<p>We just got our midterm grades back for one of the classes that I'm taking this semester. I did very poorly; the average was 60 and I got a 33, which is at the top of the bottom quartile. This class isn't required for my major exactly; we have to take one class off of a list, and this was the one I chose, so there are other classes I could take. </p>
<p>So should I drop this class? If I do drop this class, I'll be taking 4 classes this semester, which is one class below the normal load for sophomores in the fall, which would mean taking an extra 5 course semester (junior spring). If I don't, I'll most likely have a pretty bad grade, I'm thinking Cish, unless I get a 100 on the final, which is pretttty unlikely. I don't want a C. </p>
<p>The problem is that if I drop this class and take another one on that list next semester, there's a chance that I'll do poorly in that one as well.</p>
<p>What percentage of your grade was said test?</p>
<p>I got a pretty bad test grade in one of my classes (45 with a 63 average) but it was only 20% of my grade so it’s not the end of the world. If it was half your grade though, drop it and drop it now.</p>
<p>Said test was 30% of my grade. It’s still a decent chunk. The final’s 35%. Other than this, the grades I’ve received in the class (a quiz and several homeworks) have been pretty good.</p>
<p>Well, if you truly studied and still earned a 33%, then you need speak with your professor about what have you and then drop it. </p>
<p>If you did not study and earned a 33%, then you need to drop it like a hot potato asap. </p>
<p>Try to befriend someone in the class so you can at least obtain the notes and whatnot and then maybe you can review all of that over the winter time holiday. That would help you decide if you should take it over later on down the line.</p>
<p>Make sure dropping doesn’t interfere with your financial aid. Plus your school might have certain guidelines/rules about dropping classes this late in the semester.</p>
<p>I would talk to the professor first. Maybe the grading is more lenient than you expect? The grades will certainly be on some sort of curve, won’t they?</p>
<p>Playing a bit with numbers: the average GPA in Princeton undergraduate engineering courses is a 3.4, and suppose 35% of each course gets an A range grade (suppose the A-range average is a 3.85 for argument’s sake). That means that the bottom 65% of each class still averages a 3.15. Based on this number, I would expect a 25th percentile performance to be worth a B range grade, not a C. </p>
<p>For example, 17.5% As, 17.5% A-, 40% B+, 20% B, 4% B-, 1% C+ comes out to a 3.4 average. If fewer people got As, the other grades would have to be even higher to maintain that 3.4 average. And the number of As shouldn’t exceed 35% as per Princeton’s grading policy.</p>
<p>Of course your particular professor might grade a harsher grader than the average engineering professor at Princeton. You would know better than me.</p>
<p>I’d be very surprised if the course wasn’t curved to at least a 2.7-2.8 and probably 3.0.</p>
<p>Anyways, one thing I’d suggest is get to know the professor. This serves a couple purposes. First off, going to office hours does tend to help your grade. Secondly, if the professor knows you and you have a strong upward trend in grades (say you get a 95% on the final) then chances are he’ll give the final a bit more weight to help your grade since the prof knows you made a real effort.</p>
<p>What my understanding of the curving at school is that they go about all the tests and homeworks as if there were no curve, and at the end of the class, they rank everyone from highest grade to lowest grade, and give the top 30% As, the next 30%-40% Bs, the next 20% Cs, and the bottom 10% Ds.</p>