How to study?
How to complete a course and is it at all possible if you do not know Finnish?
Most instruction is given in Finnish.Most computer science courses consist of lectures (e.g., 4 hours/week) and exercise sessions (e.g., 2 h/week). In exercise sessions you test your knowledge of the course by solving problems corresponding to the theory taught in the lectures. Some might also include programming assignments or sessions at the computer. Your knowledge of the course is tested in one or two written examinations.
You can usually complete a course in two ways:
- by attending the lectures, solving the exercises (or programming tasks) and taking the course examinations, or
- by taking separate examinations (and completing the programming tasks).
Lectures and exercises
There are rather few courses taught in English but quite a few with exercise sessions in English. This means that you may perhaps not be able to follow the lectures (in Finnish) and must instead do some reading on your own. The lecturer will be able to advise you on the appropriate literature in English. Please inform the lecturer of a course in advance that you would like to have an exercise session in English.Examinations may be taken in English (or Swedish), but please inform the lecturer in advance that you would like to do so. The lecturer will see to it that you receive the questions in English (Swedish). You do not have to register separately for a course examination.
Separate examinations
You can complete a course by taking separate examinations directly without attending the lectures. Please ask the lecturer what material to study. You might still have to complete programming tasks connected with the course. You also have to register separately for separate examinations (with ILMO). You find a list of separate examinations on the web page http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/opiskelu/index.en.html Examinations may be taken in English (or Swedish), but please inform the lecturer in advance that you would like to do so.So it is possible to complete a course even if you do not know Finnish, but it will probably require more independent work than usual.