Question on grades/semester

Not that it matters at this point, because I’m so burnt out that I don’t even give a crap, but how bad is it going to look if I only took 2 classes (11 units total) but I got less than A’s in one or more of them? I don’t anticipate getting a B in chemistry, a B in calculus is highly likely at this point though since our teacher is so “intelligent” that she puts questions on quizzes/exams that not even she can solve without help…and granted a B isn’t too bad on it’s own, but I hear that most people who don’t have a concrete grasp of the calc 1 material do worse in calc 2 since it builds off everything in calc 1, so I guess my question is also how bad it’ll look to get a B and then a C in calc 1 & 2 at a community college.


I’m a science major so my science GPA won’t depend solely off the pre-med reqs, and as it stands now my GPA is a 3.94 and science is 4.0, but I keep hearing the “don’t get anything less than A’s at a comm. college” mantra, despite finding out today that someone I know who goes to UC Davis actually thinks the classes at Davis are easier than at my community college (go figure, a lot of the teachers here are horrible), so it’s not like I’m just not trying. Anyhow, I’m not really stressed out about it since it’s going to be what it’s going to be, but it just annoys me that there’s only 2 life science calculus teachers at my college and they both are some of the worst teachers on the campus.

I got a B and an A last semester taking only two classes. Albeit, I am only completing my pre-reqs and I’m at a 4yr university.


From replies to my similar concern last semester, a B is not a killer, but a C doesn’t look nice. The trend also matters. How you do in future classes can demonstrate if you are making a conscious decision to recover from it and try harder or if you’re on a downhill slope.


Just my 2c - add salt to your own taste!

Tim, from my own personal experience in math, I don’t think the “predictive trend” that you described is real in any way (The whole if I get a B I’ll get a C).


My own personal experience with math when I did my undergrad was a B+ > A > B in Pre-Calc, Calc I, Calc II. The trend is hard to predict because there are so many factors - the curve, the quality (or lack thereof) of professors, the amount of time you can spend practicing. I worked equally hard on all 3 semesters…so getting a B in Calc I is hardly a reason to predict that in the next sequence you’ll get a C. Based on what you describe, it sounds like you understand the material well… but your professors are horrid? If that’s the case, then I wouldn’t loose sleep over not being able to do well in II.


So best to avoid worrying about hypotheticals, and give it 110% for any remaining tests, etc left this semester.






Tim,


First, I am sorry you are “fried” presently, a decent basal level of stress is good for performance, but “fried” is probably not… one can get into a negative cycle.


Fried = poor concentration = poor academic work


“Not that it matters at this point”…


BEG to differ, you plan on being a physician as I understand it? Right? And of course you are NECK deep in this trip and probably past the “drop without penalty day”, so you need a little boost… make a plan AND HANG IN THERE!


“How bad is it going to look if I only took 2 classes (11 units total)…”


Could you better describe the term “unit”? The reason I ask is that if the Units are semester hours then you should still be full time? Most places I am aware of use 9 or 10 semester hours as full time.


As to your calculus, what is the class average? Is the instructor using one of the statistical tricks? Some instructors like to hold grades lower because they are easy to “stratify” statistically. In one of my Gen Chem classes we had a “new” hoity toity PhD in education who did it and life was VERY uncomfortable (nobody had any idea HOW they were doing). If the mean is 50% than it is easier to identify true comparative achievement both sides of the curve (everyone is not bunched or compressed near the top). I am sure a statistics guru could do better with the explanation… In the Gen Chem the raw test scores were 50’s and 60’s, enough to crap bricks over, but after all the “figgurin”, I ended up with an 89 B.


Also, as long as we have interacted… this is cheesy, but I hate to suggest… (you have seen the revised “rules” right?) Have you considered a BIT 'o TUTORING? As I am reading between the lines, I get the impression you are not positively sure exactly WHAT specific stuff you need to get a grip on in Calculus? A dispassionate 3rd party (tutor) might just be useful, because you are correct… they build so:


STOP, take a deep breath, (panic is NO GOOD), go back over your semester notes “fromma aa toppa” (you DO still have your class notes from Septemebr right?) and rework a few problems of each type, The minute you “hit the wall” (start missing or don’t recognize stuff) make a note.


If you want to tackle this yourself, get out your book and see if you can get a grip from that (some books better than others) OR one of the “calculus for dummies” (or something like it), then see if you can work through this. If you find a “by yourself” strategy does not work then get a tutor, sooner rather than later because by my estimate the semester is almost over). You might first check with your schools office of academic and student affairs, (I wish I could be more specific but they are called different things at each campus), sometimes non-trads can rate free or reduced fee tutoring, then try the math department for “starving grad students”


But hang in there, your other grades seem good, a W is a bad MOJO at this juncture but at the same time you STILL meed to get a grip for two. If you can get away with a C then are willing to “work through” with self study over the winter break that would be fine… After all if you get a C in ONE and pull an A or B in two you are still golden.


Yours,


Richard

At the college here, I think all of the ones in California are like this, full time is 12 units (unit is same as credit hour) or more…so I’m slightly below full-time status because I had to withdraw from biology.


It’s not that I’m not getting the material, actually. My teacher is one of those “geniuses” who will mark you off a significant amount of points if you get the right answer…but in the wrong format. For instance, say a biology teacher asked you what the chemical formula of glucose is. You answer “C6H12O6.” Well, unless you specifically said “The chemical formula of glucose is C6H12O6”, wrong format as far as this teacher is concerned, hence you would have points marked off. I’m sure everyone has had a teacher like this at one point so I’m sure you guys know I’m not kidding, unfortunately.


So a tutor wouldn’t really help that much, since I’m answering the material right for the most part, but again I’m right on the razor’s edge of an A simply because this expletive thinks it’s humorous to screw with her student’s grades if they don’t dance to her tune. Tutoring wouldn’t be much help anyway at this point…I have finals next week, so it is what it is for this semester…I won’t be getting a C in this semester anyway; I was referring to what I may possibly get in calc 2 next semester. The worst case I’ll end up with in calc 1, since I’m right at about a 91%, is a B.


I’m still going to have to deal with the bad mojo of a W this semester because of bio, but worst case scenario is an A in gen chem 2, A in gen chem 2 problem solving (1 unit class to go along with gen chem 2), A in SCUBA diving, and B in calc 1. I’m not so much worried about the possible B this semester as the possible C next semester, but ipitydafoo has a point I suppose, predicting the future is not exactly an easy task. I just like to plan for worst case scenarios, because more often than not, I find myself thankful that I did.


You’re definitely right about me being fried though…the burnout is so thick at this point that I probably couldn’t scrub it off with a scouring pad. Ah well, one week and 4 exams to go…I hate this crap though. To anyone who hasn’t taken gen chem 2 or a calc class yet, try not to mix them in the same semester…a semester of nothing but math will leave you a very bitter, hateful person.

Ha - you think YOUR math load is bad! I took physics, gen chem and calc at the same time for two consecutive quarters.


Just make sure to be very proactive with the calc next semester. Make sure you understand each assignment as you go along and don’t wait until you are a couple of weeks behind to get help (especially with the full time work schedule). If you have some time over break, you could go through your calc one material again and try and get that down as much as possible. If there is a solutions manual available for your textbook, I highly recommend it. I pretty much taught myself calculus by going through the answers in the solutions manual and figuring out how they solved the problems.


Good luck.

  • Emergency! Said:
Ha - you think YOUR math load is bad! I took physics, gen chem and calc at the same time for two consecutive quarters.

Just make sure to be very proactive with the calc next semester. Make sure you understand each assignment as you go along and don't wait until you are a couple of weeks behind to get help (especially with the full time work schedule). If you have some time over break, you could go through your calc one material again and try and get that down as much as possible. If there is a solutions manual available for your textbook, I highly recommend it. I pretty much taught myself calculus by going through the answers in the solutions manual and figuring out how they solved the problems.

Good luck.



Gen chem, calc and physics at the same time? You're *expletive*ing crazy. but yeah, I'll probably review all my calc stuff over the semester break, and I do have the solutions manual.

Well, I at least won’t have to worry about chemistry…the 3rd and last lab exam I took, I thought I got a D on or something around that, but I ended up getting an A on it so at this point I could fail the final and still ace the class, so that’s at least one A guaranteed for the semester. Now I just need to focus on calculus and see if I can pull off an A in that too.

KOOL BEANS


Just KEEP on going!


Richard

My calculus grades were:


Calc I: A


Calc II: B


Calc III: B


Diff EQ: A


They each built upon the other. So, even after getting a couple B’s, I came back with an A in Diff EQ.


Good luck!

Yeah I guess I didn’t have anything to worry about i n the end…needed an 83 average after the 4th exam (which I got a 92 on) on both the last exam and the final to keep an A. Went into the final assuming I got a 90 or so on the last exam so I figured I only needed about an 80 on the final to keep an A. Last exam I got back right before we started the final and it was a 99, so only needed a 75 to keep an A on the final…and I know I didn’t do /that/ bad on it.

Now “THEMS” are some calculus grades tp be proud of!


Richard

Yeah I ended up having nothing to worry about after all I guess. Ended up with A’s for everything this semester, including calc.