<p>I've heard Econ 001/002 are so easy that even kids who get 93's end up with B minuses.</p>
<p>Same goes for math 104/114-Everyone does well so it's insanely hard to get a high GPA.</p>
<p>What about for Computer Science majors? Any weed-out intro courses?</p>
<p>Powerfuldog, I cannot help but question your statements. By your logic, what would a student need to get an A-/A/A+ in Econ 001/002 or Math 104/114? Would students need a 96 or above to even get an A- or B+? </p>
<p>Please explain your rationale.</p>
<p>He means you’d have to score in the very high 90s to get an A, since many classes are graded on a curve. I’m unsure of the exact ratios but for most classes, it’s something like top 20-30% get As, next 20-30% get B’s. Those are just my guesses, so it’d be nice if a current student could correct me on that.</p>
<p>One of my friends spoke of people who get 92s and 93s and end up with B minuses in these classes. Assuming that, you can see how just a few points above would be a B, B plus, A minus, and A respectively.</p>
<p>If this isn’t how it is, at the very least, these classes have NO curve. What you score is what you get, so an 87 would be just that-A B-plus.</p>
<p>Can a current student please help?</p>
<p>Don’t listen to any of that, it’s not true at all. When I took math 114, the grades were decided by the number of people who got As on the final. In my year over half of my section got As on the final, hence over half of the class got some form of an A. Math 104 goes by a stricter curve, but it is a very hard course from what I hear and exam averages are low. I haven’t taken Econ, but I have many friends who are Econ majors and they have never complained about the curve.</p>
<p>CIS 160 sucks ahahahhaagvfdgdgfhgjr</p>
<p>Math 104 I think…most grades fall in the B range. Not sure. Be sure to choose a good prof for this class because you get screwed over if you don’t.</p>
<p>CIS 110/120
CHEM 101/102
Math 104/114
Biol 101/121
Econ 001/002</p>
<p>basically any intro course in the sciences,math are harsh on the curve.</p>
<p>How can you avoid these courses? They seem to be prerequisites for a lot of classes.</p>
<p>you test out of them during your first week. you can do that for biol and math and cis. not sure about chem/econ.</p>
<p>but if you are smart, you do well in them and get the A/A-.</p>
<p>Do you even have to test out of math, I heard that you can self-place into any math course. I’ve already covered about half of the material in 114 in high school, would it be worthwhile to learn the rest over the summer and just jump straight into 240?(which seems to have a significant amount of review anyway)</p>
<p>You can get retroactive credit for math 114 if you take math 240 and get at least a C. I would recommend doing that, math 114 is often very poorly taught and you shouldn’t have a problem teaching yourself the material if you are motivated.</p>
<p>So is this implying that you will have an easier time in higher level classes grade wise? As in, more work better grade (higher level) vs. easy class but tough grade (intro level)?</p>
<p>In that case, can someone please give me an accurate idea of how bad the curve would be for a class such as Econ? Is there virtually no margin of error if you want an A (on the finals/midterms, since they virtually completely determine your grade)?</p>
<p>There’s no way I could self-study math 114 and just finish over the summer.</p>
<p>How can I possibly maintain a 3.6 with such courses? Would I take other “fluff” courses that suit my interests yet are easier to do well in (e.g. psych, south asian studies, etc)?</p>
<p>As an engineer you should not be taking econ 001/002. If you have a strong calculus background, just take econ 101. The curve is pretty decent and there’s a large margin of error (I recall something like 50/60 on the midterms was considered an A+). And you’ll also be better prepared for it than most of the econ majors and whartonites in the class. You also don’t really need any background from econ 001 for it as they’ll reintroduce it.</p>
<p>For math, if you take the honors version (116-260), the curve is much better. When I took it, we had something like 50% A’s of one form or the other, one C, and the rest B’s. Also since you’re considering computer science, it’ll be great practice for proof writing and just in general thinking rigorously about algorithms and things later on as you take those courses. Also it seems that no professor teaches CIS 160 properly, so you’ll learn those things much better than your fellow CS majors.</p>
<p>@feuxfollets
I’m planning to attempt to transfer into M&T, and one of the requirements is Econ 001/002. I don’t have have AP credit, so do you still recommend skipping to Econ 101? (P.S. Imma a Penngineer)</p>
<p>Could someone clarify in what ways the math or other courses are not taught well? Lectures not covering methods clearly? Homework not useful or too much busy work or too hard? English as a second language? No useful tutors/recitations available? Teachers want to do research and not teach so don’t try? Something else?</p>
<p>How easy is it to enroll with good professors rather than the poorer ones when multiple profs teach the same course? Don’t all Penn students look at the student reviews and flood the best sections?</p>
<p>If a course is well taught, then the curve is less of an issue, and the students’ abilities and study skills and motivations seem more important to receive an A. However, if the course is hopelessly poorly taught, then perhaps only previous (high school) knowledge is what will determine the grade?</p>
<p>@bbear12: so I don’t really know much about requirements for wharton transfers and stuff. You should ask one of their advisers if you can substitute the intermediate econ in for the intro ones. My comment was mostly geared towards those people who are taking it for social science requirements or to learn some economics.</p>
<p>@DDHM: There was one time where I saw a line of people that stretched down the entire hallway, all of whom were trying to get into the math office to switch to Deturck’s section of some calculus class. I don’t really know how successful that whole endeavor was, but yea it happens.</p>
<p>The main thing signifying a poorly taught course is a large disconnect between the homeworks and lectures. Generally homeworks should let you practice the material learned in lecture and use it, since math isn’t really something you just learn by watching, you need to do it. But if the professor consistently assigns homework that’s computational busywork or is overly trivial, it just gets in the way. Then you run into the problem of this: you should do the homework for a better grade, but you should study something else/do other things to actually get a better understanding of the material.</p>
<p>You cannot take econ 101 with 001 and 002-They are prerequisites. Unfortunately, this sucks, but that’s how it is-I wanted to go to 101 directly too.</p>
<p>Feuxfollets, in that case, are 001 and 002 that bad in terms of grading?</p>
<p>I’m not an engineer, but an Econ student in the college who plans to get a second major in computer science. One of my hopes is to attempt to Wharton-transfer, and they look at rigor of courseload-which is why I wanted to take comp sci, math courses, etc.</p>
<p>Are the honors math courses really that much better, curve-wise? How much more time do they require/effort compared to the regular course version? I’m assuming the regular version courses have a 30-30-30 split, no?</p>
<p>Hey does anyone know if the placement tests cover the same material as the AP equivalents or more? I was thinking to study from some AP test material in hopes of placing out of some of the intro classes.Thanks</p>
<p>The placement tests cover the material covered in the course at Penn, not what is covered by the AP tests. An example is the chem 101 test which covers a lot of quantum related topics that are not taught in AP chem.</p>
<p>Also, prereqs are simply recommendations, most of the time you should follow them but it is ultimately up to your own judgment.</p>