My English mark is pulling down my average (it is like 10 percent lower than my average), and I'm really worried. My question is: Is it any easier to get a higher mark in ENG4U by taking it online during the semester? Or would it be easier taking it in summer school or online in the summer?
And for those who have taken ENG4U online, what was the work load like?
Thanks!

In the day school version of ENG4U, the average was in the high 60s and only ONE PERSON got over 80. Wasn't exactly a "dumb class" either. I took it in summer school and got an easy 90. If I had actually worked hard, I could have gotten a 95. If I took it in day school, I probably would have been in the mid 70s.

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U of T Electrical Engineering 1T1

It depends on how your school is doing. And which school your applying to. I'll give an example, University of waterloo asks applicants to high light any courses that they took outside of their own day school. You should contact the university(ies) that you're interested in and find out if taking virtual school will have any effect on your admission average.

I don't think universities care too much. For your reason, just put down course conflict or something.

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U of T Electrical Engineering 1T1

I did a google search and came up with this link : http://www.virtualhighschool.com/courses/outlines/eng4u.asp

I'm not sure if this course 'outline' is similar for all virtual schools but this one gives you a good idea about what they will ask you to do. Again ENG4U is VERY subjective at my day school they didn't cover these things to such extent and I don't even think that we did ANY poetry again its all up to the teacher and what you feel is best. I would suggest that you get this done during the summer either through summer or virtual school because in grade 12 grades and socializing are really important. If you do this you will have at least gotten this out of the way.

I'm not sure if taking the course in virtual school would be a very good idea. Particularly if it's in addition to four other classes in regular day school. That could get stressful. With virtual school you don't have a teacher physically there assigning you work and the due dates for it, and you don't have them there to remind you either. It's all on you to get that work in, and there's no one standing over your shoulder to kind of push you in that direction, not even other classmates.
Also, ENG 4U is not an easy subject and not having the teacher there to ask for advice with certain things could work against you.

I took ENG 3U and ENG 4U in Summer school. I suck at English, and I know that. So I mainly wanted to get it over and done with. Grade 11 english was a walk in the park compared to grade 12 english, but that was based on several reasons.
1. The teacher I had was super nice, very lenient and easy.
2. That summer was very hot, and we were not in an air conditioned room, so I'm pretty sure the teacher scraped a lot of the assignments she had planned for us, so we could spend the afternoons in the schools mini theater (with air conditioning) and watch movies.
3. That year it was a ENG 3 U/ 3 C split, so often us 3U's would be completing work at the 3 C level (our culminating was practically the same as the 3C's and it was a complete joke) The two books we read were books/plays that the 3C /4C's would do at my regular day school high school. (Of Mice and Men and Death of a Salesman)

At the end of the day I came out of that class with a 94% which was super fantastic for me. In regular day school in grade 10, I'm pretty sure I came out with a 79%/80% Somewhere around there.

ENG 4U, was a completely different story. It was so much more difficult than ENG 3U, but I would definitely say I found it easier than taking it like I did in regular day school in grade 10, and I'm pretty sure when comparing it to the regular day school class that fall, I had it a little easier than them, lol.

The teacher I had was way more serious and stricter in terms of her marking. She made it really difficult to get marks over 70%, luckily I managed. I was pretty stressed at the beginning with all of the work she was assigning. I didn't think I would be able to do it in four weeks, and was seriously considering droping out of the class. What made me change my mind was the fact that I thought about if I were to take this exact same class in day school. I would have all these assignments and readings, not to mention the culminating activity to do, over five months (yeah that seems like a long time) but add in all the other course work I would be doing in my other classes, and that was too much for me.

It was a lot of work in those four weeks, and way more challenging than my first summer school experience, but it was definitely worth it when I was done. I still had one month summer vacation, and unlike most of my friends, I could laugh at them as they cringed at the thought of having to take their ENG 4U class in the fall, as I was already done it.
During summer school I would be in class from 8:00 am - 1:00 pm. Even though we had air conditioning it was still hot in the school, so from about 8:00 am - 11:00 am we would do actual in class work (like the stuff you would do in your regular day school class) And then we'd get a half hour for lunch break, and after that we would have free time (no, not to run around and talk) but time to read books and/or work for our culminating activity, or to finish up assignments we weren't done yet.
By the time our bus got there to pick us up and take us back, (I live in a small town, so summer school was held in the larger city, 15 mins away from the town I live in, so the bus would pick us up at our summer school and make several stops to drop us off once it got to our town) and by the time I rode my bike home, it would likely be around 1:45 - 2:00 pm. When I got home I usually took a break for an hour or so, and then worked on homework till supper time. After supper I might spend a few more hours on homework depending on what was due. But most often, I was able to get away with doing my homework before dinner, and maybe an hour afterwards, and then have time go out with friends and do the usual 'summer stuff.'

The culminating activity was brutal. (Probably partly because it was actually challenging and because I had never been given a culminating activity on the first day of classes, and realize that I only had about 3 and a half weeks to get it done.)
We also had to write several essays on top of that (The majority not requiring research, but more for the teacher to mark us on the expression of our ideas, sentence structure, essay structure, etc.) We did have to write two on the book and the play we read, those being 'The Stone Angel' and 'King Lear.' Those required research, not very much, you could get away with quoting parts in the book. Not a lot of outside research was required. This was the first time I encountered a teacher who actually took the essays she suspected of plagarism and researched to find out if the students did or not. Luckily, I was not one of the unlucky people who got caught taking an idea here and there from a website without citing the source or paraphrasing it.
Those who did were given a harsh talking to, and had major marks deducted from their essays. (The teacher did have the right to fail them, and some of them did fail the essay because of it, but most people, who really didn't intend on plagarising and seemed to have forgotten to paraphrase one or two things were deducted less). There was actually one really smart girl there who was accused of plagarism by the teacher and she just couldn't handle it. She couldn't believe it. She balled her eyes out that whole day. I really don't think she intended to, she probably just didn't understand fully what plagarism was.

Anyways, so the exam was pretty difficult.

At the end of the summer I came out with an 87%, something of which I am really proud of, considering all of the hard work and challenging assignments that was involved with the course.

At the end of the regular grade 12 year, I asked many of my friends how they did in regular day school with ENG 4U. The majority made it out with low 70's, the next highest group of people I found got 60's or failed and would be re taking it in summer school or in their fifth year. There were only a select few who managed to get over 80% and probably like 1 person I know of who got over 90%

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Success is not the key to happiness, happiness is the key to success. If you love what you do in life, you will be a success!!

Waterloo or any university does not care where you took ENG4U.

Very occasionally Waterloo worries about where you took your math courses if you want their math degree but that is it. No other university cares especially about ENG4U.

If you don't believe me ask the university.

I wish guidance would educate themselves on why universities ask these questions.

I took night school on 2 of my 6 required courses yet got into Queens with one of their big scholarships.

I would go to summer school rather than online because I like the people contact but perhaps that is just I.

Thanks!! I'm thinking of taking gr. 12 Eng. in virtual school 2nd semester instead of in day school... is it easier to get marks there?

Well, I Took ENG 4U this summer, with the TCDSB. To be honest, I would have gotten the same mark if I had done it in day school, but this was mainly due to the fact that my teacher was very hard compared to the other virtual school teachers (Class Average: 58). However, to answer your question, it has its Pros and its Cons.

Pros:

- You can do the work when you have time.
- Rarely Tests/Quizzes (With the TCDSB)
- You can advance faster if you have completed the work earlier.

Cons:

- You tend to procrastinate, as you usually just end up surfing the web ... and completing your work last minute.
- Teacher/ Student Communication not as strong as it could be in an actual class
- Instructions for assignments can be broad, so if your confused and have a question, you have to wait till the teacher e-mails you back the answers.

*Just Some of the Pros and Cons*

Although I would have gotten the same mark at school, I found virtual schooling to be awesome, as I was able to enjoy my summer, and finish up a gr 12 credit.

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-99Konvictz
scңuіcң ввα '13

has anyone done vs through the yrdsb?