<pre><code> I am a freshman at Cornell in the College of Arts and Sciences and I was wondering exactly how the whole curving turns out in the end. It is stressful for me not to have any idea of where I stand compared to everyone else when classes are graded on a bell curve to average a B-. So, in short, I was wondering what percentage average usually gets what grade...how hard is it to get an A? If you want specific courses, I mean Math 111, Chem 207, and Bio G 105 in particular. I really just don't want to find out I have a lower grade than I would like the day that I receive my final grade and it is too late.
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<p>Not all of the classes you mentioned are curved to a B-. Intro bio probably is. Mean=B-. 1std. dev above the mean = A-. Meaning 16% get A's. Approx. 68% get between C- and A-. 16% get C- and below. Have fun.</p>
<p>BTW: You will know how you stand once the prelims roll around (I'm not sure if you have prelims in autotutorial bio). Generally, the professors will report the means and std dev. From that you should be able to estimate your grade for any prelim. Generally, your goal should be to get 1 std. dev above the class mean. If you can do that, you will be in decent shape.</p>
<p>But until the prelims roll around...are there any more concrete stats? Or the stats from previous years? Not percentage-wise according to people but more like if you average about 80% on all assignments you should have a B or something like that? Or even anything extra?</p>
<p>In just about all of your classes, prelims and finals will make up a significant portion if not your entire grade. Stuff like graded HW or quizzes should be done but probably won't factor too much into your grade. </p>
<p>The stats you request won't be available and are useless anyway. Just because the mean on last year's first prelim was 50% does not mean you should expect the same this year. The professor may make this year's prelim much easier seeing the low grade on last years or you may have an entirely different professor altogether. The point is, whether the mean on a test is 50% or 80%, it doesn't really matter since you are curved against peers. It's how you do in relation to the mean that counts, not your raw score.</p>
<p>You can do well in large or small classes. The fact that your class is 99% freshmen will help you because most freshmen are rather stupid and clueless (no offense). They don't really "get it" until sophomore year (which is why orgo is such a delight; then ALL of your premed peers are working extremely hard). But, for now, freshmen generally follow their HS study habits which means if you can somehow study just a bit harder than everyone else, you will have a huge advantage.</p>
<p>Nothing. Just the fact that you study for the prelims puts you above a good portion of freshmen. Make sure you understand the material, do the practice problems, and look at previous years' tests. That advice may sound obvious but for whatever reason freshmen don't follow it. It partially has to do with the fact that they're on their own for the first time with no one to push them and also with the fact that they're used to being the smartest kids at their school. But reality eventually hits when they end up with a 2.5 GPA for the first semester.</p>
<p>I heard there's a place somewhere that lets you rent them out...any truth to this? Wouldn't students who know upperclassmen have an unfair advantage here?</p>
<p>Never heard of renting previous year's prelims but I suppose it's possible. </p>
<p>I doubt it's much of an advantage. Most people (including me) throw their prelims away. Plus, the prelims vary so much from year to year that old prelims are almost worthless. Think of them as just extra practice problems.</p>
<p>And sometimes they can just be a nusance. Just last week my biochem professor was laughing at how some people in the class put down the exact answers from last year's quizzes on this year's quizzes even though the questions were different!</p>
<p>Sometimes you feel obligated to do them just because they're available and other people are doing them. You honestly don't have to do every little thing other people are doing. Everyone studies in different ways. Last year, I did less than 25% of the assigned orgo problems and 10% of the assigned physics problems and did fine in both classes. It didn't bother me that other people were doing practice problem after practice problem because I knew that I studied better by reading the textbook rather than doing a lot of problems.</p>
<p>does AP Bio and AP chem classes help significantly. do you think its a good foundation or do they not really give you an advantage.</p>
<p>also, in my AP chem class my teacher does the labs in the curriculum done at dartmouth college. he says that you can bring the lab book to college, and show it to your professor and be exempt for first-year lab almost anywhere? can you do this for premed, or does it look bad? also, are labs grade boosters, or is the course itself easier ?? would you reccomend a freshmen to do the lab</p>
<p>sorry for all the questions... u guys are really helpful.</p>
<p>Does your AP chem class cover transition metal complexes, using calculus to derive and normalize wave functions, symmetry elements, and quantum mechanics? If not, then it won't help you for Chem 216 (honors freshman gen chem). Most of the people in your classes have probably taken AP bio and chem so you won't be at a disadvantage but probably not at much of an advantage either.</p>
<p>You do NOT want to exempt out of lab courses. Almost all med schools require intro bio, chem, and physics WITH LAB. Labs are not grade boosters. They generally adhere to the same curve as the lecture courses.</p>
<p>what are the dorm regulations... can u keep beer and liquor in ur dorms, my cousins R.A. or whatever cauhgt him and mailed a letter home to his parents. can they search ur dorms and stuff</p>
<p>Um...if you're not stupid about it and don't run around the hallway with beer, I'm sure you'd be able to keep alcohol in your dorm, everyone I know does.</p>
<p>Than you for posting something relevant to my topic. I'm glad you weren't stupid/lazy enough to mention something completely unrelated and unecessary.</p>