<p>The deadline is friday, the class is bio1b.</p>
<p>We took 2 midterms already, the last one is on ecology. No final.</p>
<p>i know there is an 85% rule, where the gsi has to scale it or something. so, if my section's average is above, the gsi scales it down and everyones grade goes down? and vice versa.</p>
<p>i got 1-2 pts below the mean (72-73%) on the first midterm. i beat the average on the 2nd by a lot (got like an 87% when the mean was a 72% or something).</p>
<p>our gsi showed us our course grades. I have an 83% total in the course, with only a couple people in my section beating me. The highest is, i think, a 90%. the lowest is like a 20%.....and this is OVERALL grade so far. I'm not sure about the other sections though.</p>
<p>now the thing is, i know i can get at least a B-. but only a B or higher will bring my gpa up. B- will bring it down.</p>
<p>what do you guys think i should do? i heard ecology midterm (which is our last) might be a little tough lol.</p>
<p>How are you doing on your quizzes and labs? I think you should keep it letter graded, especially if you’re premed or a bio major. Plus, you have your last midterm and the final left. That’s more than half of the remaining points. When I took it (fall 2010), ecology wasn’t bad. I actually got a 100% on it (not bragging, just showing you its VERY possible to do well). I do remember that I hated the plants section.</p>
<p>i am doing pretty well in quizzes and labs. my lab group gets good grades on the report. i am actually not doing premed anymore or bio major. and there is no final lol.</p>
<p>the 2nd midterm was plants, which is where i beat the mean. evolution, i studied hard. but i was having an off day that day. but i didn’t do too bad, considering i got like a 71 percent and the mean was a 72. </p>
<p>and nice. what exactly is ecology? like, i understand it has to do with interactions with the environment or something. and the professor said it would be more conceptual. conceptual means harder?</p>
<p>NO FINAL???!?!</p>
<p>dang i gotta take more summer classes :P. </p>
<p>But, ooh, I see shabel is teaching bio 1b this summer. He taught ecology when I took bio 1b. More conceptual definitely does not mean harder. I found that I had to dumb down my thinking for his test. There are quite a bit of define the terms questions, quite a bit of “you know it or you don’t” questions and some questions where you think very briefly about population curves, inter/intraspecies relationships, ecological niches, blah, blah. </p>
<p>yeah, I remember you from a few weeks ago when you were on your panic trip about switching majors. what have you decided on now? And yeah, since you’re no longer a bio major I don’t know what to tell you about making it p/np. The extra points you get from lab will help, but I’m not exactly sure what the cut off is between a b- and a b. Maybe some other people may have advice.</p>
<p>Just wanted to clarify that you know that the 85% avg only applies to section grades (labs and quizzes). Also, the trend that I’ve seen in the past is that the class does not appear to end up curved, regardless of the mean. AKA 90+ = A, 80+ = B, etc…</p>
<p>haha, yeah i am happy about that too. although we have less chances of bringing grades up.</p>
<p>and oh ok. so the test was okay? for evolution, it was okay. some silly mistakes here and there lol. the part that messed me up was where he asked questions where we had to choose multiple answers. i got most of the answers but of course, missed one and got the whole thing wrong sigh.</p>
<p>i’m not sure if he will do that again for ecology. i hope not, lol. and yeah, a lot of people interpret some of his questions differently so it is hard to know which answer is right until you get the test back.</p>
<p>and lol yeah haha. i am actually not sure yet, still making a decision, but definitely not biology. </p>
<p>and ok. hm, deadline is friday lol…i seriously don’t know what to do. although i would beat myself up if i do end up getting a good grade but had p/np it. </p>
<p>thanks btw</p>
<p>EDIT: oh ok. hm, then i might p/np it, since i have an 82-83 percent overall. although most people in my section have much worse…</p>
<p>yeah for bio 1b, the majority of the problems you get wrong, it is for silly mistakes not because you didn’t know what to do. If i remember correctly, he didn’t have anything like selecting multiple choices. Are you talking about questions where they’ll have I, II, and III, and you have to pick between things like a) I, b) I, II, c) II, III? Otherwise yeah, there may have been some of those. I took the average of 71/100 and 87/100 and that turns out to be a 79%. Where did your gsi get 83% from, because they only figure out section grade curves at the end after everything is over. If your percentage is really 83 right now, I’d say to eff it and keep it letter graded. Chances are you’ll do fine on the midterm if you study hard and read each question carefully. Plus, if you decide to stay with some bio major, it’d be better off for you.</p>
<p>no, he did problems where like he asked the question. and he said there are multiple answers for these.</p>
<p>ex. blah blah?
a. blah
b. blah1
c. blah 2.
d. blah 3</p>
<p>answers are a, b, c. so like for those types, i got like a and b, but missed C, so i got the whole thing wrong. and yeah he had the roman numeral questions too lol. i missed those because one answer always had me thinking about whether it was right or wrong…</p>
<p>she also incorporated the lab grades in it too. its not an 83, its an 82 actually lol. my bad. and ok, i think i will keep it letter graded. thanks man.</p>
<p>its actually pretty simple: take p/np if the class isn’t a pre-req in amajor or uppder div requirement. If the class is a breadth/university req/interest, you can safely take it p/np.</p>
<p>Grad schools don’t include p in gpa calculation (they do include np as an F though). </p>
<p>Just make sure you’re not doing too many p/nps</p>
<p>yes i know. i haven’t done any p/np yet.</p>
<p>but if it could help my gpa…then i would like to take it letter graded. but i’m not sure if i can get a B or higher. that is where the issue is.</p>
<p>but yeah…should i keep it letter graded?</p>