<p>Hopefully, I will get a 4/5 on my AP Lang test tomorrow, but just in case...</p>
<p>How bad is expository writing? I consider myself a pretty good writer, but I heard the grading is very harsh.</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>TheIndividual</p>
<p>I've never heard anyone say a good thing about it.</p>
<p>Basically, there is no guarantee you will get out of the class with anything > C
They have some funky way of computing your final grade based on how much your writing has changed or how argumentative your papers are. The best writers in high school should fear this course.
Advice: take a similar summer course elsewhere and transfer the credits (make sure the credits are transferable before engaging the course).</p>
<p>.....
They said they will NOT accept any other writing course in substitute for expos 101. YES. it is specifically designed to torture rutgers freshmen..</p>
<p>well i took two english writing courses at a nj community college and the credits transfer over as xpos 101 and 102.. so im good</p>
<p>First of all, it's really not THAT bad. It is time consuming and work, but it is possible to get above a C. I will tell you though that some instructors might be harder than others and some easier. A good grade is definitely possible though (but don't necessarily expect an A because those are rare). Secondly, I would check with an advisor before thinking about taking a writing course elsewhere because it's supposed to be that general requirements have to be taken at Rutgers, though it might be different if you take it this summer before you've taken any classes at Rutgers.</p>
<p>i'm not sure how it used to be (with transfers at community colleges) but now you HAVE to take writing requirements at rutgers. i tried to take expos 2 (to fulfill the second writing requirement) at my community college, but i didn't get approval.</p>
<p>as for how bad expos 101 is...the amount of work/time you put into that class isn't THAT ridiculous, or at least it wasn't for me. there's 6 required papers (first 3 don't count towards grades so you don't necessarily have to do good on those) and the final 3 are where your grade comes from. pretty much everyone did their papers night before. </p>
<p>my advice: don't come in expecting an A and try not to do everything last min..</p>
<p>When I took it, it wasn't bad at all.</p>
<p>The trick is to find out what your teacher wants in a paper. Your paper needs to flow in conversation and have a good amount of quotes from the authors you are focusing on. The teacher wants to see you progress through the class and get better and better with every paper. </p>
<p>You took AP Lang, so I'm going to assume you have decent writing skills. I also hope that you have good methods for writing papers.</p>
<p>When in class, read the material and understand what the messages in the essays are. If you can understand what is being conveyed, you shouldn't have any problem writing papers. I worked a boring job my freshman year that allowed me to work on homework. I knocked out an A paper in about 3 hours flat, and I wouldn't consider myself a great writer (hell, I'm an engineering student). I knew what my teacher wanted in the assignment, and I took advantage of that fact.</p>
<p>My daughter took the course and did well enough to be offered a tutor position at the tutor center and has done so for the past three years. She said the class was a pain but worth it in that she has become a better writer and has learned to write in the style expected by many teachers at Rutgers; knocking out a paper more quickly than before taking the class. From my understanding of the class, don't give your best effort on the first paper. Essential they are looking for improvement from paper to paper. Make the last two great. Take full advantage of the free tutoring offered by Rutgers. When a student signs up for tutoring, she has the same students the whole semester. This is very beneficial for both student and tutor. For some classes she sends emails to the teacher saying who has come for additional help, especially ESL students, it shows their dedication to trying to improve their skills. The tutors do not give you answers but are taught to help you think, she reviewed a paper for her high school sister and wrote three codes at the top for her to think about WC=word choice, T=tense, P=passive (be active) and made noted throughout for her to go back and revise her paper with these codes in mind. (I imagine these vary per kid.) It seemed to be very helpful and forced her sister to rethink certain areas of her paper. If you need help in the fall, she has one more year at Rutgers, you can send a PM and I can put you in touch with her or just check out one of the tutor centers. Resources are available, don't be afraid to use them.</p>
<p>It is basically the biggest single pain any Rutgers student goes through as a freshman.</p>
<p>OK, first off, it is not impossible to get an A in the class, as I got one myself. But realize that it IS nearly impossible to get an A if you decide to write the papers at the last minute, which is something that many students resort to. The course is comprised of six papers where each paper has a draft, and something is due basically every week (i.e. draft for essay #1 due week 1, final draft for essay #1 due week 2, draft for essay #2 due week 3, etc.). The essays are given out very rapidly, but your grade is pretty much based off of your grades on the last three papers. </p>
<p>Some teachers are much easier/harder than others, and that is to be expected for a course with subjective grading. Definitely go to office hours to talk with the teacher so that you understand what they're looking for in the papers. In the end, if you put in the effort, you can get a good grade in the course.</p>
<p>It's possible to get an A; moreover, it's possible to get an A writing the papers the night before. Maybe I had a more lenient professor but in my defense, I'm a pretty good writer and took AP Lit in my senior year (didn't take the AP because I was told Lit would not count towards the writing requirement.)</p>
<p>The first three papers don't count and so I would suggest you use those papers as a trial period. On the first three, I got an A, B, C. In that order. It was probably because I actually tried on the first then got bored with the following two because I figured out early what I had to do to do well in the class. On my C paper, I didn't read the assigned passage, it showed, and I was called out for it in the comments so make sure you do the readings. The papers are basically comparing passages that you've read for previous papers. So by the third paper, you're writing about three different articles. Not bad, I guess. I got As on the second set of three and an A in the class. I'm pretty sure there were 2 A's given in my section with a good handful of B+/Bs. If it's any encouragement, there was a guy in my class who had received NPs on two of the papers that didn't count and ended up with a B in the class. Go to office hours off the bat if you're not getting the grade you want cause the professor is really the only person that can tell you why you're falling short.</p>