The first note: there must be room for choice in course selection.
Before finalizing the course, you should listen to as many different courses as possible to expand your choice. It is unwise and passive to carry a course through to the end. Because the individual's subjective desire may be far from reality. A course that you think you are very interested in may become very boring after a few classes, and it will be too late to give up this course or choose another course. Freshmen should avoid such classes. Generally, schools will give students time to audition, so you can choose as many courses as possible before the registration deadline. Specifically, if you decide to take 2 courses this semester, you can sign up for 4-5 courses first, and then go to various classrooms for audition during the course selection period to see the specific content, the level and style of professors, so as to select 2 courses that you like best and are most competent. Of course, for those students who are clear about the direction and center of their efforts, they can take relevant courses closely around their own direction and center to help them become some kind of experts.
The second note: do a good job of investigation and "know yourself and know yourself"
Before choosing a course, you should collect information about the course content from various channels, and understand the performance of teachers, evaluation requirements, the difficulty of homework and the amount of classroom reading. It is best to know in advance whether the course content is useful to you, whether you are interested, how the teaching and research level is, how to be a person, how to teach, etc., so as to "know yourself and know yourself".
You should read through the course introduction of this semester, next semester and one or two years. Because the course selection should be aimed at the whole degree, not one semester, two semesters, one city and one pool. The same required course, taught by different teachers, may be a world of difference. If the teacher in the second year is a respected professor, it is worth waiting for the second year. In addition, there is no need to read the introduction of each course carefully, which is basically useless. Every teacher will use beautiful academic language to describe his course, from which he can't see the quality of the course or whether he is correct. The best shortcut is to find an insightful and warm-hearted senior who can point out the subtlety of a course in a few words, because he has either taken this course or knows the background and style of the professor who teaches it. I believe that as long as there is communication, there will be gains.
Choosing a course is largely about choosing a teacher. Some teachers give high marks and pass the exam easily; Some classes are strictly controlled by teachers; Some teachers have a good reputation, students like his classes, feel that they can learn something, and are satisfied with his performance evaluation criteria. You can choose according to your actual situation. Sometimes the name and content of a course are very attractive, but if you find that the professor is a "black boy" and you can't focus too much on this course, you can consider giving up this course. The so-called "killer" professors usually have a lot of exams and homework, and their scores are not high, so they are generally unpopular with students. Of course, students who are interested in making academic achievements can focus on the academic ability and ideas of professors.
After knowing the object in detail, choose courses with different depth and difficulty according to the individual's foundation and potential. In addition, I also want to remind you that college exams are different from middle schools. Almost all middle school exams are written. Some college courses rely on examination, some rely on homework assessment, and some have both. Students can decide the choice of courses according to their accustomed assessment methods. In order to foster strengths and avoid weaknesses and reduce the pressure of study, it is best to choose your favorite assessment method. This is the need for self-knowledge.
Remember: Full and accurate information can reduce the blindness of course selection. On the other hand, if you do things based on interest or practicality, do not pay attention to personal conditions and learning strategies, and do not do a good job of investigation, you may suffer big losses and encounter unexpected troubles in the later course selection. You can listen to more people's experiences. Before choosing a course, you can ask your brothers and sisters which courses the teacher speaks better and which courses you can learn. After all, it takes time to listen to the course selection, and you should be rewarded accordingly. In addition, you can ask them about the number and difficulty of specialized courses, so as to arrange your own study time. Know yourself and know yourself, and the course selection will be targeted.
Third note: academic performance is very important, but it does not exclude interest.
Every year, when it comes to course selection, many people on the school BBS will ask which teacher gives high marks and which teacher has a good temper, which seems to be a "complication" of self-selected courses. Especially now, college students should look at their grades when looking for a job, when going abroad, when evaluating scholarships, and take grades as the primary index to evaluate a student's ability. As a result, some students, after some tossing, locked in the famous "good people" in the whole school. Regardless of interest and usefulness, as long as they got high marks, they chose and were willing to feel at ease. In the face of pressure, there is nothing wrong with paying attention to grades when choosing courses, but grades should not be the only criterion for choosing courses. As the saying goes, interest is the best teacher. Learn what you like and you won't regret it. Moreover, starting from interest, you will have the impulse to learn, you will focus all your attention on the past, you will study hard, and you will spend time and energy. On the whole, your grades will not be bad. Remember, getting used to doing things with interest as soon as possible will make your life more exciting and your personality more attractive.
Fourth note: several phenomena should be avoided.
(1) Avoid "greed for more"
Students are lucky enough to jump into the vast ocean and climb the peak. They are afraid to spend four years of youth, and they still can't see the other side of the sea and the glory of the summit. Therefore, many students see many attractive courses on the curriculum and hope to take them all at once. In this way, they are in trouble: either they are tired of coping, spend all their time studying and make themselves very tired; Either the energy and ability are limited, resulting in low grades in some classes, and I am still very tired because I can't learn anything. Nowadays, many schools use GPA to evaluate students, both in terms of the quantity and quality of learning. Therefore, if you want to get high-quality learning, you should prioritize the courses you are interested in and make arrangements for priorities. At the beginning of the first semester, we should pay special attention not to choose too many heavy classes, so as not to bring ourselves a heavy homework burden. You know, the gap in time doesn't need to be filled, it can be used to sort out thoughts and digest what you have learned. If you study every minute, you won't have time to reflect, and slowly you won't know what you are doing and what your purpose is. I suggest you slow down and avoid making your schedule too full. That doesn't mean we advocate not being ambitious. On the contrary, it encourages you to do what you can and design your own road to success. In fact, learning to take time off from work and relax in your spare time is conducive to maintaining enough motivation and calmly facing academic challenges.
Another reason to suggest that you don't be greedy is that the university is an open and pluralistic social group with various extracurricular activities, especially various community activities. It is not only an important part of the spiritual life of teachers and students in colleges and universities, but also an important aspect of understanding the school. You should make good use of it, learn life knowledge, absorb new knowledge and learn how to get along with others. The course arrangement is tense and relaxed. If you set aside flexible time appropriately, you will have more time to develop your talents and potential in campus study and life.
Remember: what you really should master is the ability to make appropriate choices according to your personal situation.
(2) Avoid "blind course selection"
Some students, especially freshmen, tend to go to two extremes when choosing courses because of their shallow experience and lack of autonomy. At one extreme, I think four years is still a long time, so we can choose slowly. As a result, when senior students are busy with internships, graduation projects and job hunting, they are still rushing for credits; At the other extreme, some people are interested in many courses at the same time and find it difficult to choose, or they are desperate to take some courses because they pay too much attention to practicality. Therefore, they are passive in their study. Freshmen are advised to read the training manual carefully several times, find out how many credits they want to complete in four years, what they plan to study in four years, and make a general plan. Each school generally has different methods and guidance for freshmen's course selection. It is best for students to consult the relevant person in charge after registration, so as not to miss important events for a while. Now many schools are equipped with tutors, and one of the main tasks of tutors is to help you choose courses. Before you choose a course, you should discuss it with your tutor and listen to his advice. If your tutor doesn't come to you, or even if you don't have a tutor, don't be shy and ask. If you think this is their responsibility, don't think that I have caused you trouble. If you are thin-skinned, you will suffer a lot.
In addition, attention should be paid to the appropriate combination of difficulty and difficulty when selecting courses. Don't be an easy-to-understand course all semester, and you will be exhausted next semester. Especially in the first semester, I just came in from high school and will not adapt to the study and life of the university. Therefore, I must think more and choose carefully. It's best to choose easier and familiar courses, and it's best to choose more difficult courses later.
(3) Avoid "avoiding the heavy and avoiding the light"
A common phenomenon in course selection is that some students love to drill loopholes and choose subjects that are easy to pass or get high marks, which will hinder the improvement of their knowledge structure and the development of their personality.
(4) Avoid paying too much attention to practicality.
Today, with the increasing employment pressure, it seems understandable that college students become more and more snobbish. But from the long-term development of students, is this necessarily a good thing?
To choose courses for quick success and instant benefit, we only need to take "imbalance between cold and heat" as an elective course in practical universities.
Xinhuanet Shanghai Channel 165438+ 10/5 October News College students' choice of elective courses is becoming increasingly single: students are keen to take practical courses closely related to employment, such as economic management, second foreign language, social etiquette, etc., and become "hot items". However, elective courses such as political science, philosophy and appreciation of famous works are very unpopular, and many courses have to reduce the class size in the end, and the attendance rate of these "unpopular" courses is also relatively low.
Experts believe that college students' "partial eclipse" in elective courses reflects the utility of what they have learned, which may help students find jobs after graduation in the short term, but in the long run it goes against the original intention of elective courses and is not conducive to the improvement of comprehensive quality. Elective courses should be colorful and let a hundred flowers blossom.
Elective course: big gap between hot and cold
Teacher Zhou from the Academic Affairs Office of Tongji University showed the reporter the registration form of elective courses for the 2002-2003 academic year. The reporter found that "practical" elective courses such as economic management and second foreign language were generally registered enthusiastically, and many large classes with 150 students had to expand their enrollment. However, most social science elective courses such as philosophy and ethics are not full, and there are few large classes with more than 100 students; The capacity of individual courses is 120 people, and only 59 people have signed up, less than half.
The reporter also learned from other universities that general elective courses such as securities investment, logistics management and Japanese are often signed up by two or three hundred people, and finally there will be extra seats in the classroom, but many elective courses in humanities and social sciences are unsatisfactory.
Teacher Zhou pointed out that although many schools require students to take courses related to literature, science and engineering in order to get certain credits, in fact, many students are not interested in most of the "non-practical" elective courses required by schools, and some even regard classes as "going through the motions" just to get credits, so some courses are not only small in number, but also common in skipping classes.
Student: "Practicality" is the standard.
Xiao Shao is a sophomore majoring in environmental engineering in Tongji University. He has been making stocks after school since his freshman year. He told reporters that the elective courses he chose in several semesters were all related to stock investment, such as securities investment and financial engineering, because the practical knowledge he learned from the elective courses helped him a lot. Xiao Shao has no doubt that his comprehensive quality is unbalanced and he is almost blank about some traditional cultures, but he still prefers "practical" elective courses.
Ruan, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering at Shanghai University, believes that it is difficult to attract current students if what the teacher says is not "immediate". He and many of his classmates regard "practicality" as an important criterion for choosing subjects. Xiao Ruan said that this year's elective courses are public relations and modern logistics. Because I will graduate soon, it will be helpful to learn some knowledge about interpersonal communication.
Expert: You should not be eager for quick success and instant benefit.
Tong Xuefeng, deputy director of the Academic Affairs Office of Tongji University, pointed out that college students should regard elective courses as a "big stage" to improve their comprehensive quality, and should not be limited to short-term goals such as employment and postgraduate entrance examination. Don't be eager for quick success and instant benefit in elective courses.
Teacher Tong believes that it is worthy of recognition and understanding that college students are willing to improve their practical skills. However, the reason why universities have various types of elective courses is to provide students with colorful opportunities for further study, and college students should cherish such opportunities. In fact, a lot of knowledge is not only practical but also interesting in the long run, such as selected readings of classic works, Sun Tzu's art of war and so on. Many students will be fascinated by these courses and learn a lot of useful knowledge from them. Therefore, it is really a pity that college students choose courses too utilitarian, just like giving up the whole forest for a tree.
As an experienced person, I sincerely advise all students not to choose courses in order to lay the foundation for future employment. The idea that "you must take a series of courses if you want to engage in a certain profession" is biased, which will make you miss the opportunity and unable to accept the edification of a complete humanities discipline.
Fifth note: learn more about the school's regulations on course selection.
Do you want to be a free man when you first enter college?
If so, you should know how to abide by the corresponding code of conduct.
In order to standardize and orderly management, each school has relevant regulations on course selection, which are generally printed into manuals and distributed to students, or put on the Internet, so that students can easily find them. However, many students often ignore these regulations of the school, wait for problems, then look carefully and find various reasons to ask the department for leniency, but it is too late. The rules of the game are like this and unreasonable. The best way to avoid this situation is to understand these regulations and make good use of them to prevent problems before they happen.
(1) Understand the requirements of course type, number of courses or credits.
Most schools have requirements for students' course types, number of courses or credits per semester. Students can't exceed this rule in principle. For example, some schools or departments stipulate that students can only choose compulsory courses in the first semester, and some schools stipulate that students can only choose one elective course in the first semester. Some schools have restrictions on credits per semester. For example, in Peking University, the limit is 14 ~ 25 credits, which cannot be lower than 14 credits or higher than 25 credits. If it exceeds, the course selection system will randomly delete your course selection results. The regulations in this respect vary greatly from school to school.
(2) Understand the provisions of dropping out of school and making up lessons.
Schools generally stipulate that students can change or withdraw from the selected courses within a certain period of time after the start of school. If you don't leave the class after the specified time, the school will make a mark on your report card. Therefore, if you find that the selected courses do not meet your own needs or are too difficult, you should take the initiative to go through the formalities of co-option or withdrawal as soon as possible. Remember, you must finish before the deadline for changing classes or abandoning classes. Here are a few key words to master: a. Deadline for course registration; B. change the course deadline; C. the deadline for giving up a course. In the last two deadlines, some schools overlap and some will separate. But what is certain is that the date of this "last chance" must be a few weeks after the course registration deadline. This period of time is the time for students to look around and choose. Your tutor and teacher are unlikely to remind you of these important dates. The best way is to find out early. When you first arrive, ask the academic teacher in the department immediately, or check online. Be sure to pay close attention to these dates, find out these important dates, and basically find the rhythm of course selection.
I also need to remind you that you must read the course selection manual carefully before choosing a course, and first understand the course content, the requirements of the recipients and the requirements of choosing a course. In addition, we must seriously study and study the training plan of the corresponding major, complete the credits of each course specified in the training plan, pay attention to the course category of each course, and pay attention to our own course selection scope.
In a word, we must know all kinds of regulations in detail.