Glossary: Terms You Need to Know
Value
HIGH SCHOOL
COLLEGE
Personal Freedom
  • High school is mandatory and free.
  • Your time is usually structured by others.
  • You can count on parents and teacher to remind you of your responsibilities and to guide you in setting priorities.
  • College is voluntary and expensive.
  • You manage your own time.
  • You have to take responsibility for what you do and don’t do, as well as for the consequences of your decisions.
Teachers and Professors
  • Teachers check your completed homework.
  • Teachers remind you of incomplete work.
  • Teachers approach you if they think you need help.
  • Teachers are often available for help before, during, or after class.
  • Teachers have been trained in teaching methods to assist in imparting knowledge to students.
  • Teachers present material to help you understand what you read in the textbook.
  • Teachers often remind you of assignments and due dates.




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  • Professors may not always check completed homework, but they will assume you can perform the same tasks on tests.
  • Professors will not remind you of incomplete work.
  • Professors are usually open and helpful, but most expect you to initiate contact if you need help.
  • Professors expect and want you to attend their scheduled office hours.
  • Professors may not follow the textbooks.
  • Professors may lecture nonstop, expecting you to identify the important points in your notes.
  • Professors expect you to read, save, and follow the course syllabus (outline).  The syllabus spells out exactly what is expected of you, when it is due, and how you will be graded.
Tests
  • Testing is frequent and covers small amounts of material.
  • Makeup tests are often possible.
  • Teachers frequently conduct review sessions.
  • Mastery is usually seen as the ability to reproduce what you were taught in the form in which it was presented to you, or to solve the kinds of problems you were shown how to solve.



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  • Testing is usually infrequent and may be cumulative, covering large amounts of material.  A particular course may have only 2-3 tests in a semester.
  • Makeup tests are seldom an option.  If they are, you need to ask for them.
  • Professors rarely offer review sessions, and when they do, they expect you to be an active participant, one who comes prepared with questions.
  • Mastery is often seen as the ability to apply what you’ve learned to new situations or to solve new kinds of problems.
Grades
  • Grades are given for most assigned work.
  • Consistently good homework grades may help raise your overall grade when test grades are low.
  • Initial test grades, especially when they are low, may not have a negative effect on your final grade.
  • You may graduate as long as you have passed all required courses with a D or higher.
  • Guiding principle:  “Effort counts.”
  • Courses are usually structured to reward “trying.”

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  • Grades may not be given for all assigned work.
  • Grades on tests and major papers usually provide most of the course grade.
  • Watch out for your first tests.  These are usually “wake up calls” to let you know what is expected – but they also may count for a substantial part of your course grade.  You may be shocked when you get your first grades.
  • You may graduate only if your average in classes meets the departmental standard – typically a 2.0 or C.
  • Guiding principle:  “Results count.”  Although “trying” is important, it will not substitute for results in the grading process.