Posted on Aug. 6: McMaster set to aid ‘double cohort’ strugglers

Some McMaster professors think this year's Ontario Grade 12 graduates — the younger members of the infamous double cohort — won't be as well prepared for university as their OAC peers.

The Grade 12 graduates are the first crop from the new four-year high school program. Matt Valeriote, chair of the department of mathematics and statistics, expects they'll have a slightly different knowledge base than the five-year group. That's because the Grade 12 graduates will have one year less exposure to some mathematical concepts and ideas.

“The most striking thing is that they won't have as much facility with the trigonometric functions,” Valeriote said. “That's something they had to scale back on with the new curriculum.”

Valeriote said McMaster will make adjustments to the introductory calculus courses because of this, and will provide extra help for all first-year students.

Last year, his department set up a math drop-in centre where students could go for assistance, and it will be expanded for the incoming class.

Over the last few years, math faculty have noticed some slippage in students' skills, he said. Because of the change in curriculum, they expect the need for additional help will be even greater this year.

But Valeriote also said faculty members are used to dealing with a wide spectrum of skill sets and knowledge bases in first-year classes. “They're huge courses, so we see all kinds of students.”

Patrick Yip, associate dean of science studies, agrees. He said the degree of preparedness among first-year students varies widely, even among OAC graduates.

“The general consensus is, with the new curriculum, the problem may be a little bit more intense,” he said. “But certainly the range of preparedness … would really not exceed what we had before.”

For those who need them, McMaster already offers courses which mirror OAC courses in mathematics, chemistry and physics.

Yip expects there will be more demand for those courses.

David Palmer, academic skills counsellor at McMaster's Centre for Student Development, said the transition from high school to university has always been difficult, even for older students.

Some are not used to having to take personal responsibility for how they handle their studies.

Palmer said there's often a radical contrast between what students had to do in order to do well in high school, and what they must do to thrive in university, especially in the sciences. “I'm assuming there will be more students who are not really ready for this transition to being independent learners.”

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