Hello hello guys!! ﾟ･✿ヾ╲(｡◕‿◕｡)╱✿･ﾟ
I'm back with a new post, after two weeks! Sorry I wasn't able to blog last week as I was caught up with a camp in my school and my O's English papers but anyway, I said I will blog every once or alternate Saturdays. (I still did not break my promise tho)
Yes, as you can see from the title or you've been waiting for this post since my "JC, Poly or ITE?" two weeks back, it is finally here!!!
"What are the differences between Secondary School and Polytechnic?"
"What will I experience differently?"
P/S: I will not talk about all the basic things like polys don't need to wear an uniform, polys have more food choices etc, polys can have all the different hair colours blah and blah because they are unnecessary and i honestly thinks that everyone doing their O's, WILL KNOW.
and also, some background information about the basic things in poly. we have to attend Lectures and Tutorials:
Lectures are basically a lecturer teaching in a huge lecture theatre and the explanations are not very in-depth, the lecturer is shared within the cohort. For example, early childhood studies have a total of 4 classes. during lectures, all 4 classes will combine and only have 1 lecturer to teach. Attendance for lectures are not usually compulsory BUT some f-up lecturers might decide to take attendance some day and count into the class participation marks (10% of your grade).
Tutorials are basically a subject teacher for that particular subject you are taking, in secondary schools. But for poly, we call them tutors and we call the subjects we are taking, modules. Tutorials are compulsory, duh. Just like how you are obliged to attend your lessons everyday in school right? Explanations in tutorials are more in-depth and you can pause the tutors anytime you want as long as you don't understand a part. But remember, don't be late more than 10 mins in a tutorial as attendance WILL ALWAYS be taken in tutorials and count into your participation marks. And for this, 1 class will have 1 tutor. :)
So without further-a-do, lets go take a look with the list that I have come up with!
1) INDEPENDENCE
first of all, i think independence or freedom in learning (whichever way you call it), it is very very evident that it is totally different in poly as compared to secondary school.
- Lesson materials
The tutors or lecturers will NEVER print the lesson notes or materials for you, you have to print it yourself or bring your laptop. And definitely, the tutors will not go through every single detail in the lesson notes in class because you are supposed to go through it at home, then go to class and ask her if you have any doubt. So to be honest, no one is really there to make sure that you're on track for your studies, not even your tutors.
- Correction
The tutors or lecturers will NOT collect your worksheets and mark them, unless they are tests (duh). Instead, they will go through it together with the class so no one is going to really care if you master the topic or still totally have no clue about the topic.
- SDL (Self-directed learning)
SDL is common in polys, it is the term to call the period of time where you are learning at home, in temasek poly (not sure if it is the same term for other polys). This is to read up lesson notes and plans at home then if there is a quiz, do it at home to see if you've read your lesson.
- Consultation or extra lessons
Definitely, there will not be any extra lessons or remedial lessons before your examination, arranged by the teachers. But instead, you have to be the one doing it! If your class have questions then ask your teacher to book a room during your class's free time if not you have to look for your teachers yourself after asking what time she will be free during the day.
2) IRREGULAR TIMETABLE
The lesson schedule or timetable in a day, in poly will not be as packed as it was in secondary schools. There will be days where you will have 4 to 5 hours break in between 2 lessons or days where you will have only 1 hour of break in between long study hours.
- Cancellation of lessons
If there are any cancellations of lessons, the tutors will inform the chairperson in your class then she or he will be responsible in passing the message down! But you will never know how last minute they will tell you, it can be a day before, 2 days before or 3 hours before the class starts. But for lectures, they will inform you through emails! And during the time period, you can do whatever you want and go wherever you want. Unlike in secondary schools, there won't be any cancellation of lessons (HAHA).
- Deadlines of assignments
Unlike in secondary schools, poly will not give assignment thats due the next day or next week, it will be usually due after 4 to 7 weeks so you have to manage your time really well! And there will be this week in a semester when almost all the assignments given at the start of a new semester be due together in the week.
3) GROUP WORK
As I have mentioned in the previous post, poly definitely focus more on teamwork than individual works. So only choose to come to poly if you can work well in groups if not you will definitely be the person that nobody wants to group with (truth hurts but oh well). In poly, the group work must be evenly distributed but actually, if the person did not contribute to the group work, the teachers will not do anything about it.. BUT you can choose to pull the person down during peer evaluation of group work.
Peer evaluation is when everybody in the group rates each other's performance and contribution. Definitely the time to pull someone down if you felt that they have done nothing to the group work.
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That is all for today's post, I hope I have answered all your questions and please leave me an askfm question if you have any further questions to be answered!
Upcoming post: Relationship Struggles.
Most probably posting in 2 weeks time. Stay tune!!! x
Most probably posting in 2 weeks time. Stay tune!!! x
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