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Dartmouth operates on the quarter system with each term consisting of approximately ten weeks of classes. An academic year is normally three terms; therefore, you will take fewer courses at a time than students on the semester system, but by the end of the year you will have taken approximately the same number of courses.
Dartmouth's courses are compact and intense, ordinarily covering in ten weeks what similar courses in a semester system would cover in thirteen or fourteen weeks. While students will occasionally take a four-course load, three courses comprise a full load and are usually as much as students can handle in a single term. We recommend that you do not undertake a four-course load until you have become acclimated to Dartmouth's educational environment.
The intensity and pace of Dartmouth courses usually require a period of adjustment. Even students who took a rigorous high school curriculum will find their courses here to be challenging. Very little time, if any, is spent in review. Professors will quickly introduce new concepts, and the depth of understanding you will be expected to demonstrate on exams and papers will be much greater. Simple memorization of facts and details will not suffice; exams are more likely to require a critical analysis of course material or the application of concepts to new data.
While it is not unusual to find these expectations difficult at first, most students do adjust to the intensity and pace of instruction. Another factor that may take some adjustment is learning to manage your time well without being closely monitored by teachers or parents. Unlike high school, college may be thought of as an "independent learning environment;" that is, much of your learning occurs outside the formal structure of the classroom. The general rule is that for every hour you spend in class, you should be spending two to three hours outside of class in additional study and/or preparation. Some classes, such as science and foreign language courses, may take even more time.
You will find yourself with more homework than you have ever had. Much of this work will be in the form of reading. In some courses you will be held responsible for every word that is assigned. In others, you will need to read strategically, sorting the critical from the ancillary, the central concepts from the supporting evidence and examples. Part of adjusting to college life is figuring out which courses are which. If you find yourself with enormous reading lists and an insufficient number of hours in the day to read, you might consider getting help from the Academic Skills Center to learn how to read more strategically.
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