High school is split up by quarters for the most part. But things are different in college. So, 8 semesters equals how many years in college?
Well, colleges use semesters instead of the typical “quarter” we are used to in high school that splits the 9-month school year into 4 sections of 9 weeks each.
How long does a semester last?
An academic year in college is divided into two full semesters. Thus, they are six months long. Keep in mind that this can include vacation time in between.
How Do Semesters Work?
A Fall/Autumn semester usually starts in late August and ends in mid-December. Then students typically have a couple of weeks for the holidays with their families.
Then the Spring semester begins in mid-January after the New Years’ festivities die off and continues until the end of May. Usually, this is when there are finals and testing for this semester.
Thus, each semester lasts around 15 weeks or so. After the Spring Semester, Summer begins, and classes are held for students who need to catch up and tend to be shorter classes.
How Are Semesters Applied In College?
You might be questioning yourself right now. I get it; if you count out the Fall semester beginning in September-December, that is only four months, not six.
Well, vacation included, it is roughly a total of six months. However, most classes only last a period of 4 months or so. At college, expect to work for 8 out of the 12 months, more or less 2/3 of an entire year.
Remember that Summer terms tend to be optional, and you might not have to attend. They are there for makeup work or any class a student might have missed.
Having semesters can be better than quarters. Instead of the high school way of studying non-stop for 9 months and then forgetting everything in 3 Summer months, college takes a different approach.
In college, you will study for a shorter amount of time and still receive long enough vacations to relax. But that does mean that the workload is different.
In fact, are you aware of how Often Do College Students Fail Classes? Find out in the article!
8 semesters equals how many years?
Well, the standard amount of time you will spend in college is 8 semesters. But what do 8 semesters equals? Let’s do some quick math.
8 semesters * 6 months (each) = a total of 48 months/ 12 months a year= 4 years. Thus, college lasts a total of 4 years for most students.
Final Thoughts
Now you know that 8 semesters equals four college years. And I hope you can manage them skillfully. Due to various factors, it can be quite weird to transition from high school to college.
But now, you get to pick your schedule accordingly and even take the Summers off if you can. So enjoy every semester as they tend to fly by, and you will be done with eight of them in no time!
