Junior College or Community Colleges:

These colleges award only Associate Degree of Arts (A.A) and Sciences (A.S) which involves 2 year of study. After receiving Associate Degree, students must join a 4 years college or University to complete the Bachelor's Degree.

Vocational and Technical Institution:

These institutes specialize in training for the skilled trades and technical fields of employment. Duration of the courses depends on the particular subject. After completion, they will be awarded a certificate of completion and they can straight away join for a job.

Classes in USA

Usually, for most Universities and colleges the year begins in late August or early September and ends in May or June. The academic year is divided into semesters, trimesters or quarter depending on the institution. The semester system divides the year into 2 equal terms of 16 weeks. Each semester is 4 months. Trimester system has three equal terms of 16 weeks each, including a summer term. Quarter system divides the year into 3 equal terms of 11 weeks each.
Classes are lecture-based with practical (lab or practicum in U.S). Overhead projector, computer projections, multimedia are used along with the lectures. Printed notes and additional information on topics (Handouts in U.S) are given. Professors or advisors are always available to clear doubts. Interaction in class in encouraged.
Each student will be assigned an 'advisor' who is a member of the faculty. This advisor will help the students to select the courses to be taken in each semester, plan the whole program and monitor the student’s progress. The students register for the particular courses with the permission of the advisors.

Class Size

The average class size at the undergraduate level, in most universities is 100-150 for introductory courses. Advanced level classes will be smaller in size. Master's degree classes have an average of 20 students and Doctoral classes have an average of only 10 students.

Tests

Each semester has an average of 4 tests. Test range in style from multiple choice (objective type) format designed to gauge your knowledge of the subject and reasoning ability to essay or problem-solving type tests. There are 3 kinds of tests - open book tests, closed books tests and take home tests. In the 1st type, you can refer notes, text book, reference material etc during the test. 2nd one is usual tests that we have in India. In the 3rd one you take the question paper home and answer at your convenience before the dead line set by the professor. Take home tests often have essay-based questions.

Grading

In American Universities, they give grades instead of ranks or classes for courses. The grades are A, B, C, D, E, F, I. A is the highest grade. Grades from A to D are considered as pass. Grade I-incomplete. Grade I is granted when students stop the course in between with the teachers permission. If it is without permission this can become F grade.

• Marks between 100-90- A Grade (Excellent)
• Marks between 89-79- B Grade (good)
• Marks between 78-68- C Grade (Average)
• Marks between 67-57- D Grade (Below)
• Below 57- F or fail.

Each grade has points. 4 points for A grade, 3 for B and 2 for C. The average points taken for all the courses taken together are the GPA (Grade Point Average). It is the general score on a scale of 1.0(lowest) to 4.0 (highest). It is difficult to get admission for graduate study if you don't have at least a G.P.A of 3.0. G.P.A is computed using a unique formula by the university's administration. The grades are fixed by the professor's who teach the subjects based on the performance of the students. The success rate is high.

Posted in: Academic term,Associate's degree,Colleges and Universities,Community college,Education,Junior college,Student,United States