<p>how hard are the intro bio and chem classes at penn?
does the grading get easier for the more advanced classes?</p>
<p>Bio121 is notorious for having a hard curve; I think during the spring my friend said something like 10% of the class got A/A-, and the average was around a C+ or B-</p>
<p>Chem, if you’ve done AP or IB, should be pretty easy (the intro p-chem stuff, with quantum might be new depending on which prof you get and what you learned in high school). I took the majors section, so the competition/curve wasn’t too bad in my opinion. Not sure about how it was in the larger sections.</p>
<p>how abotu the other bio intro class (BIOL 101 and 102)?</p>
<p>Bio 101 ain’t that bad from what I hear. They used the same textbook as my high school’s AP class, and the same one as my other friends used in high school AP classes.</p>
<p>I found Chem 101 to be a piece of cake. Then again, I spent a week figuring out quantum mechanics to the point where I could have probably taught the course. Many students don’t do too well in it though (maybe because they don’t put in the time), but if you work at it you’ll do fine.</p>
<p>and the curves arent that harsh?</p>
<p>bump 10char</p>
<p>What do you mean by harsh curves? There is never a situation in Chem (probably not bio either) where everyone averages a 90+% making that a B. Usually the curve helps you out because averages are 65-75% (at least in my chem classes if not lower), making those B/B-. Half of the class is not going to get an A. </p>
<p>I’m not sure about bio, but upper level chem courses (orgo, pchem, biochem) have similar curves to chem 101, but as you go on the dumbest students from the previous class aren’t taking it anymore (you wouldn’t continue on with chem if you got a D in 101). It starts getting clustered with Vagelos Scholars and other high achieving students. The averages are still around B- but the material is harder and the average student gets smarter.</p>
<p>So what do you typically need to average in intro bio/chem to get an A?</p>
<p>“The averages are still around B- but the material is harder and the average student gets smarter.”
^^ that makes sense</p>
<p>I can’t speak for BIO101 or 102, but in 121, you may land yourself an A- in BIO121 if you got about 0.7-1.0 standard deviations above the mean. An A comes in around 1.0 standard deviations above. In chem, an A- is around 0.8 standard deviations above, and an A is probably 1.0+. Of course, none of this should be taken as law, but rather a rule of thumb. You should take the percentage distribution they tell you and approximate based on a normal gaussian curve.</p>
<p>" You should take the percentage distribution they tell you and approximate based on a normal gaussian curve."
where can i find this for penn? also, generally speaking, how hard is it to be 1 std dev above the mean (is it alot more effort)
thanks for the info man</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure they don’t publish those figures online, but they may mention it on the first couple days of class or during recitation/lab. Don’t be afraid to ask, as many students are wondering the same thing. </p>
<p>It’s important to keep in mind that they do not assign grades based on the grade % distribution. All they attempt to do is assign the mean grade to a B- or C+ and let the rest of the grades fall in place. [Don’t worry about downward curve; the test grades in BIO and CHEM are always like 65, which curves upward to B-/C+]</p>
<p>In other words, the grades are not fitted to a % grade distribution, so your prediction will be inaccurate due to the estimation error of using the ballpark % distribution from the professor’s mouth. Luckily, though, they mention that the distribution is always very similar to previous years’, so you can be sure that your prediction falters primarily in the use of the estimated percentages.</p>
<p>If you refer to this diagram: [File:Standard</a> deviation diagram.svg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Standard_deviation_diagram.svg]File:Standard”>File:Standard deviation diagram.svg - Wikipedia)
then getting 1 standard deviation above is in the top 16% of people. This isn’t impossible by any means of course, but it certainly requires some effort. To put it in perspective, I had a class of about 65 students in BIOL121 - the top 16% is the top 10 students in the class.</p>
![http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Standard_deviation_diagram.svg]File:Standard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Standard_deviation_diagram.svg%5DFile:Standard){kind=link}
<p>With moderate effort, I managed to score around 0.8 standard deviations above the mean; sure I could have tried harder, but (using some economics concepts), achieving the necessary score would have required many more hours of studying due to decreasing marginal utility. Every additional hour would have yielded less and less additional knowledge. And I have to draw the line somewhere, right?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there aren’t enough tests and room for error to plot your personal marginal studying curve, so you’ll just have to trust your instincts and gauge your knowledge in order to determine how hard you need to try to reach the score you want.</p>