<p>What are the advantages and disadvantages of being in the quarter system? Difference from semester system? Which one do you think is better?</p>
<p>Quarter system: goes a lot faster, only 10 weeks long compared to 16 weeks in a semester system, midterms start around the 3rd-4th week of school (for classes where you have 2-3 midterms. for classes with one midterm, you’ll have your midterm in the 2nd month). </p>
<p>I like the quarter system because classes are shorter and there are classes that I cannot stand being in for more than 50 minutes (at my community college, classes could be anywhere from 1.5 hours to 3 hours), but I also dislike it because I’m not a fast learner–it takes me more time to understand something than my classmates, and if you fall behind and don’t catch up quickly, you can get into trouble. With the semester system, you have more time to study, more time to grasp concepts, and if you fall behind, you still have time to catch up.</p>
<p>With the quarter system you are able to take more classes right?</p>
<p>In a school year? yes, since there’s 3 quarters. In each individual quarter? No–4 classes is enough for most students (since that already puts them at 15-17 units, depending on the classes they take and how many units those classes are), and taking 5 classes is a stretch.</p>
<p>I meant in a year compared to a semester school. You take more classes in a quarter school than in a semester school on a year?</p>
<p>Generally, yes. For me though, I think I took more classes in a school year at community college (which was on a semester system) than I ever did here at UC Davis. I was taking 6-7 classes a semester (basically taking 18-19 units, which was the maximum for my school) because it was so easy to do, so that’s 12-14 classes total. Here at UC Davis, I take 3-4 classes each quarter, so that’s 9-12 classes total.</p>
<p>I know each class is different but How would you describe the transition from a high school class to a uc Davis class? Are they really tough? Are there some that are easy?</p>
<p>It depends on what classes you take, and also how rigorous your high school was. I can tell you that college chemistry is not the same as high school chemistry, though, and introductory biology classes go into more details than what high school biology classes cover (for example, BIS 2A goes into more details on the cell and mitosis/meiosis than high school bio). Yes there are some classes that are easy (like ANS 1. Tests are insanely easy if you can remember facts from the handouts that the professor has up on his website well, and labs consist of “playing” around with animals). I didn’t go to UCD straight from high school, since I was a transfer student, so I don’t know what the transition is like.</p>
<p>I found the transition from high school to be fairly smooth. It’s the same at Davis as any other school as far as the differences between college and high school classes: Attendance isn’t generally required (this varies, but holds true for the most part); there’s a higher focus on tests; homework is either not required as part of your grade or is only a very small portion of your grade; professors/instructors won’t check in on you if you’re failing or missing class (but are more than willing to help if you seek them out); you spend a lot more time studying outside of class than you do actually in class.</p>
<p>The main thing to learn is time management, especially with the quarter system. While I’m still guilty of procrastinating to an extent, after coming here I learned within about a week and a half of classes that I couldn’t procrastinate nearly as much as I did in high school. In other words, if you were like me in high school and did assignments either the night before they were due or the morning they were due, you’ll need to get out of that mindset as soon as possible so you don’t get behind. There’s also the issue of finding a balance between social life and academics, which again comes down to time management and the person in question.</p>
<p>Another thing is that you need to actually study, even if it’s in the form of paging through your notes before the next exam. You’ll figure out pretty quickly if you can get away with just that for a particular class, but I always recommend to err on the side of caution and study more than you think you need to for the first exam; you can adjust your study tactics after that. I got through high school easily without ever studying (my high school wasn’t rigorous, to be fair) and still had a near perfect GPA. I tried going into a German quiz without studying in the second week, and well…while I still got a good grade, let’s just say I missed more questions than I thought I would. I learned my lesson after that and didn’t have issues afterward.</p>
<p>Besides that, there’s also the fact that you’ll probably have classes in large lecture halls (200+ seats), at least in lower division. This wasn’t a problem for me (beyond the initial “wow, there’s a lot of people in here” reaction in the first lecture class I was in), but it’s worth mentioning just because it’s so different than a high school class.</p>
<p>Coming from high school, most classes are very less intimate because of the lecture halls. For the most part, I found the difficulty about the same, except that you have to take everything upon yourself–your professor doesn’t give a damn if you pass or fail (usually) since there are so many students. </p>
<p>The quarter system is really cool I think. It can be hard because classes go fast, but it’s not too bad. I can appreciate that now that I’m currently in summer session, where classes are only 6 weeks long…</p>
<p>And also, another nice thing about quarters is that if you are taking a class that you just hate, it is over in a few weeks anyway, so you don’t have to stay in it forever :)</p>
<p>The quarter system goes wayyy faster. It is so much more rigorous even with fewer classes per term. Here’s a short post that talks about it, though they haven’t exactly started school yet…
[One</a> hoorah for the quarter system! | After Admission](<a href=“http://afteradmission.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2013/08/09/everyones-gone-chicago-vacation-for-me/]One”>One hoorah for the quarter system! | After Admission)</p>