Summer Courses Length

[axialpac]

_________

Nevermind!

[ditde]

Isn't the point of summer courses to just pass it and get the credits for those tough prerequisite courses? Medical schools won't count those grades towards your GPA, and therefore it's advantageous to take the courses that you find difficult during the summer if they're available. That's the advice that a med student gave me recently, I'll be doing Calc II in the summer of next year because of this.

[axialpac]

Isn't the point of summer courses to just pass it and get the credits for those tough prerequisite courses? Medical schools won't count those grades towards your GPA, and therefore it's advantageous to take the courses that you find difficult during the summer if they're available. That's the advice that a med student gave me recently, I'll be doing Calc II in the summer of next year because of this.

It depends on the school. I would love to attend UofM Medical School and they take summer courses into account. McMaster and UofO do as well. Since I had to drop a course (unfortunately) I need to make up the credits.

 

Anyways, my question is, how difficult is it to study for year long/semester long courses that are condensed into 1 month?

[aaronjw]

Isn't the point of summer courses to just pass it and get the credits for those tough prerequisite courses? Medical schools won't count those grades towards your GPA, and therefore it's advantageous to take the courses that you find difficult during the summer if they're available. That's the advice that a med student gave me recently, I'll be doing Calc II in the summer of next year because of this.

 

Except for those schools who look at all your grades

[future_doc]

Anyways, my question is, how difficult is it to study for year long/semester long courses that are condensed into 1 month?

 

Challenging but very doable so long as you have cleared the decks.

[charmer08]

Hi,

 

I was just curious about the difficulty of taking summer courses. In my university, most of the summer courses (including the classes I'm interested in taking) are about 1 month long (~25 days), even the 6 credit hour ones. Is it hard to cram/study for a year long/semester long course in 1 month and get an A+? The courses I'll be taking are not hard courses or anything (i.e biochem, organic) but courses like psychology (6 credits), sociology, anthropology etc. with lots of memorization. Keep in mind that I have other commitments, such as volunteering, part-time job etc.

 

If you think you should be able to keep up with the readings, then go ahead. Expect about 200 pages of readings a week (for some, it may be a lot whereas for others, not much). Its going to be the same as full time school during the FW session... but instead of have 5 diff courses, you'll be having the same course those 5 days lol.

[future_doc]

Keep in mind that I have other commitments, such as volunteering, part-time job etc.

 

I suggested you clear the decks, i.e., don't do etc, don't do part=time job, at most do part-time volunteering. Otherwise, you may not be able to handle it all. Prioritize.

[JB.]

Typically year long courses are broken into two blocks of approximately 6 weeks/course. At most you can take 2 courses/block. Two courses at a time is very difficult, but one per block is definately doable. I did gen chem 1 and 2 last summer. I got 100 in both courses. I worked hard, through the week, but I don't remember doing too much homework over the weekend. You just have to stay on top of things. It is very easy to get behind when you're covering a chapter per day.

 

You know your strengths. Chemistry comes easy to me. There are other courses that I may not have had such a good outcome in if I took them over the summer. Regardless of whether or not your grades count, aim to do well. There is a reason certain courses are pre-reqs to other courses. It's in your best interest to master the foundation or you're going to have some difficulty building on that in later courses.