Generally speaking, the evaluation methods of American universities generally include examination, writing, homework, class presentation, project, class participation and so on.
Category I-Examination
There are many kinds of exams, including monthly exams or modules, mid-term exams, final exams and quizzes.
Basically, there will be a quiz in every class. This is a little monster. Generally, each test can be completed in 5- 15 minutes. According to the teaching arrangement of the professor, it may be taken once in each chapter or once a month, which is not fixed.
Big Boss is a formal exam at least once a month for each of the following courses, called monthly exam. Generally, after studying three or four chapters, you will have an exam. The mid-term exam is usually two and a half months after the start of school, which is slightly more difficult than the monthly exam. Of course, some teachers don't distinguish between monthly exams and mid-term exams. Anyway, just come once a month.
The final exam is usually in the last week of the semester, that is, the hard last week. Some professors will test all the contents of this semester, while others will only test the new contents after the monthly exam. Take-home exams are very common in the United States, but even if you cheat in take-home exams, you will still be punished. Do you know that Harvard University severely punished more than 60 students who took home exams for cheating, and they were all expelled?
In fact, at first, everyone would feel very happy about the open-book exam, but later it was discovered that taking it home was the real dog abuse? Because the professor takes the take-home exam, he wants to check whether the students have a deep understanding of what they have learned and hope to see a unique point of view.
Take-home exam allows students to answer questions according to textbooks, class notes or other related materials, but requires papers to be quoted in the correct citation format; At the same time, students are not allowed to discuss the contents of the exam with people other than teachers and teaching assistants, otherwise it is cheating.
To sum up, in a semester (American universities generally have each semester 15- 17 weeks), each course has at least four major exams and an indefinite number of supplementary exams, and the proportion of each exam varies according to the personal arrangement of the professor, but relatively speaking, the exam accounts for the largest proportion in all assessment methods.
The second category-writing
First, writing short articles, short comments, expositions and other articles are collectively referred to as essays, which are generally 2-3 pages of documents. Writing your thesis according to the topic or question given by the professor is the most common kind of homework. Writing this kind of composition is common in a slightly liberal arts discipline.
The second kind of writing paper refers to a paper, such as a course paper, which is generally more than 10 pages. Need to consult a large number of documents, do normative research, and use a standardized format in the paper.
The third kind of periodical or essay can be regarded as a small composition, which is generally 1- 1.5 pages, which is not common. After I came, I was only asked to hand in my diary at the beginning of the English writing class.
Category III-Homework
Homework is usually an exercise at the back of each chapter of the textbook. The teacher chooses some of them for everyone to do at home and hand them in next class. The most rigorous course in my homework this semester is calculus III. As long as you learn a new lesson, you will have homework after class. I'll ask him questions that I can't before the next class. If there are still mistakes or mistakes in my homework, I will be deducted.
The fourth category-class presentation.
In addition to various written tests, presentation also requires students to make a small speech on a certain topic. Generally speaking, each presentation is different according to the requirements of the course. A group or individual needs 10-20 minutes, so it is necessary to make a clear and complete statement on the topic.
The fifth category-projects.
Project design usually requires individuals or groups to design a project in advance and conduct in-depth research. Generally, this task takes a whole semester to complete. During the semester, teachers need to give feedback on the research progress on schedule, professors need to follow up and give guidance, and at the end of the semester, they need to make a report and speech to the whole class. Therefore, it will include research, papers, reports and demonstrations.
The sixth category-class attendance and class participation.
In the United States, attendance and class participation account for a certain proportion of the scores, and points will be deducted for skipping classes. Although professors generally don't embarrass students in this respect, they must clearly understand the personal requirements of professors, whether to allow two unreasonable absences or not to give reasonable reasons every time. Actively participating in the class and expressing opinions will add points.
Although I have received what you sent me through brain waves in front of the screen? Surprised? But I have to say that in fact, the evaluation of students in American universities is not limited to these. ...
For example, some professors will give you a lecture task, or let you attend a forum activity lecture related to the course, and so on. These are all recorded in the course assessment. In short, as long as the tasks assigned to you by the professor are within the grading system, the final score of this course is the weighted average of all the above scores.
Now is really not the day for international students to get drunk, pick up girls and smoke marijuana every morning. The fact is, every time I ask what I'm doing recently, I always reply: either in the library or on my way to the library! I really don't want to be top student. Let me tell you about my previous exam schedule:
You must want to know, since your study pressure is exploding, how do you still have time to write articles? It is true that the study task is heavy, but the pressure is under control.
It is precisely because of this grading assessment system that there are many exam assignments at ordinary times and the final exam scores are not large, up to 20%. Generally speaking, as long as the final review is normal, the exam will play normally, and there is no need to sleep and review three days before the exam as in China.
In fact, I am very grateful to this meticulous and cumbersome grading system, and I value your performance every time, not once at the end of the term. It values the quality of your study every day, not the quality of the surprise three days before the exam. It values your thinking ability, not your memory ability. It values your all-round participation, not just the exam.