<p>Ok, so what is the deal with this horrid Expository writing class that everyone is hoping to test out of? Matt has mentioned it before ( I think) and after the AP Lang and Comp test today, my friend told me his sister was near tears almost every night for a Semester. He also reported that it was a GPA killer for his brother. </p>
<p>What's the class like? Is it like a synthesis essay on steriods twelve times repeated?</p>
<p>A teacher I have went there and said it was just horrible. Its a weeding out class that is really brutal. Plus its curved, making a lot of people have terrible averages.</p>
<p>It is very subjective and depends on your teacher. If your teacher is nice, it will be a big plus. Many kids get C's and C+'s. It is a weeder course so I suspect that they only give out like 2 A's per class on purpose and since it's curved, you can end up with a B even after doing well on your essays. </p>
<p>I went to my teacher's office hours and talked to her about my papers. I considered myself a good writer (720 SAT Writing, 11 Essay) and after putting in a lot of work, I only got a B<em>. My teacher was a real </em>** and after saying my essays were very good, kept on giving me B's. The class is such a joke in terms of fairness.</p>
<ul>
<li>it is the only "B" on my transcript and brought me down from a 3.9 to a 3.7ish.</li>
</ul>
<p>It's all relative in terms of level of difficulty. I considered myself a decent writer as well (710 SAT Writing, I think a 10 on the essay...), but the thing about Expos is that your grade is based on the progress you make throughout the length of the course.</p>
<p>You have 6 papers to write in the semester. The preparation for each includes class discussions/group assignments and mandatory rough drafts. It's actually pretty monotonous. Your first 3 papers are "practice". The last 3 papers are heavily considered. My grade was only C+ (The only C in my report card -- how much does that suck??), but I had a friend who got a B and another who got an A. The A student went to office hours (I was to busy focusing on my Bio class, I guess). It's not impossible, but I think in the end you just have no clue the kind of grade you're going to get. There's a pretty good chance it will hurt your GPA.</p>
<p>It also depends on the teacher. Some grade on a harder scale. All grades get reviewed by the department, but they tend to overturn grades that have been over-graded (Person gets an A, but then downgraded to B+ by the writing department). My teacher gave out 1 A paper all year. I was in a class filled with English and Journalism majors too. I read the papers from my classmates in peer review and many were better than my friends who ended up with A's or B+'s.On the other hand, I saw my roommate pull a B, when I knew I had better papers. I got a C, with my final papers being C, C, B. Killed my GPA. Only non-A first semester. You are going to take your lumps in certain classes (ei, Chem, and Expos off my head) You have a very good chance of getting a B+ or a B. Don't worry about it too much. My dorm mates and I used to have expos parties which would last all-night.</p>
<p>what are the alternative options to expo? isn't it required for all freshmen?</p>
<p>It's required by everyone. You could place out by taking the AP english test, but I think it's a little too late for that.</p>