<p>Rarely do professors say the overall breakdown of test scores. I think all professors should do it, so you know what score you have compared to the rest of the class. Maybe some professors don't do it because they are embarrassed of the low scores.</p>
<p>Today, my accounting professor posted the scores for the first exam. The scores are very bad. </p>
<p>The thing that gets me is that the professor seems like nothing is wrong. She just moved on to the next chapter like everyone mastered the first two chapters.</p>
<p>Breakdown:
A- 3 students
B- 7 students
C- 11 students
D- 14 students
F- 7 students</p>
<p>The thing that striked me the most is that the highest number of students received a D.</p>
<p>So do you think it's the professor's or student's fault? If I was a professor, I would question myself first and ask the class how I can improve my teaching.</p>
<p>I have taken a few accounting courses and, if you are talking about an introductory financial accounting class, it is expected that most students do poorly at first. I mean, sure, maybe the professor is just a poor professor, but I just think that the material is hard to get at first. I don't know the mindset of the students though. Do they take advantage of resources like tutoring, and do they go far out of their way to understand the material? In some courses, this extra work is all but required to do well. I guess you wouldn't have posted this topic unless you were in the lower bracket so I would definitely recommend going to meet personally with your professor. I do this all the time for my accounting classes. Just use every resource you can get. After you do this, then you will know for sure if it is the students or the professor's fault.</p>
<p>Looks to me like 50% passed - 50% failed (or close to it with the D) - it is not up to the prof to ask the class how to improve their teaching - as some obviously did well on the test - but it is up to the students to seek the help they may need to understand the content</p>
<p>Hopefully, this professor knows how her own course works and she knows the patterns of how grades rise and fall. Maybe students typically begin this low and then rise later? Some tests are more difficult, and sometimes students do badly before they get used to the professor's way of questioning/testing.</p>
<p>If you were one of the lower grades, then work harder and if you still do badly, then maybe it IS the professor's fault. </p>
<p>If you were one of the higher grades, maybe the grades will get better next test, but you should just keep yours high.</p>
<p>However... Even if it is the professor's fault, the students unfortunately still have bad grades. If the professor has tenure, there's even less you can do about it. It stinks to be one of the students with a low grade because of bad teaching, but if you are, then do some independent studying if the professor isn't teaching all that you can learn.</p>
<p>Edit: And maybe many professors wouldn't consider those grades 'bad.' They might be bad for high school, but college grading is different and some teachers like the whole 'bell curve' thing.</p>
<p>If they've taught the course before they might be comparing you against previous years, in which case your year might just be really poor.</p>
<p>There could also be a systematic grading error on the test. I've had it where they graded using an incorrect solution and wound up nailing everyone for 10-15 points.</p>
<p>There is a bit of a positive skew to that distribution, BUT... if it's the first test and in an intro accounting class, then it's really not particularly poor...
I don't think you can place blame w/o more information, including the prof's reputation and knowledge of how hard those students were actually working in the class.
I would honestly like to see more classes where students actually fail (D or F) to help differentiate students at different levels. I think it's stupid that the average for many colleges IS a 3.2 GPA... theoretically, a 2.0 should be the mean, with a standard distribution of 1.0 grade points, meaning that only 14% of students break a 3.0 (along with 14% below 1.0) and only about 5% manage close to a 4.0 (along with 5% who get close to a 0.0)</p>
<p>you can't just blame the professor when a class scores a low average on an exam. Suck it up. Work harder, or drop the class, or don't complain about the grade you got.</p>
<p>@apumic,
I agree, however, if you need a 2.0 to stay off academic probation, then a 2.0 cannot also be the school average.</p>
<p>it really depends. you can't tell just from looking at the scores.
the professor might give you all the information and the class just isn't learning well, or not doing the reading.
but it could also be the professor.</p>
<p>Seriously, the last thing you ever want to do is throw the blame on the professor unless it's absolutely, absolutely a BIG deal that you have to attract the attention of the administrators.</p>
<p>Sure the curve doesn't look all that great but if this professor's taught the course before, rest assured that s/he is doing everything s/he can. Also professors are extremely reluctant to change their syllabi just because one test went very bad. This is exactly the point where (good) professors will approach poor students individually to encourage them to come in for office hours or get some tutoring. It's about privacy too. It does seem unfair that the professors would just continue like this but this is college and they only have so much material to cover! Also there's the issue of making sure the students <em>know</em> everything that they need to know for the upper-level classes. If the students go into the upper level classes without mastery any BASIC concept, then... that's where the blame game can begin.</p>
<p>Like everyone said- welcome to college where you worry about YOU and no one else. Keep your attention towards the professor, not your classmates (do you trust them when they say that they studied their asses off? Everyone has their own definition of how much time of studying is <em>alot</em>)</p>
<p>I remember taking an intensive German class, and we had lousy professors/teachers. They didn't keep pace with the material we were supposed to cover, so when it came time for a big exam, we were well behind other sections that had kept pace. Our grades were all really low, and in this case, it was the teachers' fault because they were slowing us down and we were rational in expecting we'd be tested on what we had been taught and not more. </p>
<p>I lay out this scenario wondering if it's possible that she gave a test that covered a lot of stuff that she didn't really cover in class. Professors get lazy sometimes and stop paying attention. She might have thought she taught as much this year as she had in other years.</p>
<p>I think what's necessary, if this is at all close to what happened, you need to study a lot on your own and really understand the book and other course materials she gives you and not depend solely on what she teaches you in class.</p>
<p>And for the time being, you'll need to suck it up.</p>
<p>in college, the professors are not responsible for the content of the course, YOU ARE. So quit your whining and go read your textbook. We've all had classes where a professors lectures did not cover everything on the test -- they shouldn't have to! Professors give you assignments in the textbook and other recommended readings and handouts for a reason. I doubt that the information on the test was not in your textbook.
Just wait until you get to upper-division classes, where you often don't even have lectures and instead have primarily discussion and practical learning but get tested on both details (from the text) and practical application and discussion (from class).
As they say in med school: "Teach the concepts. Test the details."</p>
<p>Agreed... whilst some professors are most certainly better than others in terms of teaching styles, at the end of the day you, the student, are responsible for knowing the material and doing whatever necessary to perform well on assignments and exams. Doing well and getting goods grades is of course important not only for doing well in higher level courses but also securing whatever comes next after college... do you really think that you'll be able to explain away some lousy grades (to a potential employer or grad school admissions board) by saying it was the professors fault? I think not!</p>