Text 1 Colleges and Universities in the usa

When a student graduates from high school, he may attend college if his high school record and test scores are good enough for admittance. Admission of undergraduates does not require taking entrance exams at the university applied to. Exams are taken at special examination centers and their results are directed to the university in question. Prospective students often send their applications to several universities at once. Graduate students are admitted only with the consent of the discipline department in which they plan to study.

American education on the college level (higher education) is provided by more than 3,000 institutions. Some are called colleges, which means that they offer only undergraduate courses. Others are called universities, which means that they have undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools. Colleges and universities offer a variety of subjects. The students can choose different fields of knowledge, but they usually concentrate (major) in one field during the last two years of college.

At the college level, the academic year is about nine months long (usually from mid-September until early June or from late August until May). After completing four academic years with acceptable grades in an approved course of study, the student earns a bachelor's degree. Some students complete college in less than four years by attending summer sessions. Graduate studies lead to obtaining a master's degree. They last not less than one year but in some specialities require two years. At most colleges, the academic year is divided into two or three semesters, excluding the summer session. There is a two or four-week holiday from mid-December (Christmas holiday), and many colleges have a one-week Easter holiday in March or April.

College grades, from highest to lowest, run A, B, C, D, F. A is the highest grade, В is good or above average, C is satisfactory or average, D is below average, while F is failure. Pluses (+) and minuses (-) are also used as additions to letters to make a finer distinction of grades. For elective courses a "pass-fail" grade system is sometimes used under which students who have completed their course with satisfactory results receive a "pass" grade while those whose results are below the required level receive a "fail" grade.

An undergraduate student is expected to have grades not lower than C and "pass" in all courses, while for a graduate student the expected level of grades is not lower than B. Students whose average grades drop lower are placed on aprobation for a period of one semester, trimester, or quarter. If their grades do not improve during that period students may be either temporarily suspended from studies or totally dismissed. Assigning grades to a student for her or his work is the absolute prerogative of their professor or instructor, and these grades can be changed by nobody of however higher authority.

Exercise 4

Which of the following statements are true (t), and which are either not true (n.t.) or are not mentioned (n.m.) in Text1. Correct the statements which are not true.

1. No matter what school results a school-leaver has, any person can enter a university.

2. American universities vary in size and sources of financing.

3. Most higher schools are coeducational, that is are available for men and women.

4. There is a great choice of subjects to study in American colleges.

5. American students always have their holidays in summer, and they never study at this time.

6. Bachelor's degree is higher than Master's.

7. "A" grade means a failure.

8. There is no "pass-fail" grade system at American colleges and universities.

9. No one can be dismissed from a college.

10. Higher authorities can change a student's grade for a higher one.

Exercise 5 Give explanations and translation for the italicized parts of Text 1.

Exercise 6 Fill in the blanks with a proper word:

1Prospective students can send their _____ to several universities.

2 At colleges and universities the _____ year is about nine months long.

3 The subjects students specialize in are called .

4 Summer _____give a student an opportunity to complete college in less than four years.

5 A student can be dismissed because of low .

6To earn a bachelor`s degree a student must complete the course of study with ____________ degrees.

7 For ____ courses a “pass-fail” grade system can be used.

Exercise 7 Choose a correct word for each sentence:

unsatisfactory, capable, subjects, almost, encouraged, practicing, inside out, every other, expelled, rope, suspect, applied, history

1. How many ___________is Sam studying at school?

2. I have English classes day: on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

3. It is impossible to find a good educational computer program.

4. You will have to do the course again because your work has been_______ .

5. Andy was from school because of his bad behaviour.

6. I'm not sure why he didn't go to the college, but I _____________he failed the entrance test.

7. The study of can be very interesting.

8. You can learn as much theory as you like, but you only master a skill by ______it.

9. Billy is a most young man; he can do a lot of different jobs well.

10. We can't teach him anything because he already knows his subject.

11. You completely misunderstood my instructions; you got hold of the wrong end of the ____.

12. After the serious talk with his tutor, Hilary _________himself more conscientiously to his studies.

13. My English teacher me to try for a place in the English Department at Jagiellonian University.

Exercise 8 Put each of the following words into its correct place in the passage below:

authority	bachelor's	bodies	campus
classes	co-educational	co-ordinate	courses
degree	freshmen	graduates	junior
located	school	separate	sex
special	students	undergraduates	university
women	year