Hello, I have been given the opportunity to take dual enrollment classes at my local community college online, however I am struggling to understand how these courses will work, like for example will there be tests, finals like a regular high school class, do they transfer into my college transcript and can they hurt my chances for grad school if I get a bad grade. I am confused on some courses available like elementary Spanish 1, is this Spanish elementary level in college, I am currently taking Spanish 1 and am scared that I might not be learning this is just for second semester so would it be good to take a semester dual enrollment course of this over the summer?
I know this might sound long and weird, but I really am concerned about this.
Depends on the class, but very likely there will be. They are college classes. Expect homework, tests, midterms, final exams, possibly papers to write. But every class is different.
YES. This is very important to remember. These grades will follow you, so make sure you only do this if you feel you can do well.
I didn’t totally follow this, but keep in mind that college language classes usually cover A LOT more material than high school language classes and move at a faster pace. So college Spanish I will likely be much more challenging than high school Spanish I. You mention this class will be online? That may also be a concern - for many people, it is HARD to learn a language online. I would not consider this ideal.
College Spanish 1 is typically a beginner course, but will typically cover material at a much faster pace than high school Spanish courses. College Spanish 1 may cover in a semester what high school Spanish 1 covers in a year (or sometimes what high school Spanish 1 and 2 cover in two years).
If you have taken high school Spanish, you should find out what the best placement in college Spanish is for you by asking the college’s Spanish department (there may be placement testing at some colleges).
@ucbalumnus Thanks for your replay, our dual enrollment program is entirely online, like how will this work how do they make sure cheating does not occour?
Typically during the exam the system freezes your computer so that you can only work within the exam software; there are other systems that may register sound or any attempt to access files; and of course plagiarism is a big deal in college so they have software that checks papers.
What classes would you take through DE and what would you take through your regular HS? Would your HS provide you with a quiet space&a computer to complete these online classes during the school day? What are rigorous alternatives to these classes?
My kids do community college classes. S24 did 16 of them in the course of 4 years. My D27 is starting her fifth one next week.
If you are in CA, transfer information can be found on Assist.org. I believe there are something similar in every state to tell you what is transferable to any given school and what is not.
Almost all Privates will consider CC classes taken by HS students as “preparation” and not grant any school credit if and when you get accepted and enroll. But State Public on the other hand gladly accept the credits earned (subject to transfer agreement, see point 1). Most onerous is USC which states CC credits earned as HS students do not transfer. Whereas same credits earned after graduation applies fully as transfer (makes not sense but oh well).
Yes, grades earned as HS in CC stay with you forever. Like worriedmomucb said, do not take any unless you can devote time and effort and plan to do well.
Extension to #3, don’t pigeon hole yourself to “easy” classes. Taking Spanish 1 is unlikely to be “easy” unless you already know the language. IMO Language classes in CC are really not meant for people to take without previous exposure, unless you are naturally talented in languages. Some people are. My kids are not.
Do take classes that sound interesting. S24 took three programming classes to see if he actually liked CS. He didn’t like it enough to apply and major in CS as result. D27 is taking sociology, business, writing, and poli sci just to see what she may want to major in the future.
As far as on line class and cheating, unless you can get someone to do your work, many profs have figured out ways to monitor cheating which was rampant during COVID. But anyone can cheat anywhere. That is just reality.
Class format depends on the class. For my kids’ Eng classes, there are weekly assignments and discussions as well as few “long” papers to submit. Whereas Math uses a program call MathLab where there are homework to be done and turned in. Tests can also be assigned out of that or submitted by scanned copy. Some classes may have quizzes and with Quizlet, I think that’s a place some people cheat. But kids who study figured out quick that professors feed wrong answers onto Quizzlet just for fun and traps students.
I plan to take these classes during the summer term, so in other words I will be completing these courses over summer break at the comfort of my own home
There are several possible ways. They can use monitoring software which requires you have your camera and microphone on for tests so that they can see if you are looking at notes or asking someone else for answer, and can see if you are opening other tabs to google (some even track eye movement to make sure your eyes don’t go elsewhere). They can use sites like Turnitin to check for plagiarism on essays and papers. In some cases, you are simply on the honor system and they don’t check on you, but trust you to be honest.
During the summer, you should only take one or two classes because they’re compressed. Typically, you’ll cover in 6 weeks what you would study over 10 months in HS, so expect 3 hours of hw per day on top of class time for each class you take.
My recommendation would be to twke 1 class, hold on to a part time job, and do something fun&interesting the rest of the time.
During the semester, assume 1 DE class = one intense AP class in terms of hw&time commitment.
I would actually recommend 1 CS class + the stats class because CS classes tend to be very time intensive.
Be careful about pre-reqs: that class typically requies stusents to have completed Algebra2 first for instance.
I think you should be able to do CIS 1 and Into to programming at the same time. CIS 1 is usually pretty easy, like how to turn on your computer easy – meant for people who have zero computer background.
Stat on the other hand can be very easy or very hard depending on how your brain works.
Private schools do not want students to graduate early, since that means losing a tuition paying semester or few. State schools want students to graduate as soon as possible, since most students are subsidized. That is the most likely reason for differences in accepting college credit earned while in high school.
Introductory college statistics (or high school AP statistics) typically has algebra 2 as the prerequisite. This math content would be complicated in integrated math 3 if your high school does integrated math.
My daughter did Intro to Stats through a CC and there definitely was a prereq - I forget what it was exactly but she actually didn’t meet it and had to write to them to get special permission to take it (which was granted because she had actually already taken AP Stats).
If your CC has a prereq for stats - and it likely does - it will almost certainly be something higher than IM1. You need to check the course catalog.
Okay, in that case I am jstu going to take the two computer classes, how much work will I have by taking these classes, like I can still have a social life right.
No way to know for sure without seeing the syllabi and the course requirements. It will vary by college and even by instructor. You will likely need to carve out a few hours a day every day. You should have time for other things, though.