<p>In my experience, the professors who say they are going to cover 25% of the material in the book, but expect the students to know the whole thing, are often going at heck-for-leather speed just to cover the 25%. Faculty members in the sciences tend to have the expectation that students will work a great deal outside the lecture hall–nominally, 3 times the amount of time spent in lectures, but in actuality, more like 5 to 6 times . . . to say nothing of Math 55 at Harvard, where it’s more like 20 times.</p>
<p>The perception that science faculty are weeding out pre-meds in the introductory science courses could hold at some colleges. In the large state universities, the courses are not designed to weed out pre-meds, nor are they designed to weed out anyone else. They are designed to provide the background material that is needed for the higher-level courses in the subject, so that when a student eventually graduates with a B.S. in chemistry, say, the student is not a hazard to employ, due to lack of knowledge or capability. The courses just get more demanding higher up. </p>
<p>Med schools may use these courses as “weeders” (I don’t even like the term), because they know the grading standards are tough–but the science faculty aren’t complicit with the med school admissions folks.</p>