UCD Access Course - lecture

yoozername

Hi All,

My girlfriend has applied for the Science Access Course in UCD, and she has to attend a lecture later in August (24th, I think). She's from Hungary, and has what I'd call good/very good English. The problem starts when it comes to technical terms (as used in biology/chemistry/physics/IT etc), as she is not familiar with most of these, and it means that understanding a lecture on some obscure technical topic is likely to cause problems.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to prepare for this lecture? She's very nervous about it, and I'm hoping we can get some good prep done beforehand, but I don't know where to start, and what to do about the technical vocabulary (even if she translated the English words to Hungarian, it's no guarantee that she'd be familar with them then either!)

Any help would be much appreciated! And if there are any non-native English speakers who have done the course, I'd love to hear from you too!

Thanks

Larianne

The lecture is nothing to do with knowledge of the subject, it's more to see if you can listen and regurgitate the topic being spoken about. When I did it, 3 years ago, it was on DNA fingerprinting. Hadn't a breeze what the professor was talking about but just wrote down what I thought he said.

There was a few non-native english speakers in my class. I know two of them have gone on the study at third level so it worked out fine for them.

yoozername

Thanks for that Larianne.

As you've done the lecture (and interview?), would you have any tips at all on preparing for it? Anything that comes to mind that you wish you knew beforehand?

Larianne

With the lecture, just make sure to get in earlier and sit near the front so she can hear properly. The course is always over subscribed so there will be around 50 or so (maybe more these days) at it, so better being at the front so she can hear and not be distracted.

No, nothing that I can think of. I was on a mission to get into college after the course as I had been turned down the year previously. I just told them my plans on what I wanted to do, that I'd researched the college course and that the access course suited me down to a T.

Once your girlfriend puts it across to them that she is dedicated to the course and will be able for the course she will be fine in the interview. Quite a number of people dropped out of the course along the way so they like to know a person is committed.

yoozername

Thanks a lot for your advice Larianne, hopefully it will go well

Jessibelle

I completed the course this year and the lecture last year was on Physics, basically an overview of how it applies in our daily life. I'd second sitting to the front of the class, and really all the essay is is a regurgitation of the lecture. You can take notes throughout, so if the lecturer starts saying things like 'there are 3 points...' , if your girlfriend made a note of those and gave them back in the essay, it could go in her favor. The interview I found was all about showing that you had a plan, and this course was a stepping stone to get to that plan, so passion for her subject, dedication for her studies and a definite aim for what to do the next year comes across well.
Also my class this year had 5 non native english speakers and of them 4 have college places that I know of, so it is do-able.

yoozername

Thanks for your advice, Jessibelle!