Hours of homework freshmen year?

<p>Well, Frazzled kids report that the extra time did not always lead to the A, but compared to peers who cheated, did prepare them for the next level course. They also added that some of the professors at their schools who taught intro CS (as well as other intro courses in the engineering gauntlet) were MUCH better instructors than others. It takes less time to preapre for class if the professor teaches well than if a student has to learn on their own.</p>

<p>frazzled comments are right on the money.</p>

<p>DS1 took the Honors Chemistry in out state school. The class preparation/review took 10 hrs/wk. The lab preview/analysis/report took about 8 hrs/wk. Almost all the best science students were in the class. He got an A-.</p>

<p>Here’s a secret tip for you: one hour alone in the library during the day with no Internet or texting is equivalent to two or maybe three hours in the evening around people and social media.</p>

<p>Disagree with post that claims many hours for sciences. It all depends on your aptitude. Those who write well may not agonize the hours over a paper like the math/science student. A lot freshman year depends on the strength of your HS background- how used to needing to study you are, the material already mastered, writing skills demanded by your teachers. Add in the number of credits- some take a minimum, others the maximum. It can be easier to settle down to work if you have a busier schedule- you are forced to manage your time better than if you have a lot of time to waste. I agree with the above quality of time spent example- intense/focused versus social time “studying”.</p>

<p>Question: Is most homework done individually or in groups of classmates (more than 1 person simply) or with friends ?</p>

<p>Could you give some context for your remark that you disagree about the time required for the sciences, wis75? What level of university are you talking about? What general field of science? Also, what type of course selection? Is the hypothetical well-prepared student moving ahead to the classes he/she is ready for, or taking a general freshman program? Finally, what level of performance is the person shooting for?</p>

<p>I would also appreciate it if someone would tell us how common it is to do homework individually and how often it is done as part of a study group.</p>

<p>Group vs. individual homework depends entirely on the student. If you like groups, you can probably find one.</p>

<p>"Disagree with post that claims many hours for sciences. It all depends on your aptitude. "</p>

<p>-Disagree. Aptitude is a very small part. All pre-meds are spending enourmous hrs, but, not on Chem. which is one of their easiest science classes. Background is also is of very little help as D’s first Bio class (which she was NOT recommended to skip despite of 5 on AP exam and A in AP Bio) went thru HS AP Bio material in first 2 weeks, then they moved on. Good number of HS valedictorians (who definitely had a bit higher apptitude for science) fell out of pre-med track right after this class. However, this class was just a beginning of series of Bio classes that most pre-meds are taking in preparation for MCAT…and then there is Organic Chem. Many of those who still remained on a track fell out after that one. I am not even mentionning the level of science classes (Bio) at Med. School where EVERY single person is into science and all of them had very high college GPA.<br>
So, aptitude is a very small part of learning process.
Some read faster, but comprehend less, some read a bit slower and understand much deeper, still some have awesome writing skills (fast and good writing is a part of ANY class, lab reports are taking less time and are of higher quality if you possess good writing skills), some are very good visually… still need to work very hard to get your A’s as B’s might not be an option for some majors.</p>

<p>One area in which aptitude rather than prior preparation seems to play a significant role in amount of studying needed is foreign languages. At most top schools, at least nowadays, language departments try to level the playing field by threatening to drop students who misrepresent their level of preparation for an “easy A”, and actually follow through. </p>

<p>Nonetheless, these classes still end up with some students who breeze through the classes and others who put in extraordinary amounts of work with disappointing results. If you are one of the latter students, and your school or major has a language requirement, try to plan ahead.</p>

<p>“foreign languages.”</p>

<p>-Depending where one placed. It is very possible to place straight into 3rd year (maybe higher??) of college class from HS. As far as I know entering freshman has to take math and foreigh language placement test before they can register for first semester. math will determine the level of some science classes also.<br>
Well, if you happen to place into 3rd year of Foreign language, it is an awesome opportunity!! My D. said that it was one of her best college classes, it was a lot of work and she was speaking after completing juat one semester of Spanish in college even 2 years later (when we witnessed her speaking with our jaws to the floor), despite her claim that she did not remember lots of it.<br>
And again, some very easy college classes could be some of your most time consuming as I have mentioned about D’s Honors English class. She really did not care about all these novels that took her ton of time to read, learned nothing in class, all writing assignments were very easy.</p>

<p>My D does an enormous amount of homework. She has math problem sets due every week (she’s currently in 2 math classes, but that will increase). There are also quizzes in addition to mid-terms and finals. She also has homework every day in her foreign language class, and it is really hard! This class also has frequent quizzes. She’s also taking an “easy” lab science which in addition to lab hours and copious reading requirements has a weekly quiz. Add in her extracurricular activities (she’s a bit of a “joiner”) and she actually has to schedule time to take a shower.</p>

<p>When I went to school eons ago (and it was a top 5 school), I pretty much coasted for most things and crammed before exams. Of course I was in a different major, so that matters a lot.</p>

<p>What Hunt said:

</p>

<p>The same piece of homework will be 1 hour for some and 4 hours for others. Train yourself to be efficient. If you will be doing science or engineering, get really, really good at formal lab writeups.</p>

<p>You are almost guaranteed to meet some kid who reads 2300 words/minute and can repeat it verbatim. All schools have curve breakers who make it look easy.</p>

<p>^D. also studied a lot in groups. She said it helps explaining things to others. It earned her the best job on campus - SI in Chem class, lasted for 3 years, great opportunity, resulted in one of her awards at graduation, great LOR.</p>

<p>“Those who write well may not agonize the hours over a paper like the math/science student” - Or… those who write well might agonize over every sentence, in perfectionist mode. </p>

<p>There are endless combinations of students / courses / majors / profs / colleges etc. The bottom line is that it varies. And for almost every student (except perhaps the especially well prepared IB/AP kids), it will be more work than anticipated.</p>

<p>The bottom line is that without hard work the kid is not very likely to succeed.
Yes, writing skills will help a lot with any major. Again, work very hard on developing them in HS no matter if you have natural ability or not.</p>

<p>It is just simple statistics. Most professors only award A/A- to 25% of the students. Those 15 out of 60 students in DS1’s honors class are probably among the top 50 of the 1200 or so freshmen who took the honors or the regular gen Chem. In such a class, everyone is motivated to get that A. When everyone writes a 12-page lab report every week, you will have to match the effort. The lab AI, possibly a foreign graduate student, is not likely to give you a bonus because of your superior writing skill. After the 1st semester, 25% of the students left for the regular session. The competition gets more intense. If you are that good, then go for it by all means because you will learn a lot more in the honors class. Otherwise, you need to be careful about it.</p>

<p>It depends on the major. My education degree was not a blow off by any means, but the time spent on studying, preparation for clinical rotations, and actual time spent at hospitals in nursing school was all consuming. Having an outside life was a challenge.</p>