will be a member of a large community (first-year students are also called freshers, freshmen or frosh). Many of your classes will contain hundreds of other students in lecture halls as vast as the Carlsbad Caverns. (This may not be true of the smaller universities—at least in some disciplines—but it will probably be true in general since the majority of students go to large universities.) It is only in the later years, as the surviving student numbers dwindle, that you will be in lectures with a reasonable student population. The reduced class size will also influence lecture content. Upper-year classes will often be more interactive, with a greater focus on active learning strategies such as class discussions and student presentations.

      Lecture format will vary dramatically from subject to subject. Sometimes


Скачать книгу