Vocabulary to describe educational background for job interviews exercise

Educational vocabulary is fundamental when you are both writing a CV/resume in English or having a job interview. So it's important that you don't make basic mistakes when you are writing or talking about it.

In this online exercise on educational vocabulary, we will show you both the essential English vocabulary and an example of how to describe your educational experience/background in a CV/resume or in an job interview.

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Exercise: A job interview

Read the following job interview between an interviewer and a candidate for a job.

From the context, try to guess what the meaning of the words/phrases in bold are. Then do the quiz at the end to check if you are right.

Interviewer:'From looking at your CV, it seems that you studied at the University of Birmingham. Can you tell me a little about what you studied?'

Candidate:'No problem. I studied there for 4 years. I did English Language as my undergraduate degree. I enjoyed it very much and my high final grade demonstrates that.

But it was an academic degree. So in order to improve my job prospects, when I graduated I did a master's in Business Organisation, which was very vocational. As part of my master's, I did a work placement in the human resources department of MacDonalds during the winter term, which lasted about 3 months. It was a very rewarding experience.

All the courses in the master's were very practical or vocational, like for example courses on employment law and business administration. In fact, my thesis was on employment law in the retail sector. I enjoyed everything about the master's and I got a very high final grade.

After that, I decided that I didn't want to continue at university and do a PhD, I wanted to start my career and use what I'd learnt in the real world.'

Interviewer:'Excellent, and what about at school?'

Candidate:'I studied at Skipton Secondary School in Yorkshire. I passed all my A-levels with high grades. In addition, I did a lot of extracurricular activities like being secretary of the drama club, a very rewarding and enjoyable experience.'

Quiz:

Below is a definition/description of each of the words/phrases in bold from the above text (which you can also find in the grey box below). Answer each question with one of these words/phrases in bold. Only use one word/phrase once and write it as it is in the text. Click on the "Check Answers" button at the bottom of the quiz to check your answers.

When the answer is correct, two icons will appear next to the question which you can press/click on. In the first icon, , you can find extra information about the word/phrase (e.g. when, where and how to use etc...) and a Spanish translation. In the second, , is where you can listen to the word/phrase.

Words/phrases to use in the quiz

A more correct way to describe the mark of an exam/essay/course/degree, is

Grade:
(noun) It is used in schools, universities and for professional qualifications. In Spanish: "Nota".

Grade:

A one or two year course at university after you have graduated, is called a

Master's:
(noun ) The qualification or course between a degree and a PHD. In Spanish: "màster".

Master's:

The big project/essay in a degree/master's, is called a

Thesis:
(noun) The main piece of coursework done in a degree/master's/PHD. Also called a final project or dissertation In Spanish: "tesina/tesis".

Thesis:

Activities that you participate in or organise that aren't part of school/university courses, are called

Extracurricular activities:
(noun phrase) It is used to talk about activities done outside of school or university, like volunteering, being in a sports club. If asked about this, you used only use activities that are positive. In Spanish: "actividades extraescolar".

Extracurricular activities:

Traditional subjects at school/university like Maths, Physics, History etc..., are called

Academic:
(adjective) It is used for courses that don't train or prepare you for a career or job. For example, Law is not an academic degree, while French is. Normally, it is used in front of course, degree or master's. In Spanish: "acadèmico".

Academic:

Subjects at school/university which are connected to a job/career like Engineering, Business Studies etc..., are called

Vocational:
(adjective) It is used for courses that train or prepare you for a career or job. For example, French is not an vocational degree, while Law is. Normally, it is used in front of course, degree, master's. In Spanish: "de formaciòn profesional".

Vocational:

The school/university year is divided in to 3 parts, each part is called a

Term:
(noun) There are three terms in an academic year, winter term, spring term and summer term. In America, they use semester, which divides the academic year in to two parts. In Spanish: "trimestre".

Term:

Part of a course at school/university where you have experience of working, is called a

Work placement:
(noun phrase) When you work in a company as part of your degree or master's. In Spanish: "experiencia laboral".

Work placement:

The first qualification at university, is called an

Undergraduate degree:
(noun phrase) Normally, an undergraduate degree lasts 3 or 4 full-time (longer for studying one part-time). Remember, don't use career for degree. Career is used for professional experience. In Spanish: "licenciatura".

Undergraduate degree:

10.

The different parts/subjects of a degree or masters, are called

Courses:
(noun) Course can be used for both the different parts of a qualification (e.g. a development course of an Economics degree) or for the whole qualification. The context is important. In Spanish: "curso".

Courses:

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Practice

Now that you understand the educational background vocabulary, practise it by creating your own sentences in English with the new words/phrases.

This is me, Chris Clayton, the owner and main writer for Blair English. I'm also a part-time English teacher in sunny Spain. I have a love of history and the web. I hope you find the website useful.