okay so the 2nd midterm mark came up and i did extremely bad
i got just above 50%..... and the problem is the first midterm i also got in the 50's
i dont know why im doing so bad
i studied really hard and for the second midterm i even studied during reading week
all i can see me doing now is getting really good on exam but;;;;;
should i drop it?
and advice please?

To be fair, everyone I've talked to has said it was a brutally hard test. I wouldn't feel too bad.

If you feel you need help, you could go to the Thode Basement. They offer chemistry help there. The hours for the TAs is posted outside their respective rooms(so I don't have them handy to give you, sorry.)

On a somewhat related note, I'm posting this from a chem 1AA3 lecture that's about to begin.

Yeah everyone i spoke to said it was brutal as well. Maybe they'll do something about it but i highly doubt that

Class average of ~63%, doubt they'll be changing it

Originally Posted by marido

okay so the 2nd midterm mark came up and i did extremely bad
i got just above 50%..... and the problem is the first midterm i also got in the 50's
i dont know why im doing so bad
i studied really hard and for the second midterm i even studied during reading week
all i can see me doing now is getting really good on exam but;;;;;
should i drop it?
and advice please?

*edited by moderator

Originally Posted by marido

okay so the 2nd midterm mark came up and i did extremely bad
i got just above 50%..... and the problem is the first midterm i also got in the 50's
i dont know why im doing so bad
i studied really hard and for the second midterm i even studied during reading week
all i can see me doing now is getting really good on exam but;;;;;
should i drop it?
and advice please?

If I were you, I would drop it and take it in the summer if this is an option for you (you should check that it is actually offered in the summer).

This is not to say you can't do well on the exam and get a decent mark but realistically...if you got a in the 50 range on both midterms then how likely is it for you to do much much better on a cumulative final exam? Also remember you'll have 4 other exams to deal with.

Also I'm not sure how it would affect your application to 2nd year programs if you drop it, but I imagine you would be okay, but this is something you would want to consider.

Hope it works out! Good luck!!!

I think today is the last day you can drop without failure by default, so you have a few hours to decide...

I thought it was the 11th?

what are the chances of someones mark actually increasing from the final?

Originally Posted by amyshi

I thought it was the 11th?

damn...here I was thinking that today is Friday. Fail.

as for your mark increasing from the final...it happened to me twice in five terms worth of exams (plus three summer courses). It depends though...some people tend to do much better on exams than during the year.

Originally Posted by jamiebenyovi

what are the chances of someones mark actually increasing from the final?

depends, but in my experience the mark generally goes down.

Actually I'd say it depends on the course.

Some courses with finals meant to bring you up are going to be super easy, but courses like chemistry rarely (if ever) have easy finals.

The chem 1AA3 exam last year was wayyyy harder than the midterms.

if i start studying wayyyy in advance is there hope?!?!?
i'm freaking out :(

Study properly...all this time isn't really necessary to do well, and you can still bomb it if you start studying today. You have to study "smart".

Originally Posted by jamiebenyovi

if i start studying wayyyy in advance is there hope?!?!?
i'm freaking out :(

lol of course there's hope. with chem though (esp the 1st year ones) its about knowing how to study rather than studying lots. my advice would be to try lots and lots of practice exam questions, really you need to realize there are only a limited number of concepts that can be tested but they can be dressed up into really complicated questions. so getting a hang of the question style is important...

anyways, good luck! just b/c most people's marks go down it certainly doesn't mean that you can't raise your mark with some good studying!