Foundations for University Success: Academic Basics for First-Year Students
Pre University
Before classes, students deal with the registration process. This initially focuses on what course and payments.
Once registration has started students will be given general information about the university and other details, then students are assigned an advisor, and then students are required to make decisions about what classes you want to registered for during the first semester.
Your advisor should be in the same area as your course and can help you with a range of issues covering academic matters, courses and classes, official things like withdrawing from courses, taking time out or even options like a year abroad.
The first semester will involve registering for general courses (GE- general education) and course-specific courses. The amount depends on the university but currently are at either 6 or 7 courses for the first semester.
First university classes
After registering for classes you will start your first lessons. These normally begin with an introduction to the course. In this lesson you will learn the following:
- Course objectives – an overview of what you will earn
- Course syllabus – the timetable of weekly lessons, exams, holidays, and the subject of each lesson
- Course details – there are some rules at university, such as no plagiarism
- Course grading – e.g. assignments (30%),midterm exam (30%),final exam(40%)
Course semester
A course semester is 15 weeks of lessons, normally two lessons per week of 90 minutes. An example of a syllabus length is as follows:
- 8 weeks lectures
- 1 week Reading week
- 1 week Mid term exams
- 7 weeks lectures
- 2 weeks final exams
This includes days university is closed for holiday, but not holiday breaks such as Christmas or Easter.
Reading week differs depending on the university. There is generally only one week before mid term exams, if at all, but they can exist before the fnal exams as well.
University grades
The standard grading system at university is as follows:
- A: 80% or over
- B+: 75% or over
- B: 70% or over
- C+: 65% or over
- C: 60% or over
- D+: 55% or over
- D: 50% or over
- F(ail): lower 50%
Vocabulary building
Building your vocabulary is an essential part of preparing for university. Our guide offers tips and resources to help you expand your word knowledge and communicate more effectively in academic settings.
School vs University terms
- Class / class
- Lesson / lecture
- Teacher / lecturer, professor, Ajarn (Thailand)
- Test / exam
- Term / semester
- Homework / assignment, coursework
- School grounds / campus
- ‘at’ campus / onsite (not online)
- Help / support team
- Sign up / registration
- Payments / fees
- Online platforms – Microsoft Teams or Zoom
- enrollment – the process of registering and officially joining a course or program at a university
- lecture – a formal presentation by a professor or other expert on a specific topic
- seminar – a class in which students and a professor discuss and analyze a specific topic
- academic advisor – a faculty member who assists students in making academic decisions, choosing courses, and planning their academic career
- syllabus – a document outlining the requirements and expectations for a course
- prerequisite – a course that must be taken before a student can take a more advanced course
other terms:
- GPA – grade point average, a measure of a student’s academic performance based on their grades
- thesis – a long research paper or project that is written by a student as a requirement for a degree
- Undergraduate degree – student
- Postgraduate degree – ‘postgrad’ student
return to the home page for the pre-sessional English course