Classes

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>Hello everybody, I'm a junior in high school that's planning on attending a university. Now to the point, I've heard a lot about the absence of "busy work," does your grade consist of just tests over the lectures? Are the tests primarily Scantrons? I apologize if this has already been posted several times, I did a brief scan and didn't see anything. Thanks.</p>

2

<p>You mean not pointless crap work like having to literally rewrite every page from a textbook while you sit at a desk all day? Yeah i had to do that in 10th grade. No, there’s none of that. A typical format here might be 20% each for “participation”, midterm, final, 2 papers, or swap papers for weekly assignments if math. They try to make sure you’ll do poorly if skip lecture or skip the readings. Some do an awful job of it though. </p>

<p>Tests could be scantron but I’ve noticed more often combination of just circle multiple choice and short answer or even essays. In huge lectures with no discussion, which there aren’t many of here, it might be more like the grade is 80-100% scantron and they might require 1 journal or paper that they take forever to grade.</p>

3

<p>It’s really all about the class. I’ve only been here like half a semester and have all different kinds of teachers. Some will give you busy work, others may give you actual assignments every now and then that will be graded. Some will only give you a grade based on tests and such. Again, with the scantrons, it depends on the class. Like, an English class isn’t going to use a scantron, but a science or math class probably will. I hope that helps! :)</p>

4

<p>It depends.</p>

<p>Freshman classes, your grade usually comes from attendance/participation, tests and papers.</p>

<p>Upper level classes usually give less weight to attendance/participation and more to tests and papers.</p>

<p>I’ll give you some examples of the ways my classes are:</p>

<p>Freshman education class:

  • Attendance/participation 10%
  • Reflections (1-2pg papers reflecting on lectures/articles/videos) 10%
  • Papers 65% (two 3-4pg papers, 15% each, one 1-2pg paper, 10%, one 5-6pg paper, 25%)
  • Group project 15%</p>

<p>200-level psych class 1 - Research Methods:

  • Exams (4) 56%
  • Lab projects (2) 25%
  • Research assignments 7%
  • Class exercises 7%
  • Attendance/participation 5%</p>

<p>Tests consist of approximately: 30 multiple choice done on a Scantron, 4 short-answer based on content and 4 short-answer research problems (design an study etc).</p>

<p>200-level psych class 2 - Abnormal Psych:

  • Grade is based mainly on tests which consist of 50 multiple choice questions done on Scantrons</p>

<p>100-level stats class (for psych and science majors, taken anywhere between freshman and junior year):

  • Homework 20%
  • Tests 80%</p>

<p>Tests consist of regular math problems that you need to do by hand or on a calculator showing your work, a few multiple choice you circle, and a few true/false you circle.</p>

5

<p>Depends on the class.</p>

6

<p>For mathematics classes, here’s what I can say with respect to my school: quizzes or homework aren’t present in all classes, no scantrons whatsoever. But no more than 20% of the final grade may be awarded on the basis of assessments other than exams.</p>

<p>MAT1000: Analysis 1</p>

<p>40% midterm
60% final</p>

<p>PHY2215: Thermodynamics and mechanical statistics</p>

<p>20% homework
35% midterm
45% final</p>

7

<p>I’ve had a lot of different formats for classes.</p>

<p>There are some that do the 4 exams=your grade. Most of mine haven’t done this.</p>

<p>I typically have 10-15% is attendance and participation, about 30-40% exams, about 20-30% papers, and quizzes or homework usually make up the rest.</p>

<p>As for busy work, it still exists. I took a Stats class that I thought was super easy, but homework was 20% of the grade. I didn’t actually need to do the homework to understand the class, so in my opinion, it was just busy work. But otherwise, busy work is minimal… although I didn’t have much in high school, anyways.</p>

8

<p>Intro Chemistry: 55% Tests including Final
25% labs
10% Hw
10% Discussion quizzes/participation</p>

<p>Differential Equations: 60% Exams
25% Final
15% Homework</p>

<p>Intro to biology: out of 700 points: tests are about 50 points each, random points for work, participation, attendance, quizzes, 250 points for lab</p>

<p>Physics I: I think 60% tests (final is optional), 30% lab activities, 10% homework</p>