Berkley Center

As finals draw to a close here in London, the same question plagues both my friends and me who are here from Georgetown: “How much did I actually learn in class while I was in England?” This question is somewhat perplexing. Classes in London are structured very differently from those in the United States, with some modules (the term for “courses” at British universities) meeting for only two hours per week. At times, the material covered in class seems to have no bearing on future assignments, essays, or tests, limiting any sort of motivation to even attend class in the first place. The lack of consistent assignments, with some classes having a final exam count for 100 percent of a course grade with almost no work throughout the semester, makes the struggle for motivation all that much harder.

As I began studying for finals, I noticed something even more odd. I didn’t have to study all of the class material to pass the course or even do well by British standards. In one of my psychology courses, the final consisted of nine essay questions on different topics in which I only had to answer three. In a course where there were only 11 topics total, this meant that I only had to study five topics to ensure that I could successfully complete the exam. That is less than half of the course material, the other half of which I didn’t even bother to review and, as a result, forgot about all together. Coming from an American system where most of my final exams were cumulative or we were at least regularly tested to ensure we had learnt the material, the British system seemed almost unreal.

Despite these less stringent standards, I ended up learning much more than I thought I would. Since I only needed to know about half of the material and I was able to choose the essay questions that I wanted to answer myself, I was essentially given free range to study the parts of the course that I enjoyed the most. Consequently, I was able to focus in-depth on a few specified topics, allowing me to learn more than I ever would have in a class where I had to review an entire semester’s worth of course material. And, surprisingly, I was actually excited to review for final exams since I was studying issues I truly cared about—quite a liberating experience.

While at first I thought the more open-ended British system of education was detrimental to my ability to focus and learn, after I became accustomed to the style of teaching in London, I realized that this form of learning can be quite extraordinary. I have been able to take command of my education in a way that was never possible under an American system like the one we have at Georgetown. While my Georgetown education is broad and all-encompassing, allowing me to know a little bit about a lot of varied topics, the education I have received in London is deep and focused, allowing me to know a lot about what may seem like just a little bit in the grand scheme of a semester.

One of my friends summed up our study abroad education in London by saying that she only needed to “study what she wanted to study.” While this was at first cast by all of us Georgetown students in a negative light, I have now come to realize the benefits of a more directed education and, when I am inevitably back in my Lau cubicle studying material for an interesting class with some material that I just don’t find that interesting, may even miss those times when my education was in my command in a way I never knew was possible.