To be honest, most decently challenging courses require critical thinking to some degree, including philosophy. Even in philosophy, while you should be thinking critically about the material you are learning, it’s not like you are “forced” to, if that makes sense. Even up to my third year philosophy courses, at least half your time is spent learning known theories.

I think the best thing to do is look for topics that you find so interesting that it makes you want to critically think and explore them. Maybe that’s philosophy for you, but it might not be. Some people, like biologists, find that in biology. Feel free to try out different topics and see what really peaks your interest.

Actually, I think a first year 65 average is pretty standard across all universities for first year science courses. The averages don’t go up to 70 until 3rd year and 4th year.

On average student marks drop 15% from high school to university, but this does not mean everyone drops 15%. Some students drop a lot, some drop little, some stay the same, and some do better. It depends on the student.

Definitely, there is a lot of self-directed learning in university. Yes, the professor teaches, but because the material is harder than high school, you need to spend time on your own thinking through the material so that you can understand it.

what do you think is the reason apert from the students,
do you think the profs arent as good?

did you think most of your first year was self teach?
got any advice for me ant other entering first year?

I am really thinking, if the marks are that bad at york as well.. I might as well go to U of T and get those marks lol..

I wouldn’t really worry about the types of marks you hear about the tests and stuff. At least for first year (and even second year I imagine), most science courses at York will curve the grades to maintain a ~65 average after the exams are over.

I personally thought that though the material is the same in universities, the marking style is better at york, thus giving a higher mark to its graduates.. but 30% is so little, even for york :

That actually sounds like a fantastic program – I’d actually be interested to see if the program is actually as fantastic as it sounds on paper.

I’d be really impressed if there was a significant focus on encouraging more questioning and debating.

I think asking questions and challenging ideas is one of the best ways to learn and understand something at a much deeper level.

The IB program (if carried out ideally) actually has many methods to tackle the problems of lack of understanding, etc. There is a core course, Theory of Knowledge, that attempts to teach the importance of critical thinking, connections in knowledge, Ways of Knowing, Areas of Knowledge… but from what I’ve heard, ToK is delivered poorly in many programs. Some programs limit it to a term just to get it out of the way, so that students can have more time to prepare for the final examinations. It is really dependent on the teachers, how the program is run, what the program objectives are, and how the priorities are placed.

Some more examples of explicit teaching how to think: encouraging questioning and debate in class, examining the depth and breadth of concepts covered, encouraging connections in knowledge, encouraging active learning.

Well regardless if they are actively teaching you “how to think”, I’m really glad to here your program is pretty challenging and you can be put in some tough spots on your tests and stuff. Things like that will definitely benefit you in the long run.

For sure, self-studying is important in university. The education system isn’t perfect, and there are going to be some professors who do not explain concepts as clearly as others – so sometimes you and your friends will need to figure things out for yourself. But it looks like you’re going to be just fine! =)

But to answer the question, it IS essentially “throwing questions” at us. The decision to teach how to think for them is largely teacher-dependent, rather than being in the curriculum. For instance, biology this year has given me the opportunity to self-learn the entire course. And by opportunity, I mean… no other choice! The teacher, despite years of teaching the subject, is shockingly unfamiliar and even erroneous with her material. But the thing with IB is that the exams are international, the standard and difficulty is supposed to be the same worldwide. In the end, we are taking difficult tests and eventually the real IB exam, and yet are taught very little in class. The students who decide to self-study thus do well on evaluations, and those who rely only on lessons do drastically worse.

Taking it all in stride, self-studying is apparently also an important skill in university…? In any case, earlier exposure to “thinking questions”, with or without the ideal teacher, is pretty good practice if you ask me.