Preparation center for languages and mathematics (PC)

Students must achieve an overall grade of D+ (>65%) to pass each PC level. In addition, students must pass every objective. Students who do not meet these criteria are required to repeat the level.

Jumping (Outstanding) Students

Students that achieve very good grades (85% overall score and no objective lower than 80%) may be given the option of jumping a level. However, only professional and mature students will be considered – i.e. those students that have attended all classes, participated well in class activities, and shown their teachers that they are motivated and can work hard enough to make this jump. Long-term, it will not help students to jump a level and then fail through not being ready.

Please note that, this option is only available to PC1 and PC2 students.

Students must achieve an overall grade of D+ (>65%) to pass PC3. In addition, students must pass all six core requirements (i.e. the term paper, the referenced essay, the discussion, and the average of all other assessments).

Final grades are calculated according to the assessment items and weighting table given in the Level Syllabus. Students are given a final grade for each objective, and an overall grade for the whole of the level.

Students must achieve an overall grade of D+ (>65%) to pass PC4. Final grades are calculated according to the assessment items table given in the PC4 Syllabus. Students are given a final grade for each objective, and an overall grade for the whole of the level.

In order to pass PC4 and matriculate to MUIC, students must meet the following criteria:

• Pass all PC4 objectives (Core requirements)
• Demonstrate appropriate behavior throughout PC4.
• Pass the Elementary Mathematics course or equivalent exam (for non-Math exempt students)
• Pass the TWE*, which will be created and assessed by the MUIC English Studies Program.
• Meet all admissions requirements for the chosen major.

*Attention: Qualifications and TWE Assessment

To be eligible to take the Test of Written English (TWE), students must pass PC4. The TWE will be double marked by MUIC teachers. Students will be placed into the College in the following ways:

1. High Achievement – enter EC1
2. Medium Achievement – enter ERS
3. Not Accepted – Your TWE performance does not meet MUIC standards. You will not be eligible for entrance to MUIC.

Note: To be accepted to MUIC, PC4 students are NOT required to retake the MUIC Entrance Examination. Students who do not meet the above criteria are not eligible to enter MUIC. Final grades cannot be changed.

The main goal of these courses is for students to develop the listening and speaking skills that will be required of them in an international degree program. In PC1 and PC2, students learn through interacting with theme-based recorded material that is divided into social, broadcast, and academic English tasks. They take part in an assessed speaking activity at the end of each quarter and are exposed to a wide variety of topics in a wide range of accents. The students’ progress is determined through continuous assessment and final examinations.

These courses are designed to improve students’ academic writing skills on a pre-intermediate level. Students learn how to write through the “process approach”. This means they write their paragraphs and essays in multiple drafts, which they edit and improve after submitting their work to their peers and teachers for editing. Grammatical accuracy is a particularly important objective at the lower levels of PC.

The objective of these courses is to develop the students’ ability to understand the main ideas and supporting information in level-appropriate reading texts. To facilitate this process, students are given a wide range of practice, which aims to improve comprehension by encouraging students to summarize and critically reflect on outline notes they have taken. Furthermore, because students will not be able to cope with university-level readings unless they have an appropriate level of vocabulary, all PC students are required to demonstrate knowledge of the Academic Word List (AWL) sublists 1-4 by the end of PC2.

When students enter MUIC, they are expected to be able to understand and discuss what they have heard in lectures and read in books, newspapers and other sources. Furthermore, they are expected to be able to write and speak coherently and logically. Accordingly, the purpose of the Integrated Skills courses is to help students make connections between the receptive skills of reading and listening and the productive skills of writing and speaking. In these courses, students take notes on lectures and readings, using the Cornell University method of note-taking; then they use these notes to demonstrate their understanding of what they have heard and read. Students are also expected to show a competent use of basic logic, APA referencing and plagiarism avoidance strategies. The courses are thematically organized and are strongly integrated with the Writing Enrichment courses.

Well-regarded universities require their students to demonstrate understanding of and engagement with source material in the form of essays and term papers. They also expect their students to be able to summarize accurately and use citations and reference lists. Accordingly, in these courses, students are required to write essays based on texts they have read and are expected to produce writings at a high academic standard. Students need to successfully produce timed essays and a term paper in order to graduate from PC.

Academic Reading is designed to improve the academic reading and research skills of intermediate- to upper-intermediate level non-native speakers of English. The focus is on reading comprehension and the development of research skills. This course is student centered and is aimed at enhancing students’ learning autonomy and independence. The major assessment in this course is an extended research-based Term Paper Project.

This course serves as a reintroduction for students with a non-mathematics background and students who need to revive their mathematics skills. It helps students learn about various topics in algebra, such as basic arithmetic operations, simplification of algebraic expressions, factoring algebraic expressions, solving simple linear and quadratic equations, solving simple linear inequalities, analyzing and solving simple word problems, understanding of relations and functions.

This course serves as a reinforcement for students with some basic mathematical background and students who need to advance their mathematics skills. It helps students learn further topics in pre-calculus such as analyzing relations and functions, linear functions and its application, linear inequalities and its applications, sketching graphs, solving system of linear equations, applications of linear equations, applications of quadratic equations, radical expressions and rational expressions, statistics and data interpretation, solving word problems.