Semester System VS Quarter System

Transfer Students UC Transfers
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<p>I graduated from UCSD, so I thought I’d try to clarify some of the things about the quarter system (in addition to mountain343’s great response).</p>

<p>Final exam times are usually the week after week 10 (so I supposed the “11th week” in the quarter), but the time of your exam depends on your class and professor. Sometimes, the final exam will be during week 10 (usually the last week of class), but in my experience, usually it was only lab classes that did that. Sometimes, instead of a final exam, you have a final paper, which is often due during week 10 (but sometimes during finals week) to give professors/TAs time to grade it before grades are due. Unlike Mountain343, my final exams were usually during finals week, rather than week 10. The final exam is usually not RIGHT after the last lecture, but there also isn’t usually a dead week. Other schools may do it differently, but I would be surprised in other UC’s had a dead week between week 10 and finals because it would throw the schedule off and take three weeks away from vacation. Many classes will also try to have some sort of review session before exams so that also makes it more difficult to have the exam directly after the last lecture.</p>

<p>Midterms are also a bit of a misnomer because while many students and professors call them “midterms,” they don’t always occur during the middle of the term. When they happen depends largely on the class and the professor. In my experience, classes usually have 1-3 midterms and a final exam. If they have one midterm, it’s usually during week five. If there are 2-3 midterms, than they are usually spread throughout the quarter. One class I had had four midterms, which were spread throughout the quarter. The earliest I’ve had a midterm was week 3. I haven’t heard of any midterm during week 2, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it has happened before. I wouldn’t call it common though. Some classes might also have quizzes weekly, which some people call “midterms” but really aren’t at all. Some classes also have papers (or have papers instead of midterms), and other classes might have projects and such. What really determines your workload is how all of your classes gel together. I’ve had quarters where all of my midterms were during week 5 and all of my finals were during finals week. So I had a lot of downtime during the quarter (beginning of the quarter and right after midterms), but then I was scrambling right before midterms and finals. Other quarters, all of my exams were spread out so that I ended up having one or two exams every week from week 3 to finals week, just because of the way the exam schedules fit together. I double majored in biochemistry and psychology so most of my classes were exam based, rather than having a lot of other papers/projects, but I imagine the same principles would apply to all courses.</p>

<p>As far as work due on the first day of the class, I’ve never had a class that expected students to have reading or assignments on the first day of class. Often there will have been a reading assignment for that day, but most professors know that students won’t have done it yet either because they don’t know of the assignment (don’t have the syllabus, etc) or haven’t gotten the book yet. There may still have been reading assigned for the first day, but you generally won’t have a quiz or anything. If there is something due the first day of class, they will usually email out the class before the quarter so that everyone knows about it. Or if they want you to have the book or something on the first day, they’ll usually let you know beforehand. I’m sure it happens, but I’ve never personally heard of it happening. Many students even wait until the first day of class to buy the textbook to see if it’s actually required or just supplementary, how often they’ll be expected to use it, if old editions would be acceptable, etc.</p>

<p>I personally like the quarter system. The only thing I don’t like about the quarter system is that most schools are on the semester system, so spring/winter/summer breaks don’t always line up between different schools. The classes go by fast, but there’s a definite rhythm to it that doesn’t take that long to adjust to. And as long as you don’t take on more than you can handle and you stay aware of deadlines and such so that they don’t sneak up on it, then you’ll be fine.</p>

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<p>@baktrax‌ </p>

<p>Thank you for the detailed information. You had mentioned that some professors assign papers for midterm. What were the requirements like? I’m debating if I should take another English class over summer because a lot of people are telling me that professors will assign a lot of papers… I’m also a sociology major, so do you think it would be wise for me to take a 6 week english class over the summer to prepare myself??? Thank you. :)</p>

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<p>When I graduate from UCLA, I think I’ll stick around to help anxious college confidential users with advice and information about adjusting, as @baktrax and @mountain343 have. :slight_smile: Thanks guys.</p>

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<p>@Cayton‌
I have to agree, I will most likely stick around to help other anxious transfer students on college confidential.</p>

<p>It’s not easy to volunteer your time to help others and I really appreciate advice from students who has already walked our journey. WE APPRECIATE YOU GUYS! :slight_smile: </p>

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<p>@WhiteTiger84‌ </p>

<p>Couldn’t agree more!</p>

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<p>@WhiteTiger84 Some classes don’t have midterm or final exams and have papers instead, and some have a combination of both papers and exams. The papers I’ve had to write were mostly research papers on a certain topic or sometimes analysis/synthesis of the assigned reading. Most of the papers I had to write were maybe 8-12 pages, but that’s going to vary tremendously (and again, I was a science major, so I only wrote papers in a handful of classes). Humanities/social science classes that have exams usually also have essay questions (sometimes they’re take home, sometimes they’re in class, depending on the class and professor). I took a handful of sociology classes and didn’t think that the writing requirements were too intense (but your mileage may vary). I don’t think you need to take an English course just to prepare for a sociology major. Just stay on top of the reading, and if there are papers assigned, start early and don’t wait until the last minute. Check out your school’s writing center, and ask your professor/TA for help if you’re struggling.</p>

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<p>The best advice I can give anyone who is going to be a Sociology major is CITATIONS CITATIONS CITATIONS! Get very comfortable with citations and the specific rules that account for plagiarism. You will be doing a lot of research and a lot of writing, and it can be very technical, but you have to make sure you toe the line very carefully and have enough original content to not get dinged. </p>

<p>If you’re curious about your major, go to <a href=“http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/schedule/crsredir.aspx?termsel=14S&subareasel=SOCIOL”>http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/schedule/crsredir.aspx?termsel=14S&subareasel=SOCIOL&lt;/a&gt; and click on the actual classes and course webpage and you can usually see the syllabus</p>

<p>Sosh 158 has 2 online quizzes and a major research project. 176 has some quizes and short answer midterm and final.174 has 4 1 page papers, 2 exams, a final paper and some in class participation. But every class and every quarter will be different! I don’t know if an english class that focuses on literature would be helpful but some colleges offer an english class that focuses on technical writing that would be. </p>

<p>My geog/es classes have all had midterm and final that were in class essay’s. 1 gave a study guide of 10 topics, 3 were on the actual test. The rest just said know everything and then write as much as you can. I’ve had 2 papers too, but both were minimum of 20 pages which isn’t too bad but you have to really be on the ball to get that out asap. My GIS class had weekly 5-6 page projects, weekly quizzes, weekly forum post, weekly lab session, multiple choice midterm, then a massive final project. That was killer, but I got my A and I’m done with that! </p>

<p>So far the GIS class is the only one I’ve had with the final during finals week, the rest were all week 10 and looking through registrar, it looks like Geog and other depts prefer that, but sosh seems to be more about week 11 finals week. </p>

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<p>For those of you who have attended a quarter system UC, how many hours a week on average would you spend in class and studying/doing work for the class? Please include the # of classes you took, what they were, what you got, and any other relevant information. Thank you. </p>

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<p>@mountain343. Oh man, I think I’ll take english over the summer. I knocked out my english requirements early on so I forgot everything. I’ll need tp brush up on apa and citation practice. Thank you!</p>

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<p>@DeskFan That’s going to depend largely on the major, the student, and the particular quarter. I understand wanting to get some sort of approximation for what you can expect, but any answer that someone gives could be wildly different for you.</p>

<p>For instance, I was always a chronic procrastinator. For most of my classes (upper-division biology and psychology classes), there were no assignments due regularly (most of my problem sets were optional and were not turned in for a grade) and our entire grade was based on a midterm and a final exam. So I would usually do very little work for school during the quarter, and then would study during pretty much all of my free time the weekend before or a day or two before a midterm or final exam. If you take more math/engineering courses, you may have weekly problem sets due so you have to spend time regularly throughout the quarter on those, in addition to studying for exams, and how long it takes just depends on how difficult it is for you. Lab courses may have labs due weekly, which take a decent amount of time (for me, maybe a couple of hours or more if I’m not sure about what I’m doing), and if you take computer science courses, you may have projects or assignments due regularly, as well. If you’re taking paper-based courses, then you may have to spend more time researching and writing papers, as well as potentially studying for exams. So it just depends on a lot of things. If you have classes with a lot of reading assignments or where you have to read a book or two every week, then you will likely spend a lot more time throughout the quarter just reading, in addition to studying or analyzing text.</p>

<p>It also depends on how quickly you can pick up a certain topic or subject matter. Some things come easily to certain students, while other things may be more difficult to the same student. One week you might have to spend several hours studying a subject because you just don’t understand the material, while another week you might spend an hour or less just reviewing the subject matter because it all just makes sense.</p>

<p>So I know it’s a deeply dissatisfying answer, but any estimation by anyone might have very little to do with how much work you could expect to do.</p>

<p>EDIT: And I just realized that you also asked how many hours a week are spent in class. That’s a little easier to give some estimations about, although this will of course vary somewhat based on the course or the school. Most lecture-based courses are ~3 hours/week (1 hour MWF or 1.5 hours Tu/Th or 3 hours one day of the week–minus whatever time they give you to walk between classes. For instance, at UCSD, it’s technically 50 minutes MWF, 1hr 20min TuTh, etc). You might also have a discussion section that is ~1 hour/week for some classes (not all classes will have a discussion section). For science labs, you might have lab for ~2-4 hours twice a week, in addition to lecture ~3 hours/week. But again, that’s all based on my experience at UCSD, so it may vary but that’s the general rule of thumb for most classes there.</p>