Almost all Americans go though high school before the enter college. High school for them is like STPM and A-Levels for us. That also means our SPM is like Middle school or jr. High for them. Their high school syllabus is comparative to STPM and A-Levels, but many schools offer is much wider range of subjects.
In high school, they can take AP and honors classes. Both of these classes go deeper into the subjects. A good AP score usually exempt you from 1 year worth of classes for that subjects.
Students from UK and Singapore who enroll after their A-Levels with an A for some subject will usually get 1 year worth of credits too. Same goes for people who did AP. I've never come across any website having a standard guideline for STPM or other pre-U courses, but I suppose it isn't too hard to convince the Academic Standards people that the subjects you took are equivalent. After all, high school students there who did honors classes also have to do the same if they didn't take the standard AP exam.
Now, 1 year worth of classes actually means two classes taken in two semesters. For example one may do Biology I in the Fall semester and then Biology II in Winter. That two subjects would generally mean 1 year worth of classes for a certain subjects.
Now lets just try to compare US and UK from the academic perspective. From the job perspective, I believe most of the things you learn are pretty irrelevant at the lower positions for many types of jobs.
First of all, 1 year of studies in UK is about two weeks to a month shorter than is US. I'm not counting the spring, summer or any other holiday terms. Another difference is students have already chosen their major from the minute the apply in UK while they only do so in their 3rd year in US.
In their 3rd year in UK students have the choice to decide which subjects they want to specialize in. They are usually given a choice of a few different subjects. In US, they basically choose from whatever subjects the whole department offers during their 3rd and 4th years. In US the subjects are not exclusive to majoring students only, they may be taken by anyone.
Now, during the first year, students also do very general subjects in their first year. The difference is, their majors have already been decided, so the subjects are tailored for the specific major. So alot of irrelevant topics are omitted. While in US, one subject caters for students who could major in just about anything later. For example, the introductory pscyhology course for a BSc in Psych in UK may contain much more biological stuff while the introductory psychology course in US must maintain a fair balance of the biology parts to the sociology parts because the person taking it may major in BA in Psych or a Bsc in Psy or could even be doing Biology or something else.
In UK your first two years are pretty much planned for you and you get a small selection of subject in your third year to specialize. In US well it works like this in most cases. You need 120 credits to graduate. Normally people do 30 each year, 15 per semester. Each introductory course carries about 4 credits and the higher level course from year 2 onwards normally only carry 3. Almost all 3rd and 4th year courses carry only 3 credits. By 3rd and 4th year, I means courses normally done during their 3rd and 4th year, nothing stops anyone from doing it earlier as long as they've already fulfilled the requirements. The break down for this 120 credits is something like this. 40 credits belong to subjects that have absolutely nothing do with your major. About 20 credits are for the basic course you have to take before you can do the higher more in depth courses. For my actuarial and economic degree, that's about 4 math classes, 2 economics, 1 programming and 1 statistics. Then another 50 credits will be come from classes very specific to your major and the remaining 10 are from subjects somewhat related to your major. Like for actuarial math, those 10 can come from finance, economics or programming.
Also, there are different conventions for what skills graduates should have in both countries. In UK, I see all the Economics degree full of management and accounting subjects while in US is it strictly economics subjects. For psychology, I see alot of practical and counseling in UK while in US counseling and practical is optional, there is also a big focus on research and further theoretical study. So for me, I find an economic degree from UK lacking because what I want is deep theoretical study even if I'm gonna graduate with no skills for a typical business admin. But that doesn't equally apply to everyone. Also it's a misconception that in US, they only study 2 years worth of their major courses, it's really 3 years worth, because part of the initial 2 years is used to study all the basic courses first, what they normally study in their first year in UK.
In high school, they can take AP and honors classes. Both of these classes go deeper into the subjects. A good AP score usually exempt you from 1 year worth of classes for that subjects.
Students from UK and Singapore who enroll after their A-Levels with an A for some subject will usually get 1 year worth of credits too. Same goes for people who did AP. I've never come across any website having a standard guideline for STPM or other pre-U courses, but I suppose it isn't too hard to convince the Academic Standards people that the subjects you took are equivalent. After all, high school students there who did honors classes also have to do the same if they didn't take the standard AP exam.
Now, 1 year worth of classes actually means two classes taken in two semesters. For example one may do Biology I in the Fall semester and then Biology II in Winter. That two subjects would generally mean 1 year worth of classes for a certain subjects.
Now lets just try to compare US and UK from the academic perspective. From the job perspective, I believe most of the things you learn are pretty irrelevant at the lower positions for many types of jobs.
First of all, 1 year of studies in UK is about two weeks to a month shorter than is US. I'm not counting the spring, summer or any other holiday terms. Another difference is students have already chosen their major from the minute the apply in UK while they only do so in their 3rd year in US.
In their 3rd year in UK students have the choice to decide which subjects they want to specialize in. They are usually given a choice of a few different subjects. In US, they basically choose from whatever subjects the whole department offers during their 3rd and 4th years. In US the subjects are not exclusive to majoring students only, they may be taken by anyone.
Now, during the first year, students also do very general subjects in their first year. The difference is, their majors have already been decided, so the subjects are tailored for the specific major. So alot of irrelevant topics are omitted. While in US, one subject caters for students who could major in just about anything later. For example, the introductory pscyhology course for a BSc in Psych in UK may contain much more biological stuff while the introductory psychology course in US must maintain a fair balance of the biology parts to the sociology parts because the person taking it may major in BA in Psych or a Bsc in Psy or could even be doing Biology or something else.
In UK your first two years are pretty much planned for you and you get a small selection of subject in your third year to specialize. In US well it works like this in most cases. You need 120 credits to graduate. Normally people do 30 each year, 15 per semester. Each introductory course carries about 4 credits and the higher level course from year 2 onwards normally only carry 3. Almost all 3rd and 4th year courses carry only 3 credits. By 3rd and 4th year, I means courses normally done during their 3rd and 4th year, nothing stops anyone from doing it earlier as long as they've already fulfilled the requirements. The break down for this 120 credits is something like this. 40 credits belong to subjects that have absolutely nothing do with your major. About 20 credits are for the basic course you have to take before you can do the higher more in depth courses. For my actuarial and economic degree, that's about 4 math classes, 2 economics, 1 programming and 1 statistics. Then another 50 credits will be come from classes very specific to your major and the remaining 10 are from subjects somewhat related to your major. Like for actuarial math, those 10 can come from finance, economics or programming.
Also, there are different conventions for what skills graduates should have in both countries. In UK, I see all the Economics degree full of management and accounting subjects while in US is it strictly economics subjects. For psychology, I see alot of practical and counseling in UK while in US counseling and practical is optional, there is also a big focus on research and further theoretical study. So for me, I find an economic degree from UK lacking because what I want is deep theoretical study even if I'm gonna graduate with no skills for a typical business admin. But that doesn't equally apply to everyone. Also it's a misconception that in US, they only study 2 years worth of their major courses, it's really 3 years worth, because part of the initial 2 years is used to study all the basic courses first, what they normally study in their first year in UK.
By:Mumeichan(LYN Forummer)
I personally find that this should be the best view and the opinions shared regarding the differences of these two education system. Thanks for Sharing and i glad to share here too.=)
