More common questions on academics

Hello Readers:

I know it's been a while... sorry for leaving you bereft. Updates will be coming more frequently as the school year begins to wind down.
Of course, it has to wind up first. This means midterms and finals-- right now, we're in the former phase, with professors hurrying to cram in as much material/ challenge/ misery as they can before break happens. Today I thought I'd answer another question I'm commonly asked at home, mostly by parents getting ready to send their kids to school (though sometimes by the kids as well):
How does the grading process work? In other words, what can students expect from college classes in terms of tests, essays and other assessments?
There is no single answer to this question, so as usual I'm going to create a list of the different types as I see them. Enjoy (I will know if you don't, and it will go in the "Rolodex of spite").

1. Cram Classes: Those with midterm and final exams representing 50% or more of the entire grade. Mostly, this will consist of courses where written assessments are impractical to assign, grade or both. Examples have been both of the introductory Economics courses I took last year. My introductory Physics courses were also like this, though I don't know what higher-level science courses are like.
Advantage: You can largely relax throughout much of the course.
Danger: Don't equate relaxation with ignoring the material. The portion of a grade that comes from outside the major tests depends on homework and quizzes and is still significant. If you don't learn the material continuously it will come back to bite you.

2. Continuous-Assessment: These classes test pretty frequently and typically have a number of different assessments. Grammar-focused language classes, like my Japanese course, fall into this category.
Advantage: You generally won't face a single unmanageable amount of work.
Danger: The constant pressure can wear you down; make sure to pace the work and do it a little a time. This goes double for language courses, which build on previous units.

3. Theme-of-the-Month: These courses are divided into multiple broad themes within a certain topic. Most introductory Political Science and History courses are like this. There are Midterms and Finals, but they don't count for more than 50% of the grade; oral participation in discussion sections and essays are just as important.
Advantage: The somewhat disjointed nature of the topics means that if you "don't get" one of them, there are opportunities to make up the losses later on, to a certain extent.
Disadvantage: If you want to go on in a given field of study, missing one of these central topics will really cripple you; higher-level courses require these prerequisites and assume study of their components.

4. Writing-heavy: These courses are typically higher-level and focus on one particular facet of a given field (for example, History of 20th-century U.S. Foreign Policy). Lecture attendance is important as classes can sometimes be small enough for faculty to notice who's missing; in the essays, which will make up most of the grade, you'll be required to engage the theories and concepts from lecture.
Advantages: This kind of course can be very rewarding; it develops your written and oral argumentative/ analytical skills and lets you learn about a topic at a deeper level.
Disadvantages: If you are a weaker writer, make sure to seek out help early on since the essays count for a lot. If you are stronger writer, make sure to proofread and cut as much as possible.

5. Participation-based: Often specialized in subject matter, these courses represent the highest level of conceptual learning at the undergraduate level. Class participation can matter a great deal; field trips, guest lecturers and large projects are common. Written work will be heavy and faculty will assume strong writing skills.
Advantages: One of the best places for getting to work in small groups and develop analytical and argumentative skills. Feedback tends to be plentiful and helpful.
Disadvantages: These are often hard to get in to, so you might have to wait for a few semesters until a higher number of earned credit-hours gets you priority registration. Remember to show up every time.

So that's that. Remember, I'm an International Affairs major, so I might not be the best source for information about Science/Math courses. Because of the strength of International Affairs, Political Science, History and other social-science disciplines at GW, though, the list should be pretty representative.

If you have any questions, comments or criticisms, feel free to email me at ash1290@gwmail.gwu.edu.
--Adam Humayun