In American universities some smaller classes would take attendance. Bigger classes worked pretty much like you described, where there are lectures and stuff but you could ignore them, and what ultimately matters are the exams.
But the “party line” is that you’re not supposed to do that. You’re supposed to go to the lectures. Ie. if you asked some university PR representative, they wouldn’t say “it’s totally up to you whether or not you want to go to lectures”. Is that how it is in German universities as well, or is the party line that it truly is up to you?
I did a bit of a weird thing because I started university while I was still in high-school, but I had many friends who never attended a single lecture, and maybe did like 15% of the homework, and nobody cared and they didn’t seem to feel bad about it.
For context, at Berkeley (where I actually finished my undergrad) more than half of my classes had mandatory labs, and maybe 30% of my grade was determined by homework grades in almost all classes, so it was a very different experience.
That is common in American universities as well, but if you asked a university administrator about it they wouldn’t endorse it. Would a university administrator for German universities say “yes, go right ahead and skip all the lectures if you want” or would they say “no, we strongly advise against that”?
For many universities, there’s a maximum courseload they’ll let you register for. You can probably get a 4-year degree in 2.5 years if you’re actually willing and able to study well enough to pass tests and the required not-only-test classes. But no matter how good you are, I don’t know any that will give you a degree in one-shot if you already can ace all the tests.
Don’t know, I literally never talked to one during my studies. My guess is they would advise against it, but be pretty clear that it’s ultimately up to you.
(American here, talking about American universities) I had resented the mandatory attendance and homework in high school, and some people told me that college would be better in that regard, but others told me that this varied and it was up to individual professors whether to enforce a mandate. This was one of the reasons I didn’t try to enter college.
In American universities some smaller classes would take attendance. Bigger classes worked pretty much like you described, where there are lectures and stuff but you could ignore them, and what ultimately matters are the exams.
But the “party line” is that you’re not supposed to do that. You’re supposed to go to the lectures. Ie. if you asked some university PR representative, they wouldn’t say “it’s totally up to you whether or not you want to go to lectures”. Is that how it is in German universities as well, or is the party line that it truly is up to you?
I did a bit of a weird thing because I started university while I was still in high-school, but I had many friends who never attended a single lecture, and maybe did like 15% of the homework, and nobody cared and they didn’t seem to feel bad about it.
For context, at Berkeley (where I actually finished my undergrad) more than half of my classes had mandatory labs, and maybe 30% of my grade was determined by homework grades in almost all classes, so it was a very different experience.
That is common in American universities as well, but if you asked a university administrator about it they wouldn’t endorse it. Would a university administrator for German universities say “yes, go right ahead and skip all the lectures if you want” or would they say “no, we strongly advise against that”?
For many universities, there’s a maximum courseload they’ll let you register for. You can probably get a 4-year degree in 2.5 years if you’re actually willing and able to study well enough to pass tests and the required not-only-test classes. But no matter how good you are, I don’t know any that will give you a degree in one-shot if you already can ace all the tests.
Don’t know, I literally never talked to one during my studies. My guess is they would advise against it, but be pretty clear that it’s ultimately up to you.
(American here, talking about American universities) I had resented the mandatory attendance and homework in high school, and some people told me that college would be better in that regard, but others told me that this varied and it was up to individual professors whether to enforce a mandate. This was one of the reasons I didn’t try to enter college.