Academic term

Key takeaways

Academic term belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Academic term to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Academic term from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

An academic term (or simply term) is a portion of an academic year during which an educational institution holds classes. The schedules adopted vary widely. Common terms such as semester, trimester, and quarter are used to denote terms of specific durations. In most countries, the academic year begins in late summer or early autumn and ends during the following spring or summer.

Description An academic year is the time during which an educational institution holds classes. An academic term is a portion of the academic year. The schedules adopted vary widely.

Types Semester, trimester and quarter are all types of academic terms (the last two being mainly confined to American English), each differentiated by their duration as described below:

Semester (Latin: sēmestris, lit. 'six monthly') originally German, where it referred to a university session of six months, adopted into American usage in the early 19th century as a half-year term of typically 15 to 18 weeks. Used in the US and other countries to refer to the two main periods into which the academic year is divided at some universities. Trimester (Latin: trimestris, lit. 'of three months') used in the US and Canada to refer to one of the three terms into which the academic year is divided at some universities. Quarter (Latin: quartarius, lit. 'fourth part of a measure') used in American English to refer to one of four terms into which the academic year is divided at some universities.

Academic terms by country In most countries, the academic year begins in late summer or early autumn and ends during the following spring or summer. In Northern Hemisphere countries, this means that the academic year lasts from August, September, or October to May, June, or July. In Southern Hemisphere countries, the academic year aligns with the calendar year, lasting from February or March to November or December. The summer may or may not be part of the term system.

Australia

In most of Australia, the primary and secondary school year lasts about 200 days, from late January or early February to early or mid-December, and is split into four terms:

Term 1 starts in late January or early February and ends in late March or early April (often in close proximity to Easter). Term 2 starts in late April or early May and ends in late June or early July. Term 3 starts in mid-to-late July and ends mid-to-late September. Term 4 starts in early-to-mid October and ends typically in mid-to-late December. Terms 4 & 1 (rolled over) and 2 & 3 are respectively usually deemed 'summer' and 'winter' respectively for purposes of sports participation and uniform standards. Australian states and territories vary their approach to Easter when determining the dates for the holiday at the end of Term 1. The exact dates vary from year to year, as well as between states, and for public and private school. In Tasmania until and including 2012, the school year was split into three terms, the first one being the longest and including an extended Easter holiday (which was also the practice of mainland Australia until the mid-1980s). However, in 2013 Tasmania introduced a four-term year, to conform to the rest of the country. The exact start and finish date of the academic year varies between jurisdictions; in 2023 Queensland will start earliest on 23 January (the only jurisdiction to begin the academic year before Australia Day) and finish earliest on 8 December, while Tasmania will start latest on 8 February and finish latest on 21 December. There is typically a break of two weeks between each term, followed by a 1-2 month summer break after term 4 which ends just before Christmas. This occasionally varies in different jurisdictions/school systems (i.e. some independent schools have a break of three week between terms 1 & 2 and between terms 3 & 4). In the year 2000, due to the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, the state of New South Wales extended the break after Term 3 to three weeks. Most Australian universities have two semesters a year, but Bond University, Deakin University, CQUniversity, Griffith University, the University of New South Wales and the University of Canberra have three trimesters. Unusually, Macquarie University officially uses the word "session" and CQUniversity uses the word "term" in place of "semester". Many universities offer an optional short summer semester.

Austria

The Austrian school year for primary and secondary schools is split into two terms, the first one starts on the first Monday in September in the states of Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland and on the second Monday of September in Upper Austria, Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Tyrol and Vorarlberg. Most schools have holidays between the national holiday on October 26 and All Souls Day on November 2, but those are unofficial holidays not observed by all schools in Austria. Christmas holidays start on December 24 and end on the first weekday after January 6. The first term ends in Vienna and Lower Austria on the first Friday of February, in Burgenland, Carinthia, Salzburg, Tyrol and Vorarlberg on the second Friday of February and in Upper Austria and Styria on the third Friday of February. There is a one-week break between the two terms. In the second term there are the Easter holidays, the Mayday Holiday on May 1 and the long weekends of Pentecost, Ascension and Corpus Christi. The school year ends in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland on the last Friday of June, in Upper Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Salzburg, Tyrol and Vorarlberg on the first Friday in July.

Barbados

The Barbadian school year is fashioned after the British system, and as such, it follows a scheduling with three terms per school year.

First term begins in the second week of September and continues for 15 weeks, ending in mid-December, excluding one week for mid-term break in late October. Second term begins in the first week of January and continues for 12 weeks, ending at the end of March. Third term begins early/mid-April and continues for 11 weeks until the end of June. The long school holiday period is 9 to 10 weeks from the end of June until the first week of September.

Brazil

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Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Academic term

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Academic term claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Academic term before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Academic term ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Academic term

In research: Academic term appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Academic term in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Academic term is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Academia, Calendars, Educational time organization, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Academic term outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Academic term in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Academic term means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Academic term out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Academic term in simple terms?

An academic term (or simply term) is a portion of an academic year during which an educational institution holds classes. The schedules adopted vary widely.

Why does Academic term matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Academic term?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Academic term.