Juniors and seniors at our school are only allowed to take five…
I might be confusing “courses” with “classes”
Looking at the Exeter course book, they are asking for 5-6 classes for each trimester. Granted it is English 110, 120, and 130 = 3 classes over the the year for 1 subject (course?). But if every trimester has 5 classes, then each kid has at least 15 classes per year, with 15 Mid-terms and 15 Finals. At colleges with trimesters, most students are taking 3 classes per trimester = 9 classes per year. For schools with a semester system, most kids are taking 4 classes = 8 classes per year.
Just saying, its a lot of work and probably more than what is expected from most college students.
Most BS kids will take 5 classes, sometimes 6. For college, its typically 4. If you go to an academically rigorous college, you will spend less time in class, but much more time reading/writing or doing lab work (depending on area of study) outside of classroom time.
Exeter has a quirky course structure esp. math compared to other BS.
Now that I have a college freshman, I’d venture that the workload is similar–but that college students have more time to get their work done are in class less. The workload is heavy, but I don’t see any way around it. Students have to read, write essays, do problem sets, etc. outside of class. As they get older, I do think they learn to cut some corners without sacrificing their GPA, which cuts back on the hours spent studying some. What I appreciate about boarding school is that there never seemed to be any busy work.
@heartburner
I don’t remember doing any homework in high school either. I’m pretty sure it was assigned, I just didn’t do it. I went to an engineering magnet (I’m not an engineer) that had a wonderful policy of only basing grades on assessments. Teachers could not ding your grade for low effort or not practising via homework. The only thing that mattered was whether you had mastered the material or not. What a concept! It was great.
That’s why a lot of kids who are graduates of rigorous boarding schools comment reflect that college is easier than boarding school.
I am with you @neatoburrito but just as a system that grades on how well kids do their homework is probably not adequate, I am not sure that the basis of a grade solely on testing is necessarily to the benefit of students. I have great respect for educators who can inspire kids to read about a subject on their own and teach them the process of learning how to learn and enjoying it. It is like how Gene Forrester thinks that he has a shot of being valedictorian in A Separate Peace because the smartest guy in his class liked the material too much and ‘wasted his time’ learning about material that would not be covered in his exam. When I first read the book, I identified with Gene - why even study material not on the exam? But, as an adult, I realize that it would have been better to be a B+ student who enjoyed the subject material and became enveloped in it, then be an uninteresting A+ student. I think that I came to that appreciation sometime later in life, too late to enjoy learning about art history or astrophysics with college professors and condemned to reading about it alone or watching watching documentaries while on a treadmill. I wasted too much time skipping through or placing out of the liberal arts requirements at a pre-professional school.
Does BS homework inspire this kind of love of learning or is it simply preparing for a test? If the former, then I say it should be 5-6 hours a day. If the latter, then it should be minimized.
@GMTplus7 - My wife, who did very well in college after attending BS, routinely commented on how easy our school was and how competition was non-existent. I met her as a freshman in college when she taught me how to be a better student and person, so I also benefited from her BS education.
How/which assessments are used will vary by course.
While we take 5 (sometimes 6) courses per term, not all courses are term-contained.
Thanks @skieurope - This seems to be more reasonable then having a total of 30 major exams over the course of the academic year.
ChoatieKid has had trimesters with only one or two exams. His four core courses (math, English, language, science) last the entire school year. Electives and other graduation requirements fill in that fifth or, occasionally, sixth course. At mininum, he has five midterms and five finals with other assessments along the way, but nothing close to 15.
Homework at Exeter is absolutely essential.
Here’s why - each class has 12 kids and a teacher, and they sit around the oval table facing each other. The 11 other kids have done the assigned reading/problem sets/labs/essays, and the discussion gets going (teacher says little). If you have not done the work you and everyone else knows it pretty quickly. Some teachers keep track of comments and focus more on kids who are saying little. There are no lectures. There is simply no place to hide.
In math, for example, there are problems every night, and kids walk into class and each randomly puts up the answer to a problem on the blackboard. Then they all discuss each problem. Rinse and repeat for each class.
This system depends on very bright and hard working kids coming in well prepared and using discussion to round out their perspective on the reading/problem sets/labs - with each other. It’s pretty amazing to see. In many classes the teacher says very little, because the kids have been doing this for their whole high school education in every class. Almost all the teaching work has been put into designing the problem sets/readings/labs so kids learn as they do the work. Teachers may gently steer discussion into more fruitful directions, and will always answer questions (but generally, classmates answer them for each other).
Tests are minimal. A lot of the grade is based on one’s quality of class discussion.
Among my college friends, the two who went to Exeter were among the most well prepared for the academic rigor and workload of Penn. They were great about time management and really knuckling down and hitting the stacks when it mattered. That said, I don’t think it was necessarily Exeter but going to boarding school in general that made these two guys great students in terms of work habits.
^^ the ones who are good slackers can get away with it. As long as someone speaks before, they simply say, “expanding on what insert name said, <paraphrase what=”" insert="" name="" said="" here="">" Some people are really talented in that aspect.
Beware the Harkness Warriors!
I know someone who just finished Med School and told us that Choate prepared her best for it. Not even her Ivy League college could compare in workload to Choate. Upon hearing this, my DD said. Then I guess that’s where I have to go. God bless! I did not have that attitude at 13!!!
Putney runs a variation on Harkness… students get feedback afterward on whether they are feeding, leading, digressing or disrupting the discussions. So everyone gets to improve on their weaknesses.
At my school (boarding school in midwest) I’d say I tend to get around 3 hours a night as a freshman. It does sound like a lot if your coming from a school with significantly less homework, as I did, but most people adjust really quickly. I also find that if you strategically use your free time during the day and after school it won’t seem as overwhelming.
Went to Choate’s Revisit Day and homework was one of the questions that kept coming up.
Students and faculty on panel all agreed on three things: 1) each class has about 45 to 1 hour of HW. 2) Honors classes have more in depth/harder HW, but same 45/1 hour time 3) No matter the level, all teachers want you to STOP doing the HW after 1 hour, whether finished, correct or whatever as it should NOT be longer than an hour.
If it takes you longer than 45-1 hour to do, stop and get help. You will not be penalized as this is what HW is for…to measure you understanding.
I really loved this about the school!
I think that at most of the top BSs, the HW/time theory is different from the reality somewhat. As you get older and the classes become more sophisticated, “assignments” are less measurable (you’re not getting worksheets anymore, like you used to in MS). You will need to do more than what is asked in order to do well - and the kids at these schools want to do REALLY well. They are driven, and they work hard. They work hard academically, athletically, in clubs and ECs, and socially. If anything, you will have less time to do your HW than if you lived at home, so efficiency and time-management become crucial. I just think that the “# of minutes a night” theory of HW is an over-simplification that may not be valid after freshman year. Be prepared to work harder than you’ve ever worked before.