[EN] Laura and Carla face Unizar’s 0 Courses with a double objective: «to meet people» and «to reinforce knowledge»

Arriving at university new is an experience that many Aragonese students have to live at some point in their lives. To make the situation somewhat less uncomfortable and more bearable, many students sign up for the Courses 0 offered by the University of Zaragoza before classes start with the aim of socializing and meeting some of their classmates. However, the main purpose of these previous trainings is to strengthen Baccalaureate concepts that they will need in their respective degrees.

The subjects taught these days are Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Technical Drawing, Calculus and Algebra, Programming, Electrical Engineering, Numerical Coding, Excel and Graphic Expression. These vary according to the faculties in which they are carried out: School of Engineering and Architecture (EINA), the Faculty of Sciences, the Faculty of Economics and Business, the Polytechnic University School of Teruel, the Higher Polytechnic School of Huesca and the Polytechnic of La Almunia. They are also offered in person in Zaragoza and Teruel, and online in the three Aragonese provinces.

This Thursday, Years 0 of the School of Engineering and Architecture have started with just over a hundred students enrolled. Among them are Laura and Carla, who are going to study Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Engineering, respectively. Both have signed up for the Chemistry and Technical Drawing classes to «reinforce knowledge». It is this last subject that most resists university students: «I consider the Drieric quite important and I have not reinforced it as I should have done during the 2nd year of Baccalaureate», says Carla. For Laura, it is precisely this subject in which she finds the greatest «difficulty»: «It has been uphill for me during Baccalaureate and so I take it up a little. Maybe with another teacher I understand it better.»

Although both students want to arrive «as well prepared» for their first days of classes, the main motivation for attending the courses has been «to get to know people to break the ice«. In addition, Carla seeks to get to know the «atmosphere» of the University from the first moment.

Alejandro is another of the students enrolled in these classes to learn about the «level» and resume Baccalaureate content before starting the course. Currently, he is enrolled in Electronic and Automatic Engineering, although he is waiting to be able to enter Mechanical Engineering. Looking ahead to the coming weeks, he hopes that this training will help him to make «the start of the course» more enjoyable and especially reinforce concepts such as «the fields in Physics and the periodic table in Chemistry«.

Alicia also comes with this same idea, acknowledging that after the PAU and a summer in between, the concepts «are forgotten». The student has signed up for the Chemistry classes where she has received basic training on this first day that will serve her for the Electrical Engineering she wants to study.