School, college and university explained in plain language — grades, credits, scores and the choices between them.
College vs university explained without the myth: in the US the name is not a legal category — a university typically offers graduate degrees and research across several schools, a college typically focuses on undergraduate degrees, but Boston College and Dartmouth break the rule, and in the UK 'university' is a protected title while 'college' often means 16–18 education.
How many credits to graduate? About 60 for an associate degree, 120 for a bachelor's and 30 to 60 for a master's — the totals university catalogs actually publish, the 15-credits-a-semester pace behind the four-year degree, and why hitting the number alone does not graduate you.
How to calculate GPA: turn each letter grade into points, multiply by the course credits, add them up and divide by total credits. A full semester worked example, cumulative GPA, percentages, weighted GPA and raising your GPA, with every number shown.
Major vs minor in college, with real catalog numbers: a major is your required primary field, typically 30–60 credits, and names your degree; a minor is an optional secondary field, typically 15–24 credits, recorded on your transcript but not a degree of its own — plus concentrations, double majors, and whether a minor matters to employers.
Undergraduate vs graduate explained from the federal definitions: undergraduate study is the first level — associate and bachelor's degrees, entered from school; graduate study is post-baccalaureate — master's, doctoral and professional degrees you enter with a bachelor's already earned — plus admission, teaching style, funding rules, and the UK term postgraduate.
SAT vs ACT compared on the current official formats: the digital, adaptive SAT (98 questions, 2 hours 14 minutes, 400–1600) against the enhanced ACT (131 core questions, 2 hours 5 minutes, 1–36, Science now optional) — timing per question, calculator rules, concordance, and how to choose with one practice test of each.
What is a credit hour? One hour of class plus at least two hours of your own work each week for about 15 weeks — the federal rule in 34 CFR 600.2, what a 3-credit course really costs you in time, credit hours vs contact hours, and why 12 credits counts as full time.
What is a good SAT score? Above the class-of-2025 average of 1029 is above average, about 1200 puts you ahead of roughly three quarters of test takers, and 1350+ is around the top 10% — the College Board's own averages, percentiles and readiness benchmarks, and how to judge a score against your colleges.
What is plagiarism? Using another person's words, ideas, code, data or work without proper credit — plagiarism defined the way Stanford and Harvard define it, the main types including self-plagiarism and accidental plagiarism, real examples, consequences, and how to avoid it.