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What Is a Quarter?
What is a quarter
While the most common term students usually hear is semester, the quarter system is also used in many high schools. A quarter system divides the academic year into four 10 to 12-week sessions: fall, winter, spring, and summer. The average full-time student will take about 3-4 classes per quarter. In the quarter system, students start school in September and end in early July.
For example, we will take a look at the sample schedule from Shrewsbury Public Schools. In this example, the quarters are used interchangeably with semesters.
September 1st | First Quarter Starts |
December 8th | First Quarter Ends; Second Quarter Starts |
January 25 | Second Quarter and First Semester Ends; Third Quarter Starts |
April 1st | Third Quarter Ends; Fourth Quarter Starts |
June 15th | Fourth Quarter and Second Semester Ends |
Additionally, some colleges that use this system are within the UC system, such as UCLA, UC Davis, etc. For college, the quarter schedule is:
- Fall Quarter: September – December
- Winter Quarter: January – March
- Spring Quarter: March – June
- Summer Quarter (or Summer Session): June – September
Benefits of the Quarter System
- With fewer classes and therefore less material to study, students have less stressful workloads. The lighter schedule gives them time to pursue internships, take part in extracurricular activities, and fulfill other commitments.
- Students have time to explore a larger variety of courses: With the shorter length of each class, students have a chance to try out other classes of interest without committing to taking the class for an entire 3-4 months like they would in the semester system.
Downsides of the Quarter System
- With the condensed schedule, students have shorter breaks between quarters compared to the 1 to 3-month long break in the semester system.
- Students may feel that they lack the time to pursue subjects in enough depth to truly understand them, as courses must either cover less material than the semester system or spend even less time on concepts by trying to fit a semester’s worth of knowledge into the short 10-week quarter.
- Transferring school can be a headache, since most schools follow the semester system. If students want to have a smooth transition to another school, they’ll be limited to other schools that use the same system; so a college student attending UCLA could be limited to other schools in the UC system, for example.
What Is a Semester?
Semesters are the most common academic calendar system utilized across US colleges and high schools. A semester divides the academic year into two 14- to 20-week-long sessions: fall and spring, with three main breaks in the summer, spring, and winter. With this academic calendar, students’ classes run longer than they would in a quarter. Fall semester typically begins in late August and runs through mid-December, while Spring semester starts in January and ends in early May. The summer semester is optional, and runs from June to July. College students usually take 4 to 5 courses per semester.
Benefits of the Semester System
- Students have more time to study: Because each semester is 14 to 20-weeks long, students have more time to learn material; however this also means that they will have more material to learn. Though some classes use the extra time to teach additional topics, this also leaves room for courses to go into more depth and ensure that students have a genuine understanding of the coursework. This can be extremely helpful, as students have more opportunities to review and ask questions while also avoiding any rush to understand all materials before midterms and finals.
- Developing a strong relationship with professors offers another benefit: With approximately four months, students will inevitably get to know their professors better than they would in a quarter system—the additional time also provides more chances to meet with professors to ask questions outside of class. Keeping in touch with professors that know you well can significantly benefit you when applying for graduate school or internships/jobs.
- Shorter class periods: This only applies to non-studio classes. With the semester system, many students will participate in 50-minutes (3 classes/week), or 1 hour 25 minutes (2 classes/week), or 3 hours (2 classes/week – applies to studio class). Because of this schedule, students generally have more time in an individual day than they would in the quarter system, as well as being able to establish a longer-lasting consistent schedule to accommodate other activities without conflict.
- Students have more time during the summer to participate in internships.
Cons of the Semester System
- Because students will generally be taking less courses overall in this system, there is much more pressure to fulfill program requirements and less flexibility to explore courses in other disciplines. In addition, if a student wants to change their major during junior or senior year, it can be very costly in terms of either time (because they will have to wait until the next semester to take required courses for their new program) or finances (as some colleges require students to pay for credits that they don’t need for graduation). Similarly, the lack of flexibility leads to a more limited course selection. In high school, the semester system can cause similar issues, especially for students who need to take a particular class to graduate, as they may end up graduating late if that class isn’t offered that semester.
- Because breaks during the semester tend to be longer, many students find that they suffer from reduced motivation or focus. Furthermore, due to the longer timeline, the extended nature of courses can cause students to overestimate the amount of time that they have to study and complete assignments, leading them to procrastinate and fall behind on assignments or fail exams with no way to make up for lost time before the end of the semester.
What Is a Trimester?
Trimesters divide the academic year into three terms of 10-12 weeks each, not including the summer. Trimesters can be thought of as a kind of quarter system, because they follow a similar schedule; the only difference is that the quarter system includes summer as the fourth quarter, and trimester systems do not. Compared to the semester system, trimesters can end later than semesters because there are more terms within a year; however, this depends entirely on the school.
For high school, following a trimester system means that students will have 5 class periods of varying lengths. Core classes may take up 2 trimesters, while electives can take one trimester.
Benefits of the Trimester system
- With the trimester system, students are allowed to focus on fewer subjects at a time, since they only have to take three or fewer core classes, along with electives and AP
- Improved relationship with teachers and students: With the lighter course load, students have more time and space to develop or strengthen their relationship with teachers, through activities and projects.
Cons of the Trimester system
- Similar to the cons of the quarter system, the trimester system can feel too short for students, and give them the feeling that they haven’t had the chance to genuinely understand each topic.
- While there are more terms to choose from, this also means that classes sometimes get canceled due to low enrollment. This could lead to additional stress if a student failed to sign up for another class, and was unable to find one in time due to limited availability.
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Other Uncommon Academic Calendars
4-1-4 or 4-4-1
“4-1-4 or 4-4-1” refers to “four months for the fall semester, four months for the spring semester with a one-month long January term (J term) in between”. J term runs in January and can end as late as early February. During this period, students are required to participate in J term for at least one of the four semesters and have various options available, such as taking on-campus/online classes, participating in off-campus programs, participating in internships, or conducting an independent study.
Continuous
Continuous academic calendar is the least common model, since students have no breaks and the next course starts immediately after the end of the previous one.
It is important to consider your own learning style and needs when considering which system works best for you. The quarter system is the most intense with a wider course selection but less depth, while the semester system offers more in-depth course selection and allows for longer breaks between classes. Lastly, the trimester system may be challenging due to its intensity and shorter timeline, but can also open up more opportunities for students to both take a variety of courses and pursue other goals during the summer. Ultimately, each student should consider their options carefully before deciding which system works best for them, as well as how important it is to their academic success that their school follows that system, because other factors may ultimately be more important when choosing a college to attend.
