<p>So I just saw my score for my first exam and I got a 16/20. I'm a little dissapointed (why does CC not think "dissapointed" is a word?) because I was expecting a bit higher (17/20 was my minimum estimate accounting for careless errors). When I answered the questions, I was as confident as I possibly could be. I even had time to check all of my answers once or twice. That means I must have made a stupid/careless error 4 times on the exam and I couldn't even notice them when checking. Does anyone have any advice for fixing these types of mistakes?</p>
<p>On exam week, I probably didn't study as much as I should have. But from I did study, I should have been adequately prepared for the exam. I did like 100 practice problems out of the textbook the week before the exam, with about one-third of the problems being much more difficult than anything on the exam. I probably should have done some of the practice exams given to us, but the problems seemed similar to the problems I did from the textbook. My concern is the fact that I knew the conceptual theory behind every problem on the exam, yet I still kept f*cking up (same thing happened on one of my Calculus Exam). Anyone have any tips for this? Is it psychological in nature?</p>
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<p>Also, side question: how much of an impact does high-school knowledge play in introductory courses like Physics 140, Chem 125, and Calculus I/II. For example, almost every one of my classmates has taken AP Physics in High School, so I assume Physics 140 must be just review for them. I didn't take any Physics in High School (well....I did, but I literally learned absolutely nothing). However, I still feel I should be able to succeed as much as my class, since I understand the material well enough (so far); plus, I got an A in Calculus I even though I didn't take Calculus in High School. I could be wrong though and prior knowledge is very important. In that case, how significant is this prior knowledge for other kids, and will I see a huge transition next semester when everyone's on "even ground" as no one has ever taken those classes before? (Calculus III, Physics 240, EECS 203, EECS 280).</p>
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<li><p>A 16/20 is not bad. Based on the grading scale when I took physics 140, you could an 80% on every exam and still get an A-.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t get too hung up on this exam. There are a lot of questions in this class that seem “easy” and you feel like you know how to do the problem, but you are actually not taking something into account. Also, there are 1000s of questions they could have chosen from and they just happened to pick 4 you didn’t do correctly at the time.</p></li>
<li><p>Just because someone took AP Physics in high school does NOT mean that Physics 140 is a review for him/her.</p></li>
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<p>“will I see a huge transition next semester when everyone’s on “even ground” as no one has ever taken those classes before? (Calculus III, Physics 240, EECS 203, EECS 280).”</p>
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<li> That semester sounds terrible. You might want to replace one (or even two) of those class(es) with humanities or liberal arts credits.</li>
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<li><p>A 16/20 is fine. The grades in Physics 140 are ridiculously curved. I got an 11/20 on the rotation exam and finished with an A+. (Watch out for that rotation exam, lol)</p></li>
<li><p>I does not mean that necessarily, but it was for me. I took honors Physics Jr year then AP Sr year (but I only got a 4 on the exam). By the time I had to learn the same stuff AGAIN it was getting old. I skipped half of the lectures and copied all the HW answers from the solutions manual. </p></li>
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<p>But at the same time, this wasnt most of the people in the class. It is new or relatively new to a lot of people. Or they only took AP Physics B or something. You will see when he shows exam averages and how much of a curve there is. </p>
<p>Also, yes, studying is college was a huge difference for myself and many other people. A lot of students, especially engineers never had to put that much effort into studying for exams in high school. Then it is almost a shock in college when that bad Final score drops your grade a good amount. Just catch on quickly.</p>
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<li>There are people that have taken calc 3 in high school (I did in my school, we could through a local college) and Physics 240 is basically the second half of AP Physics C. So it isnt completely even yet. </li>
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<p>I also agree with the poster above, you might want to swap out one of those courses for an HU or SS you might need.</p>
<p>Or, do what I did between my Fr and So years, take some courses at a local college. I didnt try to get an internship (didnt even know there were any at the career fair) so I took Physics 240 and a HU through my local community college. Easy ass classes and I got a very hard class and a waste of time class out of the way </p>
<p>@ThisIsMichigan - Wow, that’s great news to hear about the curving. Time to slack off lol (jk). Can you give me more information about this curve (I couldn’t find information on past exams anywhere). Also, what were your scores for your other exams? …if you don’t mind me asking. I would like to get as many As this semester as possible since the difficulty/workload of courses is going to be unbelievably intense in the future.</p>
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<p>As for my courses next semester…I feel I may be limited:</p>
<p>I have to take EECS 203 and EECS 280 next semester, as these are both pre-reqs for EECS 281 (Data Structures and Algorithms) which is highly recommended for internships; and they’re required for me to declare a CS major.</p>
<p>I thought taking Calculus 3 and Physics 240 next semester would be ideal because I might forget some important material from Calculus 2 and Physics 140 if the gap was too long. How big of an issue do you think a gap may be? If it’s not much, then I would happily take Calculus 3 or Physics 240 another semester. Community college courses is also an option, of course.</p>
<p>“Or, do what I did between my Fr and So years, take some courses at a local college. I didnt try to get an internship (didnt even know there were any at the career fair) so I took Physics 240 and a HU through my local community college. Easy ass classes and I got a very hard class and a waste of time class out of the way”</p>
<p>This is good advice. It’s very hard to get an internship after freshman year so you should use this time to take summer classes. I would probably take both Physics 240 and Calc 3 during the summer. Both of these classes are most likely going to be easier at a community college than at U-M. I took Calc 3 at a community college and I probably did significantly less work than the average student in Calc 3 at U-M does. More importantly, only the credit transfers and not the grade. Taking a class at a community college has NO EFFECT ON YOUR GPA. As long as you pass the class, you are fine. You can take both physics 240 and calc 3 at a community college, put in minimal effort so that you still enjoy your summer, get B’s, and then you are all set. The B’s would NOT appear on your U-M transcript. </p>
<p>I honestly am not sure how I did on the other two. The first one I think I did alright, not great, maybe like a 17? I do remember I killed the final though. Only missed like 1, maybe 2. I’m not sure. This is one of the few classes you will be taking with people that AREN’T going to be engineers. So even if you don’t think you are doing great, you are probably doing better than the average. Then in your 200 level classes it will be all people wanting to be engineers, but not all of them will make it. These students that eventually will drop also will help your GPA.</p>
<p>Go on the Comp Sci engr website and find a suggested course schedule. Lay the entire thing out in excel and compare what you need to take with what you already have. Get an idea of what your courses will be for the next 6 semesters. That is what I did. </p>
<p>Calc 3 isn’t horrible, and it is somewhat useful. It wouldn’t be the worse thing to take it here. Physics 240 could be taken at a CC thoguh</p>
<p>I got a 14 if that makes you feel any better and I’ve also never taken any physics. I’m not an engineering student however, but I’m still rather disappointed in my grade as well and I don’t think not being in engineering is a valid excuse to have sub-par grades. The tentative grade scale from a post on my CTools is as follows:
“A>85%>B>75%>C>60%>D>45%>E. If the class average for every class section is way below 75% the grade scale may be lowered.”</p>
<p>I wish they posted more info about the exam scores like they do for Calc, I’m curious what the average was. </p>