to recall on final exams. There too lies the shortcoming of half-year courses—they don’t give the depth and breadth of a subject that full-year courses do. As you can see, there are plusses and minuses to both types of course.
Typically you will require the equivalent of five full courses per year for three years for a standard Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree or four years for an Honours B.A. or B.Sc. degree. Similar requirements exist for other disciplines (e.g., Bachelor of Commerce, B.Comm.). Thus, in general, you will need approximately fifteen courses in three years or twenty courses in four years to graduate. However, the fifteen-course degree is being phased out in some institutions (e.g., University of Toronto). Also, an increasing number of students are taking more than five years to complete their twenty-course (four-year) degree. Regardless, you will need at least a C grade in most of your courses to graduate. Most universities only allow credit for a few D courses. Table 2.1 shows a typical grading scheme for universities.
Many universities offer certain specialty programs and with each program you will find other requirements (e.g., a minimum average grade in your last two years). Thus you should be sure that you understand the program you are enrolled in so that you don’t end up lacking the proper credits when you think you are finished.
Most universities also offer extension programs. Although these are usually intended to provide courses to people outside the university (such as teachers trying to upgrade themselves), they are also valuable to students who have failed or dropped a course. They provide a limited range of courses in various disciplines, usually outside the normal academic timetable (for example, in the evening throughout the year or during the day in the summer). Some students who don’t need to work in the summer may prefer to take a course or two then to lighten their course load during the normal academic year or to complete their degree requirements in a shorter time, as is possible with universities that have terms all year round. But generally only a smattering of courses is available outside the normal academic year so that such extension courses are not too useful to the full-time student. So if you are having trouble with a course, try to improve your performance rather than relying on the extension program to upgrade your marks. You will need the break that summer brings, for students who go at the study routine all year round are prone to mental fatigue.
Grades and Admissions
As we all know, no matter what anyone tells you, grades matter. Historically, high school grades have been the primary determinant for acceptance to college or university. Although not currently required for admission to Canadian universities, standardized tests (e.g., ACT, SAT) are the second most important factor affecting whether you are acceptable; if you are planning on applying to a university in the United States, you may be required to submit SAT or ACT scores. There is evidence that standardized admissions test scores are becoming more important than high school grades, most likely because of grade inflation at many high schools. Of course, each college and university selects students in different ways. Emphasis may be put not only on grades and admission test scores but other factors as well such as high school awards, extracurricular activities and application essays, among others.
Did You Know?
The College Board miscalculated the SAT scores of 4,000 students who had taken the test in October 2005. Some of the scores were over 200 points below what they should have been (out of a total of 2,400)!2
However, since high school grades and standardized admission test scores are the primary way admissions are determined, there have been many studies attempting to find out if these scores give any true indication of success once the student is enrolled. Are high school grades and admission test scores good predictors of student success in college or university?
Recent research has verified earlier studies showing that a student’s high school grades give the most accurate assessment of his or her GPA at college or university.3,4 While there is a relationship between high school success and postgraduate grades, typically students get lower grades at college and university than one would predict from their high school marks. In other words, high school grades overestimate later success.
SAT scores are a less accurate predictor of college or university GPA. It’s interesting that while women score lower on average on SAT than men, their SAT scores underestimate their success at college.5 It should also be noted that today’s colleges and universities are more ethnically diverse than ever before and while there are minor variations in results between ethnic groups and between students whose first languages differ from English, fundamentally the results are the same regardless of these aspects of student diversity. Each group brings richness to life after high school that is the heart of any college or university.
The next question that comes to mind is the following: “Is there any correlation between high school grades or admission test scores and graduation from college or university?” Research studies have shown that high grades in high school and high scores on standardized admission tests are both associated with a higher chance of postsecondary graduation.3,6 Thus it seems that using high school grades and/or admission test scores is still one of the best ways for admissions officers to select students for entrance to their college or university.
Did You Know?
It typically takes four to five years for students to complete what is considered a four-year degree. However, that’s the average and it’s not unusual for students to take six or more years to graduate from a four-year program. As a result, it’s common for students to discuss their progress towards graduation in terms of the number of courses taken as opposed to specific years of study.
It is important to keep in mind, however, that neither high school grades nor admissions test scores are perfect predictors of post-high school success even though they can determine whether acceptance to college or university is granted. As I’ve mentioned before, many students who did comparatively poorly in high school thrive in the less structured learning environment provided at college or university. In some cases those who have excelled in high school can fail for similar reasons.
A Word about Grade Points
Most universities also have a complicated grade point system in addition to percentage and letter grades. One system involves converting the percentage or letter grade to a 4.0-point scale, as shown in Table 2.1 for the University of Toronto. The GPA ranges used vary between universities, with some calculating grades on 4.33-point, 12-point or other scales.
Since this is of little concern to you at this stage and since the system in Canada varies from university to university, it will not be discussed further. I will make a point about this, however. I’ve never been able to understand the logic of converting a 100% scale to a 4.0 or other scale with 0.3 gradations, as is done in some grade point systems. This homogenizes the marks and distils them to a smaller number, putting students into groups. At the University of Toronto a student who gets 85% is given the same grade as one with 100%, completely destroying the concept of excellence. What’s more, depending on where you fall one percentage point of real marks can be quite significant. A 1% difference can mean either a 0.3 or a 0.4 difference in value (which actually represent 7.5% and 10% differences in grade point value, respectively). Similarly, a student with 80% gets only 0.3 less than a
