The end of my first month of university is approaching! Yikes it seemes to go by fast. And on the note of time fleeting away, the first two assignments in Film 1010 (Intro to filmmaking) are due this Monday. Thankfully I have them (pretty much) done because, *drum role please* they are worth a combined 25% of my final mark in that course. 
I would have to say that the most shocking change in the transition from High School to University ( < –note the use of the capital to denote a proper noun) is the marking. In High School, one has at least a few attempts at a given task before the actual mark is recorded. If you are, or have recently gone to an Ontario high school than you are quite familiar with the concept of formative and summative, that is, to have first a practise attempt at a task, then to have the actual one count. I can not say that I am fond of either system, as when I was in High School, I would try hard for formative, do well and get bored with the summative (the “I’ve already done this, why do I need to prove it again”). Quite the opposite in University where, in most cases you have one shot at proving your proficiency in a task and for some majors/courses, your entire mark is based on one or maybe two exams.
I pity the foo who crumbles under exam pressure.
There is also the problem of bell curving a class. I am fortunate to be in a program where this is not common practise, but I have heard horror stories of programs, like psychology and others, where on the first day of class the professor told a little story:
“Look to your left and look to your right, one of those people, will fail…”
In the case of the bell curve, the professor will statistically fail one third of the students in any class. I find this ridiculous, as for example, if you bell curved an exceptionally bright class, one third of the students who met the course requirements to pass were failed because of statistics. I have heard several theories about the reason that some professors bell curve classes, the most believeable of which (in my opinion) is the desire for more tution money.
Well this ends a small dissertation on the university experience. In closing, I would like to note one thing in relation to time. Though it seems fleeting, I never expected to have as much free time as I do (free time for studying, reading endless amounts, doing assignments and maybe a little time for producing films). Not having class on Friday is great!