Community College –summer vs fall/spring courses

[Aloha2U]

Are courses (e.g., Speech and Statistics) usually harder, easier, or the same during the summer?

Edited March 3, 2022 by Aloha2U

[mlktwins]

Following!

 

[MamaSprout]

Depends on the school. Are our school, you complete the same amount of material in a shorter time frame, so technically more difficult just because of the pace. In reality it can be easier (speech is one at our school that is easier).

I'm in the process of compressing a 16 week class into a 6 week summer course. I might need to drop some things because my 16 week class reads three novels. The coordinator said I have too much reading. Well, it is a literature class...

[Arcadia]

Same but in a shorter time span. Basically a compressed version. For example, instead of having an assignment due every Tuesday, I had assignments due every Tuesday and Friday for summer classes. My oldest love summer classes for things like photography, human geography, English but he had to work hard for Japanese.

I would recommend picking subjects you are good in for summer classes as the assignments, quizzes and exam comes at a much faster pace. Also, the drop deadline comes much quicker.

[regentrude]

Harder - because the material of a 15 week semester is compressed into an 8 week session (or even shorter).

Not only does that mean double the hours spent on the course each day; it also means the brain has no time to process complex concepts before the new material comes.

[Aloha2U]

So, could you say that 2-3 summer courses (or 6-9 credits), one of them possibly being PE-First Aid, are equivalent time suckers to 4-5 fall/spring courses (or 12-15 credits)?

[Frances]

On 3/3/2022 at 3:12 PM, regentrude said:

Harder - because the material of a 15 week semester is compressed into an 8 week session (or even shorter).

Not only does that mean double the hours spent on the course each day; it also means the brain has no time to process complex concepts before the new material comes.

Nm.

Edited March 5, 2022 by Frances

[Arcadia]

2 hours ago, Aloha2U said:

So, could you say that 2-3 summer courses (or 6-9 credits), one of them possibly being PE-First Aid, are equivalent time suckers to 4-5 fall/spring courses (or 12-15 credits)?

How long are the fall/spring courses and how long are the summer courses?

For example, my kids are in the quarter system. A 6 week summer class would need about double the time per week compared to the 12 week spring class for the same course. So for my kid who took 3 summer courses last year, he would have to spend almost double the time per week compared to if he had taken the same classes in fall. 

Are you thinking of taking community college classes for dual enrollment or as a high school graduate? For dual enrollment, the community college my kids are attending allows one credit for summer and two credits per quarter. My oldest had to submit a petition every quarter to take more. Also you might need to get your paperwork done soon to be able to register for summer classes. 

[regentrude]

Also, a lot depends on the subject. Some courses have no standard content that must be covered and instructors may be lightening the load. Others have a set amount of material that has to be covered, and they may be a prerequisite for another course.

My DS took Calc 3 and cal based physics 2 over the summer. It was absolutely brutal and miserable. He had class from 8 to noon, 2 hrs of math and 2 hrs of physics, then went home and did two problem sets for another 4 to 6 hours. He did get As in both, but he didn't have much of a summer.

Otoh, there are enjoyable 3 credit classes with a mild workload, and fluff mickeymouse asynchronous online courses that are check-the-box.

 

[MerryAtHope]

Definitely harder. Here they are 4-8 weeks instead of the usual 16 weeks. My son took a 3 hour course in a 4-week slot and it was like a full-time job! Most of them are double-time or a little faster (sometimes a 16 week class is condensed to 6 weeks). I would think about your student and how he or she functions. Then also see if you can find out anything about the reputation of the summer classes or even the school to help you decide. Here, 6 hours is considered full time and 9 is generally not recommended. (at best, 9 hours would be like 18, not 15, if they are all double-time). It may also depend on the type of class.

[Frances]

1 hour ago, MerryAtHope said:

Definitely harder. Here they are 4-8 weeks instead of the usual 16 weeks. My son took a 3 hour course in a 4-week slot and it was like a full-time job! Most of them are double-time or a little faster (sometimes a 16 week class is condensed to 6 weeks). I would think about your student and how he or she functions. Then also see if you can find out anything about the reputation of the summer classes or even the school to help you decide. Here, 6 hours is considered full time and 9 is generally not recommended. (at best, 9 hours would be like 18, not 15, if they are all double-time). It may also depend on the type of class.

But shouldn’t a 3 hour course in a 4 week slot be at least a full-time job? Back in the day, we were told to allow about three hours outside of class for every one hour in class. So that would be about 12 hours per week for a 3 credit class. So if that is condensed into 4 weeks, then it would be more than 40 hours per week.

Now I know lots of students don’t devote that kind of time to their studies and there is a huge difference among majors and colleges, but it doesn’t seem like a stretch that taking one four week class should basically be a full-time job.

Is that 6 quarter hours or semester hours for full-time in four weeks? I do think six semester hours would be more than full-time and personally based on experience I find the distinction between quarter and semester hours to often be dubious at best. In my experience, almost just as much is crammed into most quarter classes as semester classes, even if you aren’t meeting for as many hours.

[MerryAtHope]

14 hours ago, Frances said:

But shouldn’t a 3 hour course in a 4 week slot be at least a full-time job? Back in the day, we were told to allow about three hours outside of class for every one hour in class. So that would be about 12 hours per week for a 3 credit class. So if that is condensed into 4 weeks, then it would be more than 40 hours per week.

Now I know lots of students don’t devote that kind of time to their studies and there is a huge difference among majors and colleges, but it doesn’t seem like a stretch that taking one four week class should basically be a full-time job.

Is that 6 quarter hours or semester hours for full-time in four weeks? I do think six semester hours would be more than full-time and personally based on experience I find the distinction between quarter and semester hours to often be dubious at best. In my experience, almost just as much is crammed into most quarter classes as semester classes, even if you aren’t meeting for as many hours.

Yes…I wasn’t saying it shouldn’t be. My point was to expect that and not to think summer courses are an easy way to add credits. Expect to work hard and possibly to not have enough time to “sit” with the material mentally (the way you can over 16 weeks) to really absorb it well. Summer classes can be a good fit for some students and a very poor fit for others.

[Janeway]

Here, the colleges often recommend things like the physics classes from the community college over the summer because it is so difficult during the school year.

[MagistraKennedy]

On 3/3/2022 at 9:27 AM, Aloha2U said:

Are courses (e.g., Speech and Statistics) usually harder, easier, or the same during the summer?

I wouldn't recommend Stats over the summer. YEARS ago when I was in college, I took Stats as I worked toward finishing up my BSN. 

1) The class was crazy full, even at the community college. Apparently all the kids from our flagship state school who were home for the summer were taking it at the CC to save money. 

2) It was DANG HARD -- I dropped that sucker like a hot potato when I failed the first test. 

I went on to take it in the fall, which was much more manageable.