درس خواندن

Lesson 13 – Study

Most children begin their studies at 5 or 6 years old in pre-school, followed by kindergarten. After that comes primary/elementary school, which consists of first grade through fifth grade. Then there’s middle school – sixth grade through eighth grade – and high school, which is ninth grade through twelfth grade.

After high school, you apply to colleges/universities to see which ones will accept you. You send in/submit your application and then wait for the results. If you got good grades in high school, you might get / be awarded a scholarship to help pay the tuition (the cost of studying).

In college, you’ll take classes/courses on various subjects. You should always take notes as the teacher is giving the lecture. Some teachers may ask the students to give/make presentations or do research and write an essay, an assignment, a report, or a paper. After you hand in your work, the teacher will grade the assignment (give you an evaluation, for example, 90%) and give you feedback (comments on your work).

To evaluate your progress, you’ll take tests/exams. If you get the minimum number of points required, you’ve passed the test; if you don’t get the minimum number of points, you’ve failed the test. It’s also possible to pass/fail a course.

If the course proves to be too difficult, or if you don’t like it, you can withdraw from or drop the course.

“Withdraw from” is the more formal expression, and “drop” is the more informal expression.

Most college students choose a major/concentration. To talk about a concentration of studies, you can use “major” as a verb or a noun – for example,

“I majored in biology” / “I was a biology major.”

“My daughter is majoring in philosophy.” / “My daughter’s a philosophy major.” When you graduate from college, you’ll get a diploma. Afterwards, you can say you have a degree in the area of your concentration. You can have a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, or doctorate (Ph.D.), for example:

“I have a bachelor’s degree in chemistry.”

“I have a master’s degree in linguistics.”

“I have a Ph.D. in theology.”