Expectations Of Students

This section of the Students Again website lists a set of the basic expectations of you as a student as you progress through a course. These lists are by no means exhaustive, but will provide a general idea of the expectations for most of your basic college courses.

Reading

You will be expected to:

• Vary your reading speed and method according to the type of material and your purpose.
• Read at a twelfth grade level. A typical college courses will cover approximately one chapter per week. Depending on your degree, expect to read a minimum of one hundred pages per week.
• Recognize the main ideas of what you are reading and summarize the supporting arguments.
• Be able to derive meaning through context.
• Recognize the different purposes and types of writing.
• Analyze what you read to determine validity.
• Know how to prepare a research plan, list information sources, collect information, and decide what is important for your purposes.

Writing Competencies

You will be expected to:

• Vary your writing style for different readers.
• Understand the writing process.
• Write and recognize a thesis statement.
• Organize your ideas into a logical structure.
• Support an idea or opinion with relevant and specific material.
• Write in a clear and concise manner.
• Submit papers prepared on a computer or word processor.
• Use correct grammar, mechanics, and spelling.

Speaking And Listening

You will be expected to:

• Discuss subjects informally and formally in most college classes.
• Participate in class discussion.
• Answer questions asked logically and concisely.
• Explain the reasoning used to solve a problem.
• Express and support your personal positions on an issues.
• Produce effective oral presentations.
• Use good grammar and pronounce words correctly.
• Follow written and spoken instructions.
• Summarize or interpret another person's point of view.

Mathematics

You will be expected to:

• Use numbers and sets of numbers to solve problems or explain ideas.
• Represent and use numbers in a variety of forms.
• Convert a value from one form to another.
• Explain algebraic equations and inequalities.
• Set up and solve linear equations with two unknowns.
• Understand the difference between a function and an equation.
• Model real-world events.
• Graph equations.
• Use data collection and analysis, statistics, and probability to set up and solve problems
• Use geometric concepts, properties, and relationships to problems.
• Use a variety of tools to measure quantities.
• Perform basic arithmetic operations.
• Follow mathematical rules.

Literature And Fine Arts

You will be expected to:

• Know what defines literary quality.
• Know what defines artistic or musical quality.
• Know the characteristics that tend to define each stylistic era.
• Describe how images and themes reinforce meaning.
• Be able to analyze the characteristics of a creative work.
• Relate literature to the historical and political events of the time.

Foreign Language

You will be expected to:

• Understand and respond to oral directions given in the language.
• Ask and answer questions in the given language.
• Understand simple reading assignments.
• Write simple compositions.
• Use correct grammar.
• Demonstrate a working vocabulary.
• Develop an understanding of the cultures of the peoples who speak the language.
• Identify geographical regions where the language is spoken.

Social Sciences

You will be expected to:

• Draw conclusions and interpret geographic information.
• Recognize the economic and political importance of particular places.
• Know the basic concepts of economics.
• Describe the foundations, processes, and basic principles of various forms of government.
• Know the major events of U.S., European, and World history.

Sciences

You will be expected to:

• Have experience designing science experiments, proposing hypotheses, and evaluating the experiment’s results.
• Have direct, hands-on laboratory experience.
• Use scientific thinking to analyze results or present findings.
• Use basic biology knowledge.
• Use basic space and earth science knowledge.
• Compare and contrast how people use technology differently.
• Apply scientific thinking to real problems and understand common connections.
• Understand that knowledge changes as new information becomes available and new theories replace old ones.
• Recognize that progress in science affects and is affected by economics, politics, and cultural values.
• Identify cause and effect relationships.