<p>Hey all. Title says it all. Just wondering how common, or uncommon, this sort of thing is. </p>
<p>My final for Chem was a complete disaster. Failed it, and it was worth 40% of my grade. Sure, I'll admit I suck at Chem (had a Chem class in name only in HS), but I wasn't expecting all those trick questions lol </p>
<p>Anyhow, after my initial bout of depression, I found out that I was doing well enough in the class (A- or A, can't remember) that I had a C-/C after my final test score was added to my overall grade. Later, I realized that the class was curved, so now I walk away from the class with a B-. I was completely dumbstruck when I learned this, since almost everyone I knew who failed a final failed the class. </p>
<p>Anyone had any similar experience? Did the curve save you?</p>
<p>I got a B in two of my Japanese History classes (one was focused on the early history up to the Tokugawa era, and the other covered the Tokugawa period until the Meiji Restoration) despite doing poorly on the finals because the class was curved. </p>
<p>In high school, I failed my calculus final but still got a B+ in the class. The class wasn’t curved but I had done well enough on the quizzes and homeworks to make up for my terrible test grades. Luckily haven’t had to deal with that in college, mostly because I’ve stayed away from calculus. </p>
<p>It’s not too uncommon. I’ve had classes before where I had a high enough grade that I could have completely skipped the final and taken a 0 on it, but still passed the class. I’ve never done this obviously, but I did figure out that I could have if I’d wanted to…lol</p>
<p>It all depends on how the final is weighted. Some professors only weight the final as 20% of the grade, in which case many students can fail the final and still pass the class. Some professors curve the grades in a way that makes it fairly common. </p>
<p>I’d assume that it’s probably less common in math and science courses since their finals are usually worth more. In one of my French classes the final was only worth 10% of my grade, and since I scored 100% on everything up to that point, I could have skipped it entirely and ended up with a 90%. It all depends know how much the final is weighted!</p>
<p>I could have skipped all of my final exams this semester and passed the respective class - obviously I didn’t do that because I didn’t feel like finishing the semester with a 2.0 GPA but it is possible for any class where the final is worth 40% or less than the total grade and you have close to a perfect grade before hand. The proportions change the lower your grade is/the higher the final is worth. </p>
<p>In a history class I took at the community college, the final was only 9% of the grade, and I had such a high score from all the previous work that I could have skipped the final and still gotten an A. I didn’t do that - I took the final and aced it - but I wanted to be done with the semester so bad that the idea was tempting. </p>