Recognition of Prior Learning?

[jehane]

Hi all

 

Of the two classes I've just started, one is an undergrad level course which is required for my MS.  It's required even if the student has completed an equivalent elsewhere.  Only if the MS/PhD student has taken this class at this university are they exempt.  Of the grad students in the class, one has just finished a BS in the field at another university, one has just completed a MS in the field at another university, and I hold a GradDip and over a decade's worth of professional experience in the field (as well as a BS).  So far the material covered is at high school level, not even what I would consider to be 3rd-year undergrad.  Is this typical in US universities, not having recognition of prior learning?  RPL was standard practice in Australia, at least when I was a student.  I would rather be taking a more challenging and more useful (to me) class.  There will be another two classes I will have to take that are similar.  

 

Thanks

[Lisa44201]

It happens; some classes transfer, some don't, especially if a class is considered a requirement for a particular program.

[Eigen]

Common. Almost all of my first semester classes were material I had predominately covered as an undergrad. 

 

Classes are usually set up to give a central core of required coursework that would ensure someone could teach in the field, with elective courses, electives, and your research branching you out into new and more challenging work. 

 

If the course is easy and material you've already had, then it will not take much time or focus, which will free you up for research. 

[TakeruK]

I think it's common that US schools will not count courses from different schools (even at Masters level, whether they are from the US or not), especially if this is considered a "core class" for your program. At my current program, you are able to talk to the instructor of "intro level" core classes and if you can demonstrate you know the material well enough, you can replace that class with a more advanced class.

 

Sometimes though, certain core classes, especially if they are a pre-req for a different class cannot be substituted at all. This is because some programs will want their students to not only know the material but to learn the material in precisely the way that the program teaches it (for better or for worse). This might be because the school wants to make sure their graduates (who carry the school "brand name" around) to know exactly the same thing in the same way. Alternatively, core classes may form a big component of qualifying exams and you might not do as well on the qual. exam if you didn't take the course exactly the way it was taught at the school. Finally, depending on field, you may need to take the course from the PhD school to get some sort of certification. 

 

If you are not able to be exempt from the class, I would recommend taking advantage of a lighter/easier courseload and get a head start on something else, as Eigen suggested! Also, sometimes retaking by a different instructor can expose you to new parts of the material and maybe even give you the time to delve deeper in some areas. Last year, I took a certain course for a third time and another course for the second time. The course material is pretty rich though and a 10-week quarter here or a 13-week semester back in Canada would not have been able to cover everything, so there was still new material even for the third time! It was actually pretty nice to see alternate presentations and be able to learn/explore the interesting details since I didn't have to struggle to learn the basic stuff.

Edited August 26, 2013 by TakeruK

[jehane]

Thanks for all the replies.  I get the point that I may gain new insights, and I sincerely hope that will be the case.  It's what I initially hoped for, but given the current pace of the class (extremely slow) and the material covered (high school level chemistry) I'm not overly optimistic.