Getting a degree at Uni?

Question

Call me stupid for asking this question, but I will be going to University next year and I know nothing about any of it. So I have a few questions.

1) Is it like high school where you study other useless subjects on top of the one you want to study? For example, if you want to study French, will you also have other subjects like Religious Education and Geography as extras to fill spaces? Or do you focus solely on what you want?

2) After 3/4 years or studying your subject, HOW do you get your degree? Are you given it automatically for studying it that long, or do you have to sit a test like in high school to proove you are smart enough to have a degree? If so, are these tests hard?

Thanks

Answer 1

Stupid people get into university all the time!

It's not like high school, you go if you want, there will be no one checking to make sure you attend.  You will just fail if you don't.  You could focus on one subject like geography, but there will lots of different components within that subject, eg human geography, medical geography, physical geography, etc.

You usually have exams at the end of each year.  If you don't pass them you don't get through to the next year.  The tests are only hard if you don't study or attend lectures.

Good luck.

Answer 2

In first and second year you will probably have to take fillers to make up credits.  But depending on what uni you go to will depend on the courses they offer.  There are quite interesting ones that you can have a go at.

In terms of uni you can get a ordinary degree after 3rd year, or an honours degree after 4th year (which is most common).

At the end of each year you will sit exams testing you on what you learned that year.  In 4th year as well as exams you also complete a dissertation and you are given a degree.  You can get a 1st (the best), upper 2nd, lower 2nd or a third.  

Answer 3

The first one is a yes and a no it depends how that particular university has laid out the course and units. Sometimes you will study a unit that isn't really so relevant but its all tied in alto more than school.

In your 3rd year often you are given units to choose from to study.

Each year you will sit exams to pass before you move on to the next year if you don't pass you won't move on 40% is the minimum pass rate. That is actually really hard to get the entire degree requires a h**l of alot of reading work and research all the time. The tests are very hard! Also often you need a certain amount of points from A-levels or other qualifications to get into that course at univesirty.

Answer 4

You only study your chosen subject, unless you choose more than one subject.  Your subject will be broken down into modules though, some of which might not seem relative, for example I did an accountancy degree but had law, statistics and management modules.

You do exams/ assessments usually every semester which is twice a year.  Obviously they get harder every year, usually you will notice in your uni class every year that some people have dropped out or are repeating the previous year.

Answer 5

1. No you only study the subject of your degree.

2. Generally you have to pass each year to get into the next, that is by scoring over a certain percentage in coursework, essays etc, followed by final exams/coursework/assessments at the end of the final year.  You can fail your degree if you do not do well enough in these.  

A lot of what you actually have to do depends on the subject you're studying - degrees differ A LOT from subject to subject.

Which course are you studying?    

Answer 6

It's not high school.

It depends on the Uni you go to, some encourage you to take a unit / module outside your main area of study.

How you are assessed can also vary but most unis use a mixture of exams, course work and  group work.

You will have core units / modules - these are compulsory and you have to pass them to get your degree. You also do some optional units, sometimes these are called electives. So if you are studying French there will be compulsory language units but you might have an option of studying French theatre or French history or translation. A lot of unis let you do a third language as an elective in your first year, particularly languages you didn't have chance to study at school, one of my friends took Swedish.

At the end of each year you will get the marks for each unit. Each unit is worth a number of credits, so units can be 10, 15, 30 or even 60 credits. The credit means you can compare your course with one at another uni.

In your final year you will have to do a project, the mark for your project and your marks from the units taken during the three/four years give you your final classification.

Answer 7

google it

Answer 8

1) Depends on what degree you do. For example- I'm doing an Arts degree, which has a lot of freedom. There are no subjects you have to study, they just have to be from within the Arts faculty (which can include languages, history, english, geography, religion and many other things). However, if you're doing Medicine, or Industrial Design, or (I assume) most other things, there are certain subjects which you have to study, and then you can fill in the gaps with electives from other faculties.

2) You get your degree by completing the required number of "points". At my uni, for instance, you need 100 points per year, and each subject is worth 12.5 points. If you pass all the requirements for the subject, such as exams, attendance, essays or whatever these are, then you pass the subject, and gain your degree when you have completed the required points.  

Answer 9

Well, I'm in the US, so I think that my university might do a few things differently.  But I will answer your questions anyway.

1.  At my school, we do have to take seeminlgly unrelated courses, for example, I am studying electrical engineering, and I have taken psychology, art history, eruopean history, public speaking etc.  At my school, no matter what you study, you take "balanced" coursework, meaning you dont only study the area of your degree (in my case engineering).

2.  At my school, we do have to take an exit exam set by the faculty in our area of study.  They started it a few years ago to make sure that when students graduated, they were competent in their area of study and would not give the university a bad name.  Its not the most difficult exam in the world, however, it takes the whole day.

Answer 10

Here's the low down:

During my first and second year I was required to attend uni 10 hours a week; thats four 1 hr lectures and four 1hr 30min seminars a week.In my third year that was cut down to 8 hrs a week.

Your course will be split into 4 modules per 12 week semester; their are 2 semesters so you will study 8 modules per year, all based on your subject area. So for example I studied Law so in my first year I studied Law of Tort 1 & 2, Contract Law 1&2, Public Law, EC Law, Property Law 1, Law and Legal Skills 1,

Lectures are pretty straight forward, this is the typical lecture theatre setting with students making notes as the lecturer delivers a lecture on a given topic, usually using PowerPoint as a visual aid. Student interaction in kept to minimum here, sometimes lecturers might require student interaction, some dont - it really depends on the lecturer you have.

Seminars are more tricky. Youll be given a seminar book at the beginning of each of the two semesters (similar to a term) and this will have all the forthcommming seminar work. You'll be required to prepare answers to the work for each seminar you attend; researching articles, reading your textbook. If you turn up to a seminar and have not prepared the tutor will probably ask you to leave - so prepare. Seminars can sometimes involve individual and group presentations - reporting what you got for your answers. Other times it can be just simply sitting in your chair and the tutor will ask for a volunteer to submit their answer. It sounds scary and sometimes it can be un-nerving if youve not grasped something. However chances are most people havent got it and admitting it is usually the best policy - just tell the tutor you read what was required however got a little confused.

Your first year will be easier then your A-Levels, no doubt. About 2-3 hours home study per module a week is all that is required (so 4x 2-3 hrs a week = roughly a 8-12 hr week home study). In your second year it starts been a little more demanding with 6 hrs home study per module required. In your 3rd year its mental. You here the stories whilst in your 2rd yr about the rigours of the 3rd and then it happens to you and its really really demanding.

Assessments are usually held at the end of each semester; so usually January and May time. On my course my assessments were assignments and exams.

Your first year never counts towards your final degree mark, oyu only need a agregate of 40% to go on to your second year. Your second year does, with a weighting of 20%-25% (it depends on your course) and your third year 70%-75%.

Answer 11

go for google

Answer 12

Yes if getting a degree and not a dimploma which is based on coursework then you have to sit tests to prove you are smart enough.

You will also sit various tests throughout the degree programme which you will have two attempts to pass - If you fail to pass them you will be kicked out of university.

Erm during most degree courses I believe you do have modules which you pick so pretty simlar to school yes. If you go onto the university of you're choices website and click on the course you plan on doing it should explain everything on there and give you information on the modules you can choose from and when you should choose them.

Good luck