Studying abroad can help international students expand their academic prospects and progress ability to acclimate to various educational and professional settings. Gaining new perspectives from a varied set of cultures makes people more dynamic, resourceful, creative and flexible. In this article, we’ll be answering some basic questions regarding college credits – what they are and how they can be earned and some other useful information.
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What is College Credit?
College credits are used as a metric to award students academically in return for the effort they put in their coursework, along with the number of hours dedicated to finish a specific course. Colleges offering four-year bachelor degrees, and any other degrees, make use of college credits. It represents how much effort a student puts into a particular course, over the course of one semester (usually 15 – 16 weeks).
The most common way to measure course credit is by using the number of hours put in by a student. Your degree is considered as completed once you have fulfilled a certain number of credits.
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Why are Credits Awarded Per Subject?
Credits are one of the key methods used to regulate and document that students have met academic requirements. It is awarded per subject to measure a student’s academic competence and how much work the student has put into a single semester course.
The calculation of one credit is as follows:
(1 hour’s classroom work + 2 hours homework) per week x (15 weeks/semester) = 1 credit for that semester.
Most subjects/courses require 3 credits to be completed. This means you would have to dedicate 3 hours of classroom time along with 6 hours of homework time per week, throughout the semester to earn the 3 credits.
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How many Credits are Required for Per Semester?
Generally, to earn a Bachelor’s degree, a student has to complete 120 credits over a span of 4 years. This means, to stay on track, he / she has to complete 30 credits every year, i.e., 15 credits per semester, which usually means completing 5 courses/subjects every semester of college.
Another important thing to note here is that a course is like an entire subject and not just a chapter. In school, you are given one subject to study throughout the year and you have to finish xyz number of chapters per term. In colleges in USA, you have to finish an entire subject (or course) in one semester.
So, as compared to studying 4-5 chapters for your first terms, you need to study the entire subject for the semester.
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How are Credits Earned?
Credits are earned by completing courses. But you need to choose your courses carefully. You have a major that you choose to graduate in. You need to select your subjects according to the major you want to graduate in. You can’t just expect a major in physics by studying art history and fashion design for two semesters, right?
Although, you can still study art history and fashion design while pursuing a major in physics, but you need to make sure you majorly study physics. This is how flexible the education system is.
Type of College Credits for Students
The type of college credits you can earn is by understanding the concept. College credits are classified into three types of credits that can be earned.
1. General Education Requirements
Partly to encourage a broad education, and to ensure that the student is gaining some knowledge about a broad spectrum of subjects, colleges require students to take up to 60 credits of low – level courses comprising a variety of general subjects.
While students have complete freedom to opt for the courses they wish to do, they must compulsorily pick them from the college requirements.
Some examples of courses in this category include Global Cultures, Cultural Diversity, History, Mathematics, Literature and Rhetoric, etc.
Let’s say that the mathematics course in some college requires 6 credits, so in this course, as long as the student studies some topics related to Math, which may be Linear Algebra, Statistics, Differential Calculus or any other such subject and finishes the 6 credits, he / she has successfully completed the course.
2. Free Electives
Often synonymous with the best part of a student’s academic life in college, colleges allow up to 30 credits of any course which the student wants to take. It’s not at all necessary that the course has to be related to the student’s major. A student can literally take up any course they want, that’s why they are known as ‘free’ electives.
So, thanks to free electives, an arts student might take up a course on Introductory Physics, or a student majoring in Quantum Physics can get a taste of Art in the Renaissance period.
3. Area of Study
And finally, this section involves courses directly related to the student’s major, which a student has to finish in order to obtain his / her Bachelor’s degree. Generally, 30 – 40 credits are allotted to this category.
For example, if the area of study of a student is Psychology, then the 30 credits may include courses such as social psychology, developmental psychology, abnormal psychology, psychology electives, etc.
‘Electives’ are courses which a student can choose from a predefined basket. Here, if ‘Psychology Electives’ has 6 credits, then the student could choose any 2 psychology courses out of a given number of courses, assuming that each course weighs 3 credits.
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How do I Calculate my GPA from the Number of Credits?
To calculate a grade point average (GPA), the grade received in each course is weighted, and then multiplied with the number of credit hours.
To give an example, a B grade (weighing 3 grade points) in a 3 – credit class yields 9 ‘quality points. Quality points are summed together, then divided by the total number of credits a student has registered, to get the final GPA.
This is all about what college credit is. So, we have entailed all the information regarding course credit and what are credit hours in college. If you need to know more about the college credits and other related information connect with our Yocket Professionals and clear each and every doubt about college credits.
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