thewhitrbbit wrote:
In the US, college classes are numbered either 100, 200, 300 or 400. They indicate the degree of difficulty. 100 is considered Introduction, 400 is Advanced.
Usually when you get to the 400 level, the professors work more one on one.
As Mootoo said, UK education system operates differently. College is where you study between 16 and 18 if your school doesn't have a sixth form department (which is again, ages 16-18 ). School isnt (or wasn't, may be now) compulsory beyond 16, so often the two year colleges in academic or vocational qualifications are separate from school. Some students are older than 16-18, there's no restriction on that. You don't get held back grades (we call them years) in school usually in the UK, but at sixth form you often get older students.
We only use the word University for what the US calls both college and university. Undergrad at a normal UK institution is 3 years, 4 for languages.
The 100 200 300 400 thing does exist at UK universities to some degree - at least, at my university I knew undergrads who were doing language units which were divided that way, with 4 being final year level and so on.
But sixth form college you usually take 4 or 5 subjects in the first year and 3 or 4 of those through to the second year. You pass those, you go to university - usually you need at least three good grades to go to university from those exams. At university you don't do a varied general level of courses but specialise from the first year in the subject area you want to focus on. Some people take double subjects, so are joint honours (eg French and business, maths and politics, that kind of thing), but most do one overall subject and take units to complete that subject.
Mootoo is talking about the sixth form stage - though I'm not sure whether first or second year of sixth form.
And honestly, Mootoo, I don't think you can expect much extracurricular from sixth form level teachers. There's a big difference between that academia and that which you find at university level, where those teaching you are often serious research students or those who are beyond that point. Just stick with it and try not to let it ruin your grades...