<p>First midterm - flat A
Quizzes - not so good (probably a bit below avg)
Top 5 section</p>
<p>I hated almost all of the material after the first midterm so I stopped caring about quizzes. Could an A on the lab practical get me to an A in the end, or is the damage done?</p>
<p>Yes you can probably get an A. But Meighan’s awesome grading scheme means that some sections will have their average be an A- while others will have their average be a C-.</p>
<p>Anyway I also hated the second part of that class and decided studying that much for the practical was not worth the time/effort/annoyance. Good luck to you though lol.</p>
<p>what I’m peeved about is that there’s no standardized quizzes (in turn no standardized grading rubric). I’m benefiting from the current system and learning a hell of a lot but it’s just a stupid way to conduct a class. People like me who have a hard ass GSI do better on the lab exam and get the boost from the low quiz average, but other people who have a terrible GSI don’t get the same boost and weren’t as prepared for the lab exam. Even though Mikes a great guy who’s really knowledgeable about this stuff…this grading scheme’s gotta go (he’s playing with peoples livelihood here)</p>
<p>that last part sounded a bit dramatic but there is truth to it. I’m seeing one friend right now scared as hell because he wont be able to stay in america to go to med school.</p>
<p>yes, i think you should have a solid A.</p>
<p>for me when i took it a year or so ago:</p>
<p>Midterm 1: flat B
Quizzes: Below average
Midterm 2: solid A
Top 5 section</p>
<p>Final grade: A-</p>
<p>Do you guys have tests in regular class and lab or is that just in lab?</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses guys. Lab practical material is a pain but if it’s worth then I guess I’ll suffer through it. </p>
<p>Lecture and lab have their own exams, and lab exam 2 (practical) is some random **** about animals</p>
<p>just in lab. </p>
<p>the class and lab are distinct.</p>
<p>@RS: study hard bro. ensure yourself that A. you’ve got it in the bag though if you just do well on this last MT2.</p>
<p>i’m looking forward to it…</p>
<p>Is it possible to do well/okay (A-/B+/B) if you’re in a low-ranked lab?</p>
<p>I’m in the lowest-ranked lab (wooo -__-… **** you, Meighan and your stupid-a s s grading system), I got a B on the first midterm, average on the quizzes… and no MT2 yet, obviously.</p>
<p>If it matters, I was almost an entire SD above on my MT1 than my labmates.</p>
<p>Sorry son! I’ll give you a better grade next time. Just come meet me in office hours…at my house.</p>
<p>@SAH: i think you could get a B+ if you do very well on MT2. unfortunately, if you’re in the lowest-ranked lab, that’s a huge disadvantage, especially if you only got average on the quizzes.</p>
<p>…**** this stupid-ass grading system.</p>
<p>Yeah my section was second from bottom. I got about 1sd above average on the first midterm, did consistently well on the quizzes, but got only a bit above average on the practical. Ended up with a B+ in lab and an A in lecture. So frustrating.</p>
<p>i dont get it i thought you get bumped up by quiz scores to the easiest lab though don’t you? so won’t you want to be at the sections where lab averages are lower?</p>
<p>also mechrocket, when you say you got a solid A in MT2, do you mean 90% or the cut off that meighan sets?</p>
<p>twas above 1SD above avg, iirc. definitely not 90% lol.</p>
<p>Nope because Meighan’s system is just soooo much better than that!!</p>
<p>So my GSI said he didn’t even understand how the grading system worked but it’s something like this - sections are curved to where they “should be” depending on how smart the kids in that section are and this is judged by scores in Bio1A lecture exams. Like the sections with the highest average lecture scores ‘should’ have the highest average lab scores. So if your section is one of the lower scoring in lecture ones you end up having your class average curved to a C- while the higher scoring lecture sections would have their average be an A-.</p>
<p>Such ********.</p>
<p>…or you can just have **<strong><em>ING LAB REPORTS instead of QUIZZES every week, and this *</em></strong>*ing problem would be eliminated.</p>
<p>I hate how Meighan looks at the average but not the spread. He gives no regard to the fact that within each section, there is an average yes, but there also exists an SD and a median.</p>
<p>Also, the fact that crappier GSIs/crappier lab times (he even ADMITS that evening labs consistently do worse… no possible correlation with having a crappy lab time and being tired in lab?) could influence your grade, and keeps dumbly pointing to how “look how the ranking in 1A correlated to 1AL rankings” even though in half the lab sections it totally doesn’t.</p>
<p>UGH UGH UGHHH</p>
<p>I know. Like what is the point in doing the lab if we’re being tested on the material/results BEFORE we even do the lab?</p>
<p>And my lab was Tuesday morning after Monday evening lecture, so it was pointless to go to the lab lectures because you would just have to go back that night and memorize every single word in the lab manual anyway. </p>
<p>And if he’s going to correlate lecture results with lab results, why not just go the whole way then and give each student specifically a grade curved to their lecture exam scores? Makes more sense discriminating between individuals than between random clumps of people?</p>
<p>I just can’t seem to comprehend how he both KNOWS that there are GSIs that have consistently high-scoring labs and STILL thinks this is a fair system.</p>
<p>What, do Helen & Christian just always, by pure chance, get the smartest people in each given semester?</p>
<p>no, they don’t. helen’s sections did poorly during the semester i took it. </p>
<p>listen, even without the curving, you would have a hard time pulling out a B+ in this class anyways. you got a B on the first midterm and average on quizzes, so let’s just call that a B-. that’s over 50% and might be close to 60% of your grade right there. that means you would have to probably get a pretty solid A anyways to bring your grade up to a B+.</p>
<p>honestly, there is no excuse why you shouldn’t have done better on the quizzes if you’re in a bottom section. and your grade on MT1 is what it is. </p>
<p>i think you’re over-stating the unfairness of meighan’s system in general, and especially in your own case.</p>