How hard is Composition I in community college?

[blessedmom3]

My son has decided to go to dual enrollment in the summer. He passed the college test for reading,math and writing. His score qualified him for comp I. He is very strong in grammar, not so strong in composition.

 

I did not go to college in the US, so I have no idea how it is. He is a great writer, has an excellent vocabulary, but has not had a lot of practice with long essays with supporting details, etc. He is a fast learner though,and I imagine he would learn fast if he is taught. He hates writing, and his strong areas are math and science.

 

Does this class in CC assume that the student has a lot of practice in persuasive & expository essays ?

 

Do you have any recommendations for online classes, books, any suggestions?

Edited April 6, 2017 by blessedmom3

[kiana]

This varies by college but ... freshman writing skills tend to be weak at open-admissions colleges, so the course is not taught assuming that they know everything. I would still, though, have him chat with the instructor about his skills. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

It's been years since I took a comp 1 course, but I didn't find it difficult.  Pretty basic really. 

 

 

[regentrude]

Often the focus will be on remediating weakness in language mechanics, since the English skills of many students are lacking.

Also, since it is a required course for all majors, many students are not interested and don't want to be there, which makes for a not very lively class atmosphere.

 

 

[Guest]

My son has decided to go to dual enrollment in the summer. He passed the college test for reading,math and writing. His score qualified him for comp I. He is very strong in grammar, not so strong in composition.

 

 

 

Then he's in the perfect place.

 

I took Comp 1 at a well-regarded community college, and it was essentially a rehash of the composition part of 11th grade AP English.

[SparklyUnicorn]

One thing I did was buy a used (cheap older edition) copy of the book they use in the course here.  We've been going through the book.  It mostly focuses on how to organize and write various types of compositions.  There is no grammar review or anything like that.  I suspect if someone needs a lot of grammar review they would end up in the remedial course.  They even have 2 levels or remedial here.  The book also covers MLA. 

 

 

[G5052]

My oldest did other subjects for dual enrollment, but he did not find English 101 to be that hard at all. He took it during his first full-time semester. They had six graded essays and graded work leading up to the essays. The exams were short answer questions about essay writing. The professor graded hard on grammar, but there really wasn't much formal review at all. Sometimes she'd address a common issue she had seen in the essays, but that's it. 

 

As a community college professor myself, my concern would be more related to the accelerated summer schedule and adjustment to college. In general, students do better taking their first dual enrollment class in an area of strength. That said, when I taught a basic computer literacy class in the summer, I often had a lot of homeschooled kids who were doing just that class as their first dual enrollment class, and it went fine because they were able to dedicate the time to it.

 

Also keep in mind that English textbooks are notorious for being a bit more edgy than some families are used to. The local college had a horrible one for English 101 for some time that had essays on torture, rape, bestiality, etc. etc. with a strong focus on modern writing. Thankfully they changed 3-4 years ago, and we were very pleased with the books they have used since then for English 101 and 102. Both had a good mix of classics and more recent work.

Edited April 6, 2017 by G5052

[Carrie12345]

My son hates his English Comp class at cc because his assignments are still broken down for him, with notes, outlines, rough drafts, etc. all required to be turned in on a schedule.  He's been able to make an A on a standard essay without any of that hand holding, written in a day or two, since the 7th grade.

 

That said, I agree that expectations can vary by school AND by teacher.

[katilac]

It's not hard, but it can be time consuming. I wouldn't recommend it as a summer class for a reluctant writer. 

 

And yes, be prepared that they may be reading and discussing topics related to sex, drugs, violence, trauma.