<p>Malanai: Congratulations to your DS! My DD somehow ended up pulling a B+ and was thrilled. She worked very hard as well and we are all very happy this dreaded class is behind her! Onward and Upward to Senior Year!</p>
<p>You’re welcome, beth’s mom, and thank you/congrats, Peachtide. Yes, let’s put this train wreck behind us and go on to the senior year. Speaking of which, how is it even possible that the senior year is at the doorstep? Four wondrous years passing in a blink. Wow.</p>
<p>I love this school, FI 302 notwithstanding.</p>
<p>Malanai: Agreed! It has gone very quickly and is hard to believe we have already arrived at her senior year. I will savor this next year as my freshman son will join his sister at Bama! Probably the last time they will reside in the same city for awhile! Roll Tide!</p>
<p>Do we think taking it over the summer maybe with another class would be tough? As its half the time?</p>
<p>Bumping as today is reg day</p>
<p>I texted my DD, but she isn’t familiar with the summer structure of the class. Hopefully, someone else will weigh in with better info.</p>
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<p>My D is signing up for this course tomorrow, and I’ve advised her to choose the hybrid version. As for the TA’s, who I’m sure can make a big difference, you can’t really pick one now because they’re all listed as TBA (as are the profs for her Econ course - really makes it hard to choose!). Anyone know when they’ve historically filled those in? And any other recommendations for great TAs for FI302?</p>
<p>My S is taking FI302 (the hybrid) this semester and I want to share what he has said about it. First off, he says take the hybrid class. Word among the students is that the instruction in the regular class is useless and you lose points for not attending if you are in the regular class. The hybrid class involves a lot of self direction, but S doesn’t feel that he would gain anything by being in the regular class. </p>
<p>An important note: The advantage to taking tests early for bonus points then retaking to improve test score has been removed! This is a change from previous semesters. The total allowable points for a given test goes down (the bonus goes into negative) over time. If you score low on a first attempt, it IS possible to raise your score by retaking the test, but the total points available has decreased.</p>
<p>The section TAs were not published until registration for this semester began. S wound up with a TA whose first language is not English, and he has had a hard time understanding her. (A recurring problem across disciplines for my S.)</p>
<p>A word to the wise: expect to do a lot of work on your own in this class. Unfortunately, I have no info on how a summer session would work.</p>
<p>Here is a link to the syllabus. Click on Syllabus Collection (left), then Common Syllabus for 2013 (top) to see. <a href=“http://bama.ua.edu/~fi302/[/url]”>http://bama.ua.edu/~fi302/</a></p>
<p>How can you tell which is the hybrid?</p>
<p>^^ It says “hybrid section only meets for the Monday labs.” It’s section 321, CRN 15241. You sign up for that section plus a Monday lab section.</p>
<p>FI 302 has claimed another casualty. S was still trying to retake a test fri nite to try to help his grade. Several A students getting C’s. Ugh, not sure what the point is to design a class so impossible. He is exhausted and beaten down. Luckily H is making the 19 hour drive with him.</p>
<p>My D just finished The Dreaded Finance 302. I had advised her, based on everything I’ve heard, to take the hybrid section. Everyone said the lecture wasn’t worth the extra 1.5 attendance points at the end but the lab was. Well, having been through it, my D disagrees. She had a foreign TA who she said was horrible and from whom she learned nothing. She said she would much rather have done the online class as the labs were a waste of her time. She didn’t need the 1.5 points for attendance at the lab class as it made no difference in her final grade, so she feels it was a complete mistake to take the hybrid. Oh well, live and learn. </p>
<p>Still waiting for my D’s grade to post … she hasn’t had much to say this semester about Finance 302, most of her complaints were about her calc class. She was also online Friday night, taking some sort of test to help out. We will see soon enough, I guess. Good luck to all!</p>
<p>My D told me she had heard they were doing away with Finance 302 next year. I don’t have any details, but hope it is true!</p>
<p>Peachtide, DS says his advisor told him that someone repeats that rumor every semester but it isn’t true!
beth’s mom, so sorry that your daughter joined the ranks of the miserable on this one. At least it’s behind her. </p>
<p>Actually, SECfam, my D isn’t miserable. She ended up doing very well in the class and I’m sure is thrilled that FI302 is behind her. She’s just saying that the lab, at least with the TA she had, was absolutely worthless and she regrets having had to waste her time there each week.</p>
<p>Peachtide, that’s interesting news; I’ll be curious to see if it comes to pass. I can’t imagine that they’ll do away with the course (it IS one of those necessary courses for a business student), so perhaps someone other than Dr. Downs will be teaching it, or it will be taught in a completely different format. I haven’t had a chance to debrief my D yet, but it sounds like the way it is now, it’s as much about learning how to pass the course as learning the material. Over 100 students got an A+ this semester, so there are obviously kids who figure it out, but it sounds like there has to be a better way to teach this material. </p>