Laboratory Works 5.1-5.4

 Lab. Work 5.1

1.                  You’ll hear five speakers talking about problems they or their relatives face while studying. Fill in the chart with the information given in the recording. Be especially precise with the column “Your solution to the problem”; here, you’re supposed to give your personal advice to avoid or ease the problems mentioned by the speakers.

Speaker	Problem	Signs of the Problem	Your Solution to the Problem
1	examination	We need to assess the ability to learn: this type of exam or learning license would be more useful for students, employers and society in general. It shows which candidates are good at, say, engineering, but it also shows actually which can think as an engineer.	Maybe the combining of traditional ways of assessment and this one will be the best way to examine both theoretical knowledge and basic practical skills, but personally I think that traditional way to examine is much more effective.
2	father’s concerns about his daughter’s study	Tired face, sleepless nights etc. The girl is studying for 3 levels preparing for medical school. She is working hard. She works nights and weekends to prepare for her exams. She is dedicated to her studies.	Of course, all parents worry about the study of their children. But sometimes they press on their children too hard.  They are to help them with the choice, but not to be too exhausted. They become blind when seeing children’ exhausted faces and behavior. I think that have to rely on our personal choices and learn to make their own choices. Parents should just help and support them.
3	The person is too hard on himself trying to enter the university (exhaustion during the preparation for entrance exams)	He lost his weight, he has big black rings under his eyes. He sleeps for 3 or 4 hours a day. He didn’t sleep at all during the last 3 or 4 days.	Any exam is stress. Entrance exams are the hardest time in the life of every student. Children need to spend more time walking and breathing fresh air, also they need vitamins and ,of course, while they’re preparing for exams they need to sleep at least 6-7 hours.
4	The lack of confidence while writing the exam.	He never thought of himself like a highflyer, he never excepted such high results.	Many students are not sure of their future results as they lack confidence and afraid to fail. So I think that we should be ready for the worst, but should be ready for the best.
5	Using technology while conducting exams.	The results would be able to get much faster, 40% of all exams will be conducting electronically in a couple of years, online tests and registration will follow.	Nowadays, it’s impossible to imagine a day without new technologies.  It can be very helpful during exams. We can safe lot of time using it. I think that it is to be used in schools and universities.

2.                  Have you ever experienced problems while studying?  What were these problems like? How did you cope with them?

The most difficult problem for me is my nervousness, I can’t cope with it, I try to organize my time, to think over everything, but I can’t cope with my emotions.

3.                  What are other difficulties that contemporary university students face while studying? When do the problems usually occur? Are there special stresses that cause them? Do you agree that the quality learning is “the travel of hardships”? Give account of about 100 words on the questions mentioned.

Studying in university at modern times can be daunting and fun period of student life. I want to touch upon the more burning issues here. 

First of all, modern day university students face financial problems. Students in universities today have the greatest of responsibility of manage their budget and plan whole year activities. Getting a part time job at campus or outside campus is a better option for students. Another great concern to university students is getting their desired course in universities. Friends and roommates are often make the problems for each other. Students are living together in close quarters and seeing each other each day, this is very difficult.

If conflicts do arise, it is best to get others  involved so that the spirit of community, unity, and peace at the college can continue to be upheld. I’am agree that learning is “the travel of hardships”, because, there are lots of things which students need to concentrate of a better and fruitful university life.

Lab. Work 5.2

Listen to a talk given by a university advisor to a group of students and answer the following questions:

1.    What is the standard grading system in the USA? 
Satisfactory and unsatisfactory grades.  Academic grading in the United States is a standard letter grading system of A, B, C, D, and F—A being the highest and F - the lowest.

2.    What are the ‘special grades’ that the speaker mentions in the recording?

     She mentions satisfactory (S) and unsatisfactory (U) grades, but it is not taken for all the courses at the university, as the majority prefer the standard letter grades.

3. Comment on the standard grading system in your country?
There is a 5-grade system in Russia. The mark 5 is excellent, 4-good, 3-satisfactory, 2 – unsatisfactory.

4. Do schools and colleges practice non-standard grading systems? What are they?
In Russia, it becomes popular to give marks in percents. In the British and American colleges, they may have credit – non credit for some types of courses.

5.    Give examples of other grading systems throughout the world? Which of them do you think are efficient for the students’ academic assessment?

Iran

Academic grading in Iran

In schools, grades are based on 20. Depending on the school and the grade of study, a good mark varies, but in most occasions 16 or higher is considered to be a good one.

This system of grading based on 20 is also common in universities, but sometimes percent scoring is also used in higher educational systems.

Grade  Scale 1 Scale 2 Description

18-20   A+       5          Excellent

16-17.99         A         4 Very Good

14-15.99         B         3 Good

12-13.99         C         2 Satisfactory

10-11.99         D         1Acceptable (10 = Pass)

0-9.99  E/F      0          Fail

Denmark

In 2007, Denmark replaced its age-old 13-scale grading system with a simpler, 7-step-scale system. They did this to begin to conform to a European standard called the ECTS scale, but also because, hey, 13 possible grades makes for a lot more work for teachers. Here’s how the old 13-scale used to work:

13 – given for the exceptionally independent and excellent performance.

11 – given for the independent and excellent performance

10 – given for the excellent but not particularly independent performance

9 – given for the good performance, a little above average

8 – given for the average performance

7 – given for the mediocre performance, slightly below average

6 – given for the just acceptable performance

5 – given for the hesitant and not satisfactory performance

03 – given for the very hesitant, very insufficient and unsatisfactory performance

00 – given for the completely unacceptable performance

Those gaps you see between 00 & 03, 03 & 5 and 11 & 13 help signify variations between those grades. Anything under a 6 is a failing grade, while a 13 is rarely given. 00 is just about impossible to achieve, reserved for truly incompetent performance. At exams, 00 is given to students attending, but who cannot answer a single question. According to this post, “one of the reasons why the 13 scale was replaced with the 7 scale was because of the grade 13. 13s are only given to the students that have gone above and beyond the stated curriculum. To gain it you needed to know more than what was taught in class. It required truly independent study. As none other EU countries used grades above perfect understanding of the curriculum, 13 were untranslatable to other grading systems.”

Australia

In the land down under, many schools and universities use a “band” grading system which looks like this:

90–99.95% BAND 6

80–89% BAND 5

70–79% BAND 4

60–69% BAND 3

50–59% BAND 20–49% BAND 1

http://www.worldsstrangest.com/mental-floss/plus-grading-systems/

Japan

In Japan, most higher education institutions give grades on a scale from 0–100, but a few universities apply letter grades. While for years an "A" grade range was from 80 to 100 points, some schools (for example, at Kurume University) have started to give the 90 to 100 point range a special grade to indicate excellence. A failing grade is generally called an "E", though some institutions use "F".

Scale   Letter Grade

90-100 Excellent (AA, or T)

80-89   A

70-79   B

60-69   C

0-59     Fail (E or F)

Lab. Work 5.3

 Listen to a talk by a student advisor on campus. Answer the following questions.

1.                  What are the rules for dropping a course in the talk provided?

Sometimes students can drop the course within the first three week of the semester. First, you need to get the signature of the professor whose course you want to drop on the official drop card. Then you need to go to a student advisor on campus to get the signature of your adviser.

2.                  What warnings does the student advisor give?

Students can’t officially drop the course after the first three weeks of the semester or your grades can suffer. You need to take the signature of the professor. If students have problems in a course and they decide to let it run if they want to drop the course – it is impossible to do so. Second, if students stop attending a course without going through the official drop procedures, the course will remain on your schedule and you will receive a failing grade.

3.                  How can you avoid getting a failing grade, according to the recording?

It is important to understand these procedures and follow them. If you do so, you will not have any problems.

4.                  What are the official drop procedures for the elective courses in your country?

To drop a course students in Russia need to have special permission from the professor or they need to have a sick voucher.

Lab. Work 5.4

Listen to a talk given on a college campus.

1.         What are the places of a college campus that the speaker mentions in the recording?

The Library

The Students’ Center: bookstore, post office, a bank, a theatre, a coffee shop, a travel agency, bowling alley

The Administration complex: offices of the university administrators, the students’ records office

2.         Can you find the similar campus places in your college/university? What are other places that are worth mentioning? Characterize them briefly.

I can find some similar campus places in our institute. However, there is no bank, theatre, travel agency and bowling alley.

Reading room

In the Library we can find has a quiet room.  Here we can use computers and the Internet, photocopier, colour printing, can take some books, etc.

Parking

Near the Institute, we have parking, but it’s limited and can be difficult to obtain.  The institut recommends using public transportation whenever possible.  If traveling by car, please be aware that the University does not offer any public parking, and street parking is limited by meters. 

Cafeterias

There are some food-service areas: a major cafeteria (ground floor) and a smaller deli (first floor). There is also a little shop where students can buy some snack.

Hall of residence

A house for students who live far away from the institute.

The college copy center

Often students are required to provide multiple copies of an assignment for a class or other documents. 

Ballroom

A place where students have discos and little performances.

The big concert hall

A place for important events and activities

3.         Pick out the places from the previous task and make a similar tour around your college/university to inform the freshmen about the campus.

Firstly, it may seem to you that you can get lost, there so many corridors and rooms, but you’ll adapt. There's the residence hall, the nearest dining center, and many classrooms.

Parking is located near our institute, it is limited and can be difficult to obtain.  It’ll be better for you to use public transport.

On the territory of campus there are two halls of residence for the students who live far away from the institute, for instance in other towns and cities.

There is also the big concert hall for important events, shows and activities.

If you need a quiet place for studying go to reading room. There you can use computers with access to the Internet, a photocopier, color printing and much more.  

 Often students are required to provide multiple copies of an assignment for a class or other documents. In this case, you should go to the college copy center.

There is the bookstore in the institute, there you can buy there all necessary books and can order the books, that they have no at the moment.
In the Institute, we have two food-service areas: a dining hall and a small cafeteria. There also some small shops, there students can buy some food and drinks.
Finally, don’t be afraid of being a student. Welcome to our Institute!