<p>I came out reasonably well. I scraped an A in chem (due to the curve), a feat which I considered impossible (I sat through the test repeatedly thinking 'I failed, I failed'). I think I mainly got A minuses, with the possible exception of 1 B+ in psych (still waiting to find out). How did it go for everyone else?</p>
<p>i think i did alright. We'll see. For my first semester at a supposedly deflation rampant university, I'm expecting a 3.45 at the lowest, and 3.75 at the highest. Probably going to get a 3.5. So I hear that's pretty good here, especially for first semester.</p>
<p>first year is by far the easiest to do well. don't let anyone fool you otherwise.</p>
<p>^^Not necessarily. My daughter is in her second year as an engineering major. Academics came easily to her in high school--not much studying required. She had to learn how to study and she is doing better during her second year than she did during her first. The classes aren't easier, either.</p>
<p>haha, not what i heard. At least here, every 3rd and 4th year student says second is easiest because first year you arent quite used to the workload, and second year you are but still don't really start upper level classes much. 3rd and 4th are the killers.</p>
<p>Did well enough on my Economics final to scrape out the A by 0.24 points. Good for that, 5 credit class, really wanted that 4 in a 5 credit class. Easy A+ in American Government. Got an S (Satisfactory, pass/fail type of thing) in my journalism class. Still waiting on a 1 credit seminar class, which will either be an A or B, and then our Russian grades haven't been posted yet (which is weird, since it's been over a week since we took the final, it was one of the first finals I had, it was even before finals week). I think I did well on the Final. I hope I hold on for the A, instead of an A- or B+ since it's a 6 credit course.</p>
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haha, not what i heard. At least here, every 3rd and 4th year student says second is easiest because first year you arent quite used to the workload, and second year you are but still don't really start upper level classes much. 3rd and 4th are the killers.
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<p>there's some truth to that, 3rd year is probably the hardest, at least in engineering. 2nd year is still a lot harder than 1st year, for a few reasons. The biggest one is that the curve is so much more difficult in 2nd year compared to first year. First year is easy because no one's really been weeded out. The adjustment in the curve for subsequent years doesn't completely make up for this fact. Even if you're not on a curve, professors have low expectations for you compared to 2nd/3rd/4th years. They realize that students need time to adjust.</p>
<p>The other reasons are just that the material actually is harder and the workload is a bit more intense. In first year, your work ethic might not be up to par, but no one else's is, either, so if you're on a curve, it doesn't matter. And likewise, a the material is designed for people coming straight out of highschool.</p>
<p>I bought into the lie that 1st year was the hardest. I was fooled. Like I said, don't believe it, or you'll be in for a hell of a surprise. People's GPA's generally go down as university progresses, not up, at least at my school.</p>
<p>I actually don't think I did too bad on my Finals. I think I got A's on Bio+Math but probably a C on Chem (without the curve). </p>
<p>Too bad my overall grades won't be too awesome.</p>
<p>I made all A's and A-'s. I was pleasantly surprised at how well I did on one of my history exams--I was expecting a B to a B+ overall in there, but then I felt really good about the final and it brought me up to an A-. So I was pretty excited. The other A- was in Chinese 202...so yeah. Oh, but what upset me the teensiest little bit (I really didn't care after like 30 seconds, I promise) was that my GPA was a 3.8969...etc. and the computer system still gave me a 3.89 instead of a 3.9. But then I remembered that I was expecting it to go down a little from that history grade, so I decided that 1/100th of a point is definitely not a big deal.</p>
<p>Oh, and I've never had a prof that used a curve...You guys are so lucky, haha.</p>
<p>Finals were fantastic. My roommate went home early in the week so I had the apartment all to myself for the rest of finals. And I stayed up late many a night watching movies without having to using earphones. It was glorious.</p>
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Oh, and I've never had a prof that used a curve...You guys are so lucky, haha.
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<p>how, exactly? do you even know how a curve works? sometimes the class average is high and the curve works against you, sometimes it's low and it works for you.</p>
<p>the whole point of my last post was about how the curve in years 2/3/4 makes it hard to do well.</p>
<p>Curves are great, it comes in handy when this happens:</p>
<p>Parent: OMG! you got 105/150, I thought you said you STUDIED?!?!?!
Me: uhhhhh, mom, the average was an 85? I'm fine.
Parent: 105/150 = 70%!!!!
Me: <em>walks away</em></p>
<p>No idea. We still have a few more weeks until grades are posted, even though they were due in Monday (yeah, the logic...isn't)</p>
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first year is by far the easiest to do well.
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<p>nah, because the first year you're battling the temptation to get smashed all the time and never go to class or study..and you usually surrender.
by sophomore year you kinda get over it.</p>
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how, exactly? do you even know how a curve works? sometimes the class average is high and the curve works against you, sometimes it's low and it works for you.
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<p>Yes, I know how a curve works. None of my professors have used one though. I've actually only heard of one professor at my school using one, the one that teaches organic chemistry. As far as I know, it has only helped them out.</p>
<p>I never thought about the average being high and hurting you though. I guess I'll just be content with my professors' non-curving then, since the lack thereof hasn't hurt me yet. :)</p>
<p>I only know a few people that may have had drinking affect his/her grades. Then again, it's different in canada. Most people commute to school and legal drinking age is 18, so the novelty of it wains very early.</p>
<p>Regardless, I'm going by stats at my school, that average GPA goes down after 1st year.</p>
<p>I had four finals:</p>
<p>Speech: 0% (ditched)
Calculus: F (speculation)
Statistics: F (speculation)
Accounting: B (speculation)</p>
<p>I have my calc final in a few hours, and I really need to do well, because our grade in the class basically depends on the final. Anyway, I think I did alright on my philosophy and chem finals. I probably failed physics, and might have even failed the class. Which is my biggest fear. My final grades will probably be: B- in chem, A in philosophy, no idea for physics because supposedly everything is scaled at the very end, and hopefully an A in honors calc.</p>
<p>
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Speech: 0% (ditched)
Calculus: F (speculation)
Statistics: F (speculation)
Accounting: B (speculation)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>What happened?</p>
<p>Well, I was surprised, in good and bad ways. I did well on the final that I thought was going to give me the most trouble (math) and not so well on the finals I thought I was prepared for (econ and accounting). I came away with good grades in those classes, but they could have been better.</p>