<p>How does the grading in Bio1AL work? Are grades distributed based on rank among the whole class or by individual lab section? I've heard that Friday labs tend to have slightly more generous curves, but I'm wondering what, if any, advantage that actually gives you.</p>
<p>The grading system is ridiculously complicated (and imo stupid) and Meighan will try to explain it to you many many times over the semester. My GSI never understood it and refused to try to give a response anytime someone asked about the grading. It’s something about equating the Bio1A and 1AL grades for each section and figuring out which sections are smarter based on 1A grades and then adjusting 1AL means to reflect that. </p>
<p>I don’t think Friday’s have a more generous curve, they just end up doing better because they have a lot more time to memorize the lab manual before each prelab quiz.</p>
<p>How much material is there for each lab? How much time did you spend on average preparing for the labs?</p>
<p>LOT of material, especially for the labs where you have to memorize all the names of the orders/classes/species of fish/insects/random stuff. Oh and rat/insect/clam anatomy is super fun too.</p>
<p>I didn’t spend too much time studying for lab quizzes in the beginning but eventually learned that spending time recopying everything from the lab manual and memorizing it was a much better strategy lol. I had a tuesday morning lab and lab lectures were monday nights so I just stopped going and started just relying on the lab manual.</p>
<p>are all the prelab quizzes the same? what stops Friday lab ppl from getting the answers from ppl beforehand? </p>
<p>Any tips on how to do well in lab/lecture?</p>
<p>Is the quiz material generally based on the lab manual and not so much the lab lecture then? If so, would it be helpful to preview the reader before the semester begins?</p>
<p>The quizzes aren’t the same. Difficulty depends on GSI.</p>
<p>Quiz material is heavily based on the lab manual… which is based on the lab lecture. Some people found the lab lecture helpful, others don’t. Previewing the reader is helpful, especially going before lecture. Meighan moves very fast since he has a lot of material to cover.</p>
<p>no the gsi’s write the quizzes so they’re pretty different. but friday lab people probably get enough information from others to do better anyway.</p>
<p>tips? um… don’t bother with lab lecture, memorize the lab manual before every quiz, and do really well on the first midterm (it’s pretty identical to the old midterms so memorize those answers) so you don’t have to worry too much about that lab practical in the end (I just freaked out with the time limits and got nowhere).</p>
<p>best tip = find a way to get into the section with the best curve, the curve helps BIGTIME at the end. or it could hurt bigtime.</p>
<p>So basically if your lab section is “smarter”, you’re screwed?</p>
<p>no if it’s dumber you’re screwed. Mine was supposedly the second dumbest. Average for dumb sections is set to a C/C+, average for smart sections is a B+/A-. Only based on Bio 1A midterm scores -________-</p>
<p>The curves are based on Bio 1A scores? I thought they were based on the Bio 1AL Midterm 1… my section right now is the second to bottom section in terms of our mt1 average…and our quiz average is really high which is the worst possible combination so I hope I’m not screwed even though I did pretty well on mt1, high quiz average, and think I did well on the practical.</p>
<p>then youll be alright.
people say friday’s sections are more generously curved (maybe? i’ve actually never heard anyone say this but i think it’s…) because Helen teaches a Friday section as well as a thursday section and she basically tries to lower your quiz scores with some hard ass quizzes, get high on the midterm scores (especially the first one) and then you’ll get a better bump. the entire system is pretty ridiculous and meighan likes to think he is so great for having a system like that. and then he brags about it in class and i laugh.</p>
<p>how many people end up going to lecture?
is it useful?
besides the other reasons already stated **why **is it supposed to be so hard?
is discussion for lecture helpful?
office hrs?</p>
<p>-lots actually
-not rly, webcast it
-it just is!
-depends on who your GSI is
-yes helpful</p>
<p>is it hard to manage time if you take Bio 1A with another tough premed class (i.e. physics 8b)?</p>
<p>I took it with Physics 8A and got A’s in both. Bio 1A isn’t bad at all, you can just webcast it all whenever you want. It’s just lab that takes up time.</p>
<p>are there lab write ups like for chem?
how long do they have to be?
probably depends on who grades them but is it hard to do well on the assignments you turn in?
anything online in lec or lab?
is it true…that you’re behind before you even begin? :D</p>
<p>lol no write ups, just worksheets/prelabs that aren’t even graded. The only things you’re graded on are the prelab quizzes, the midterm, and the lab practical</p>
<p>you’re probably better off than most people because you have all this advice haha - just memorize the lab manual sections before each quiz and you’ll get way above average at least in the beginning</p>