Throughout November and December of 2022,  students were given the opportunity to sign up for a variety of college classes from NOVA. FCPS and many other countries were given the option to send information about these classes that juniors and seniors could take. The ranges of classes offered varied from language, history, mathematics, and even philosophy. Starting from the end of Jan. these classes sessions have started online, and also asynchronously.

A few reasons for signing up for these classes are that they provide an opportunity for seniors and juniors to experience what college is like in terms of work experience, assignments and also allows them to get credit for their hard work. 

There are many benefits of these classes, and although it is a rigorous class to take, the opportunities exceed the amount of pressure that students may feel about the classes. 

These asynchronous classes that students have decided to take already have deadlines, and the assignments necessary to be completed. This means that for students taking these classes, they have to demonstrate that they are willing to find time in their day to complete assignments whilst ensuring that they still focus on school as their priority. Luckily for students the deadline for tasks is within a week, so students either submit their assignments by Sunday or Monday. 

“Right now I am taking two classes at NOVA, the Psychology and Quantitative Reasoning courses. Out of all the other courses, these seemed the most interesting to me. Since I’m taking psychology in school, I hope taking the class at NOVA will be a bit easier,” junior Thành Nguyen said. “Because I am not taking many IB classes I have a lot of free time outside of school to work on my assignments, which has been really helpful.” 

When being asked about the most challenging part of the Psychology course, Thành mentions that having a strict teacher most likely causes stress, and also the preparations needed to be taken to complete proctored unit tests. 

“I’m worried about passing these tests. There are opportunities for extra credit, but the test is long. We get a massive review sheet, but there is so much information to memorize for this class,” Nguyen said. 

Others have mentioned how difficult it is to keep up with the pace of class because there aren’t enough hours in the day to work on school work and college work simultaneously. 

“I think taking NOVA classes has been helpful. I am doing Human Communications and Quantitative reasoning,” junior Nailat Taiyabah said. “So far these classes have been alright, but I always reach the deadline of turning in my assignments on Monday, which is the due date for all assignments.” 

“The other day I turned in something late in my Human Communications class by accident. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to keep myself on track with everything,” Taiyabah said. 

Looking at these two student responses it is clear to see that managing these courses are difficult in itself. It feels as if there is a lot of time to complete work, but depending on the circumstances, everyone feels stress in a different way. 

This is only the first month of completing the classes, and there is still so much more to complete until the end of the course in April. For students doing these classes asynchronously and beyond it is important that students do not  just wait to finish the assignments on the weekend especially if there is a lot of reading that needs to be done or five to six assignments due in one day. They have to be conscious about deadlines, and have time management skills. Although these classes are beneficial for the future, it is very easy to end up procrastinating causing more stress and more workload.