Can someone explain SEMESTER CREDIT HOURS* to me

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doctorastro

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So I'm a bit confused on what Semester Credit Hours means. A school I want to apply to has a requirement of, 4 (3 hours of lecture, 1 hour of lab) for Physics. Does this mean in a 3 quarter physics lecture series, I can take 1 quarter of lab and fulfill this requirement?

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So I'm a bit confused on what Semester Credit Hours means. A school I want to apply to has a requirement of, 4 (3 hours of lecture, 1 hour of lab) for Physics. Does this mean in a 3 quarter physics lecture series, I can take 1 quarter of lab and fulfill this requirement?
I'm not really sure what you are asking. In a typical set up in a school with a fall and spring semester, most classes either meet for 3 50 minute sessions (or two 75 or 80 minute sessions) each week, and you get credit for 3 hours. In a science class with a lab, your either get 4 hours credit for the class to take into account all the time you spend in the lab, or the lab is credited separately for 1 hour, even though you spend a lot more than 1 hour per week in the lab plus whatever class time is devoted to it. It has nothing to do with quarters. Make sense?
 
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So I'm a bit confused on what Semester Credit Hours means. A school I want to apply to has a requirement of, 4 (3 hours of lecture, 1 hour of lab) for Physics. Does this mean in a 3 quarter physics lecture series, I can take 1 quarter of lab and fulfill this requirement?

I get what you’re talking about. You need to look at the conversion of quarter hours to semester hours. The AMCAS guide explains how to do this. I don’t think one quarter will be sufficient but you can call the school to ask. Remember, quarter hours are less than semester hours because a year long sequence is 12 quarter hours but only 8 semester hours.
 
Try taking a look at your transcript. I know when I graduated I was confused about this stuff, especially since my school makes all classes worth 1 credit, whether it has a lab or met 5 times a week (languages). On your transcript, probably at the bottom there will be a key. Thats where I saw each class is worth 5 "quarter hours", which translates to roughly 3 1/3 semesters.
 
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