Meaning & use
coursework
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Meanings
noununcountable
Work such as essays, projects or reports that students complete during a course, often counted toward a grade.
Grammar: Uncountable: much coursework, not many courseworks.
Patterns
- do coursework
- hand in coursework
- coursework for something
Fifty percent of the grade comes from coursework.
She stayed up late to finish her biology coursework.
The professor returned the coursework with detailed comments.
noununcountableAmerican
The set of classes or studies a person takes for a degree or program.
Grammar: Often used about advanced study: graduate coursework.
Patterns
- coursework in something
Her coursework in statistics prepared her for the job.
The degree requires two years of coursework.
He completed additional coursework to qualify as a teacher.
Common combinations
- complete coursework
- Students must complete all coursework by April.
- submit coursework
- You can submit your coursework online.
- coursework deadline
- The coursework deadline is Friday at noon.
- graduate coursework
- Her graduate coursework focused on public health.
- heavy coursework
- With heavy coursework, he has little free time.
- coursework grade
- Her coursework grade pulled up her final mark.
Synonyms and how they differ
- assignments
- Assignments are the individual tasks set, while coursework is the whole body of work.
- homework
- Homework is done outside class, often daily, and is usually less formal than graded coursework.
- classwork
- Classwork is done during lessons, whereas coursework often refers to larger pieces done over time.
- studies
- Studies is broader and covers all learning, not only graded work.
Opposites
Word family
- course noun
- a series of lessons on a subject
- work noun
- tasks or effort
- coursebook noun
- a textbook for a course
- course load noun
- the amount of study a student takes on
Commonly confused: coursework or course work? coursework or homework?
coursework vs course work
The two-word form is less common; the single-word spelling is standard.
coursework vs homework
Homework is tasks done at home, while coursework is graded work for a course, wherever it is done.
Practice
In the term, 40 percent of her mark came from ___ and 60 percent from the final exam.
Choose one answer.
Coursework is work done during the course that contributes to the grade. The other words are real but unrelated.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “coursework”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.