What is College like in America? 美国大学是什么样？

The following story uses words from GRE Word Group Set 1   Bold are corrections made by a native English speaker (Tommy).

   
    At the beginning of the school year, students receive a syllabus at the first meeting for each class.  Usually, the professor will give an abridged lecture about the class structure and the main goal for the class.  
    In English class, students will be required to read and analyze many books and have discussions during class time.  Some students give a cursory read through the book and pick up some pieces of the content while others just go online and search the popular synopsis compendiums to find information about their assigned books.  These synopses are generally very short and contain a complete collection of facts about the books.
Sometimes, students might complain about the heavy study workload.  If they are lucky, their professor might curtail some of the reading material.  If not, they might receive professor's terse reply.