College courses differ greatly from high school classes. You may be in class from 1-4 days during the week and the number of grades or assignments is significantly lower than high school. In a typical NC State classroom, you may have occasional homework assignments or quizzes (either written or submitted online), 3-4 tests, a midterm, and a final exam. Exams may be cumulative or only on material covered from the previous exam. All of these factors are up to the instructor. You will receive a syllabus for each class during the first week of school that will explain the components of your final grade (percentages of tests, quizzes, final exam, etc).
Courses at NC State require that you do a great deal of time preparing outside of the classroom, whether in the form of studying nightly, or reading material to be discussed in the next class session. Attendance is crucial to your success in NC State courses. Tests generally consist of at least some short answer and/or essay questions, possibly mixed with multiple-choice questions covering material from lecture and from the text.
Unlike high school, you do not have the same class each day of the week. You will register for classes using an online system and can choose from classes that the university offers at different times. Most courses are held through the day (8am-5pm) with a select few courses and labs offered in the evening until 10pm. Here is a general layout of class schedules:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday Classes
These are generally 3 or 4 credit hour courses and meet for 50 minutes each session. In laboratory-based classes, like a Chemistry or Biology course, there will be one day of the week in addition to lecture that you meet for lab, which is usually 2 hours and 45 minutes.
Tuesday and Thursday Classes
These classes are generally 3 credit hours and meet for 75 minutes each session.
Not all courses follow this set up, some meet one night per week for 165 minutes (some 3 credit hour courses), some 2 days per week for 50 minutes (such as a 1 credit Physical Education course), and some for one day per week for 50 minutes (such as an introductory to the college course).
Posted by Justin Jornigan
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