Introductory Text

Read and translate the text “Katya’s Study at the University”.

Katya’s Study at the University

Katya Voronina is a first-year Bachelor student at the faculty of Applied Mathematics, Computational Technology and Physics of Vologda State University. She is studying Mathematics and Physics. Katya decided to apply to this University because of its high reputation in our district. Applicants are admitted on the basis of the Unified State Exam. The university has some entrance requirements for each subject. For some courses they also have to take special admissions exams and take part in different contests and interviews. The competition at some faculties was rather stiff. So many applicants didn't get in. To be better prepared many applicants took special preparatory courses during the academic year and in summer.

The course of studies runs for five years. The first year primary consists of chief (special) and a number of supplementary subjects such as Philosophy, Standard of Speech, Psychology, Pedagogy, Foreign Languages, Russian History, Anatomy, Physical Education and some others. The chief subjects in their first year include Math Analysis, Algebra and Theory of Numbers, Geometry, Physics and Mechanics, Elementary Mathematics and Informatics. Katya is doing Mathematics and Physics. The girl is especially good at Geometry and Algebra but she is week in Psychology. In the final year the students work on a research project in an area of their choice which is called a degree work.

Students usually have five lectures and twelve or fourteen practicals (labs) and seminars a week. That makes about three or four classes a day. So their timetable is quite busy on weekdays.

Katya is a group leader. She marks those absent and present at the lectures and seminars in the attendance register.

The academic year is divided into two terms. The first term begins on the 1^st of September and is over at the end of December. The second term runs from the beginning of February to the end of June. They have two weeks of exams in winter and summer. After summer exams some students have a month of practice. Students have winter vacations in January and long vacations in summer.

At the end of the first term in December students take oral and written end-of-term tests in some subjects. After the New Year’s celebrations in January students have to take some winter exams. Katya worked hard during the term and often made reports on different topics but she still worried about her final Psychology test because it was really just as important as an oral exam. To do very well in a test or exam you should revise everything. Some students who worked by fits and starts during the term or began to do the revision rather late have to sit up late. They even don’t go to bed at all. Sometimes students who don’t work regularly may fall behind the group. They may fail their exam or get only a satisfactory mark. Katya has made up her mind to pass all exams with good or even excellent marks to get a higher grant. Besides her parents promised to buy her a new laptop if she did her best at the exams.