<p>I was wondering if anyone could tell me how CHEM 6BL was with professor Sandrine Bernoilles? From what I have gathered on RateMyProf it seems like the class is very time consuming and that grading is dependent on the T.A.'s and that the professor always sides with the T.A.</p>
<p>If you have taken the class before what can you tell about the T.A's? Are they usually the same T.A.'s running the labs every quarter or does it switch quite often? Which T.A.'s do you recommend and which are the ones we should avoid?
Also, is it feasible to get an A in the class? I haven't heard anything about the grading for the class. I've asking several upperclassmen and they were all able to AP out of the lab.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Berniolles is a good professor, but you only see her once a week and all she really does is summarize everything.</p>
<p>The T.A. you have shouldn’t matter because in the end everything is “normalized.” This means all the T.A.'s collaborate together at the end and decides who deserves what grades depending on the difficulty the respective T.A… I personally had a very hard T.A. and I ended up getting a higher grade than I expected. I know somebody else with a 92% average on all of her labs but her grade got normalized to a B because she had an easy T.A. It’s just to make everything fair for students in all of the labs.</p>
<p>You can’t really pick and choose T.A.'s (and they do it up switch now and then between quarters); by the time you figure out you had a difficult T.A. it’s difficult to transfer out because of the limited spaces in labs.</p>
<p>An A is difficult. I took 6BL last year with only 13 units, and that was the hardest quarter ever (even much harder than the time I took 21 units). However the majority of students end up with a B.</p>
<p>If you took AP chem then I suggest you try to petition out of the lab. Unless you’re a premed. Med schools wouldn’t like that.</p>
<p>For Chem6BL, the TAs don’t grade your labs (other graders do), so I’m not sure if they really have that much influence over your grade…but what subtle_overlord said about normalization is true.
Also, I have taken lots of math, o-chem, upper division physics, and some upper division bio, and I did far better in all of those classes than I did in Chem6BL. The class is kind of lame like that :/</p>
<p>On another note, how likely will I get in the class if I am 4 on the waitlist? </p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>richzz I <3 u</p>
<p>my small claim-to-fame is setting the curve in two classes, one being 6BL. :)</p>
<p>your grade is largely determined by the graders, who are undergraduate alums of the course. they grade all but one of your lab reports, together comprising the bulk of your grade, while the TA’s only “real” points are a possible 50 / 1000 for class participation and preparation. most students’ grades are lost on the exams, since lab reports are pretty much recycled (and copied) from previous quarters.</p>
<ul>
<li>this was the way it was done when ian ball took the course. i hear that it’s lightened up considerably, but dunno what the specifics are.</li>
</ul>
<p>Hi Astrina, I was wondering if you could share with me some of your tips for success in CHEM 6BL. I’m currently a freshmen general bio major, looking into biochem/bio, with a 4.0 for my major GPA, I’d like to continue keeping the 4.0 for as long as possible. Were you able to get a solid A in this class? Is it even feasible to attain an A? And what and how did you study for the class? Did you attend your T.A.'s office hours and ask them to look over lab reports before they were due?</p>
<p>Greatly appreciate it.
Thanks</p>
<ol>
<li>it’s freshMAN</li>
<li>got an A+ in fact</li>
<li>of course it is?</li>
<li>didn’t need to study because all the topics were previously covered in the gen chem lectures, but reviewing is a good idea.</li>
<li>no … not necessary if you have old lab reports. the TAs aren’t responsible for grading your labs (see previous posting!), so they’re really not much help.</li>
</ol>
<p>^ hahahaha thank you for constantly correcting the freshman/freshmen error.</p>
<p>if you’re 4th on the waitlist, your chances of getting in might not be TOO high…maybe if it’s an undesirable time like 8am… chem 6bl labs don’t have that many students, and it’s a required class for a lot of people, so not too many people drop it…unless they fail the safety test, lol. </p>
<p>i don’t think the professor should be your main concern. most people find the chem lab lecture useless/unhelpful. the review sessions are usually good, depending of course, on those that run it, and the professor provides good study guides (good as in, the problems are similar to those you’ll encounter on the exam). </p>
<p>read the lab manual, have a set of old labs, and don’t be that idiot knocking stuff over (or taking forever on the scales for that matter), and you should be fine. it’s time consuming because parts of the lab write-up are completely useless, such as basically recopying the procedures, writing an introduction, etc. the actual calculations section, is easy math, plug and chug in your calculator, but you do a lot of it.</p>
<p>Just wondering if any of you have had Gunjan Gupta as a T.A. for CHEM 6BL. If you have what can you tell about her in terms of the class.</p>
<p>TAs have an EXTREMELY minor contribution to your grade – why are you worried??</p>
<p>can u elaborate astrina, </p>
<p>seems like all my TA talked about during lab yesterday was docking us points for the most trivial of reasons… =/</p>
<p>when i took it, the TAs only gave you 50 out of a possible 1000 points for lab participation. apparently stuff’s changed since then? the undergraduate graders handled everything else.</p>
<p>The T.A./grader you have shouldn’t matter because everything is graded on a curve. The only ones I’d consider “hard” are the ones who rushed you and yelled “get out of my lab!” twenty minutes before class ended.</p>