Laboratory Works - Higher Education

 MP3 AUDIO 5.1 1. You’ll hear five speakers talking about problems they or their relatives face while studying. Fill in the chart with the information given in the recording. Be especially precise with the column “Your solution to the problem”; here, you’re supposed to give your personal advice to avoid or ease the problems mentioned by the speakers.

Speaker	Problem	Signs of the Problem	Your Solution to the Problem
1	examination	Testing only facts	Introduction of the tests which would test students’ learning abilities
2	Preparation to the exams	tired face, sleepless nights etc.	Arrange a plan or schedule when this or that subject should be learnt
3	Getting to university	Sleepless nights	Arrange a plan or schedule when this or that subject should be learnt
4	Score system	Understated self-esteem, diffidence
5	Assessments with the help of technology	Problems with technology (registration on online testing sites, starvation)	Development and improvement of such kind of examination

 2. Have you ever experienced problems while studying?  What were these problems like? How did you cope with them?When opening the book, I start crying,having headache, fear, extreme sadness, blur, cannot concentrate, anxious and hatred. I felt so hopeless, restless, useless, sad, headache, trouble sleeping.  I was moody, angry, very fatigue, no appetite, extreme sadness, loneliness and headache.I try to solve such kind of problems by refocusing on more pleasant and interesting things from time to time. I talk to my mom, go out with friends.3. What are other difficulties that contemporary university students face while studying? When do the problems usually occur? Are there special stresses that cause them? Do you agree that the quality learning is “the travel of hardships”? Give account of about 100 words on the questions mentioned.
The social side of student life can be the most enjoyable and for some students it will be their first taste of independence. You'll make new friends, discover new and exciting opportunities and get involved in things that you have never tried before. However, some people find themselves unprepared and the responsibility that comes with this new-found freedom hard to deal with, such as:·                            dealing with changing friendships
·                            coping with new financial demands
·                            balancing social life with academic life
 These are some of the common transitional issues that students face:§                       Loneliness; lack of connection, social life, or friends
§                       Roommate conflicts or relationship issues
§                       Depression and anxiety
§                       Using unhealthy coping behaviors such as binge drinking
§                       Inappropriate study/academic skills
§                       Uncertainty about major and purpose in college
I completely agree with the statement that the quality learning is “the travel of hardships because it is proved by me own example that the quality of your studying depends on your ability to solve all your problems which rise almost every day.
  MP3 AUDIO 5.2 Listen to a talk given by a university advisor to a group of students and answer the following questions:1.   What is the standard grading system in the USA?
2.   What are the ‘special grades’ that the speaker mentions in the recording?
3. Comment on the standard grading system in your country?4. Do schools and colleges practice non-standard grading systems? What are they?5. Give examples of other grading systems throughout the world? Which of them do you think are efficient for the students’ academic assessment? 

1. it’s the grading system of A, B, C, D, E or F. At the end of each semester, you will be given a grade for the quality and quantity of your work in a given class. A student’s academic standing is determined by the number of credits (classes) completed and his or her GPA.

2. the special grades are called satisfactory and non-satisfactory grades. It includes the grading system of A, B, C, D, E or F.3.This system, with minor changes, has been in use in Russian schools since 1837. Between 1917 and 1935, the Communist government had tried to implement a radically new evaluation system with no grades at all, but it never fully took root.Qualifiers + and – are often used to add some degree of differentiation between the grades, e.g. 4+ is better than 4 but not as good as 5–. Grading varies greatly from school to school, university to university and even teacher to teacher, and tends to be entirely subjective even for courses that lend themselves to objective marking such as mathematics and applied sciences. Even though the grades technically range from "1" to "5", "1" is not very common and is rarely given for academic reasons—in many cases a "1" is given as a result of failure to show up for an exam or to answer any questions. A "2" grade usually means that the student showed little or no knowledge in a subject.
4.In Germany, school grades vary from 1 (very good, sehr gut) to 6 (insufficient, ungenügend). In the final classes of German Gymnasium schools that prepare for university studies, a point system is used with 15 points being the best grade and 0 points the worst. The percentage causes the grade can vary from teacher to teacher. The percentages shown in the table are the ones used in the "Oberstufe" (final classes).
In many high schools (Licei) grades vary within a limited range, between 2 and 8, often with each professor applying his/her own custom, even if the total theoretical interval is always from 1 to 10. When a professor wants to apply a more precise scale, instead of using the full 1–10 scale (which would have made their scale not comparable with that of other professors) they would often insert a plethora of symbols and decimals: the range between 5 and 6 would then be covered, in sequence, by 5+, 5++, 5½, 5/6, 6−−, 6−. Sufficiency starts at 6. As these symbols (except ½) have no clear mathematical value, calculating end-year averages could be somewhat arbitrary; therefore, there has been a push since 2008 with the Gelmini reform to uniform the system to the 0–10 scale.In Belgian Universities a scale from 0 to 20 is used on a per subject basis, a weighted average is then computed on scale from 0 to 20, 10 being the passing grade average per subject and 12 for the total(satisfactory). An average of 14(70%) gets you a distinction grade (cum laude), 16(80%) means high distinction (magna cum laude) and an average of 18(90%) yields the highest distinction (summa/maxima cum laude).

MP3 AUDIO 5.3 Listen to a talk by a student advisor on campus. Answer the following questions.1. What are the rules for dropping a course in the talk provided?2. What warnings does the student advisor give?3. How can you avoid getting a failing grade, according to the recording?4. What are the official drop procedures for the elective courses in your country? 1. You can drop a course within the first three weeks in the semester. Besides, you should get a signature of the professor of the course you want to drop or you just need official drop card.2. However, as a result, a student’s grades can suffer. You can officially drop your course after 3 weeks of the semester. If you stop attending a course without going through official procedures, the course will remain on your schedule and as a result you will receive a failing grade.3. if you go through official procedure of getting drop, you will not have any problems.4. Classes can be officially dropped during the first 20 percent of their scheduled meeting time.  The withdrawal period begins immediately following the drop period and continues through 60 percent of the scheduled meeting time, generally between the third and tenth week of the Fall or Spring terms. MP3 AUDIO 5.4 Listen to a talk given on a college campus.1. What are the places of a college campus that the speaker mentions in the recording?2. Can you find the similar campus places in your college/university? What are other places that are worth mentioning? Characterize them briefly.3. Pick out the places from the previous task and make a similar tour around your college/university to inform the freshmen about the campus. 1. Administration complex, library, students’ centre (a post office, a bank, a theatre, a coffee shop, a travel agency).2. Campus places in our institute:- library and reading room – here you can find many books on difefrents subjects, besides, there are journals and papers which you may take if you have a library card- 2 halls of residence ;
- bank;- coffee shop.