hey guys,

I am U of Alberta student who is looking at transferring to Mac for Eng I. I took a look at some of the class websites and I noticed that all the exams were MC. Is it a serious pain in the ass? I took math and mechanics this year and I couldn't imagine having MC exams for them. Any insight is appreciated.

thanks

yep math is fully MC and physics is 60% Mc, 40% short answers.. everything else is also pretty much MC...

to be honest, you can actually use MC to your advantage, for example in math, you can actually work backwards and get the answer which helped me immenseley for some questions on tests... again this only applies for certain courses..

For a subject like mechanics, the MC portion would be used to test conceptual knowledge.

For math, it simply means that you must not make a single mistake in any of your calculations or you will suffer disproportionately for it.

Did people honestly find the tests for math 1ZZ5 hard? I found that if you just read everything and did the suggested problems you were supposed to; you were pretty much guaranteed a 90%.

Multiple choice for math actually makes it easier since you can work backwards if you're confused about something :p

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

Did people honestly find the tests for math 1ZZ5 hard? I found that if you just read everything and did the suggested problems you were supposed to; you were pretty much guaranteed a 90%.

Multiple choice for math actually makes it easier since you can work backwards if you're confused about something :p

Did most of the suggested problems for the first 2 tests, and almost no suggested problems for the last 2 + exam. <3 Multiple choice, elimination method + marginal understanding = win.

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

Did people honestly find the tests for math 1ZZ5 hard? I found that if you just read everything and did the suggested problems you were supposed to; you were pretty much guaranteed a 90%.

Multiple choice for math actually makes it easier since you can work backwards if you're confused about something :p

Originally Posted by BlakeM

Did most of the suggested problems for the first 2 tests, and almost no suggested problems for the last 2 + exam. <3 Multiple choice, elimination method + marginal understanding = win.

I see, and all classes are on the curve right?

There will always be denial about curving, but there always is. I almost always ended up seeming to have aced exams in the end hahaha

1E03 Physics for instance was definitely curved. I went in with like a 5, came out with an 8 and Im almost certain I did terrible on the exam.

With regards to multiple choice....I dont really like it. It encourages you to study less because I always think to myself "Okay, all I need is a basic understanding and ill be able to work out something"....so I dont do any of the suggested problems and I get to the test and do bad lol.

They really have no other option than MC because of the number of students, and I guess if you can stay motivated to study (unlike me) you'll do fine.

Originally Posted by micadjems

There will always be denial about curving, but there always is. I almost always ended up seeming to have aced exams in the end hahaha

the faculty denies curving?

Also does anyone know what the class averages typically are? The "suggested" here is 2.6 (6 or 7) but it is always much lower, usually around 2.3 (5 or 6)

Originally Posted by Oilers

Also does anyone know what the class averages typically are? The "suggested" here is 2.6 (6 or 7) but it is always much lower, usually around 2.3 (5 or 6)

Don't think they give out class averages really. Also, the faculty does deny bell curving the marks. Though what I believe Jean Norris said was that they don't curve because then some people's marks get reduced. They just bump up everyones mark till it reaches the desired average. (Don't quote me on this!)

"Bell curving" in the literal use of the term is a very rare thing. More often than not, all students are given the same number of additional marks, or the mark increase is proportional (ie: as a percentage increase of true grade). Real bell curving can actually reduce your marks, and stacks you up against other students in your class.

The word has become a colloquial term for any kind of mark adjustment.

Originally Posted by ViktorVaughn

"Bell curving" in the literal use of the term is a very rare thing. More often than not, all students are given the same number of additional marks, or the mark increase is proportional (ie: as a percentage increase of true grade). Real bell curving can actually reduce your marks, and stacks you up against other students in your class.

The word has become a colloquial term for any kind of mark adjustment.

But bell curving is good for students who are getting a really low grade. I don't no much about bell curving. Just making a guess based on the info u provided.

Originally Posted by Strongwiller

But bell curving is good for students who are getting a really low grade. I don't no much about bell curving. Just making a guess based on the info u provided.

Not necessarily, unless a lot of other students are getting a low grade as well.

What happens is that a prof arbitrarily creates a normal curve by choosing a mean grade for his/her class - any grade they desire. They also set a standard deviation to make the curve a certain width, perhaps forcing a certain portion of it on the left hand side below F. At this point, the number of people who will receive each grade in the course has been decided, regardless of actual marks. Students are then slotted into the normal distribution with the average of the true marks now sitting at the arbitrarily selected mean. Any grades above that are placed higher on the curve, and grades below this are placed lower on the curve, in a fashion that creates a normal/bell shape.

Owing to this, if everyone does well, and you do unusually poorly, you will sit very far left on the normal curve. If the professor has shaped the curve such that the lowest grades are higher than your poor mark, you will benefit. If they have shaped the curve as a very wide bell, you will lose out.

Conversely, if the professor chooses a wide bell and low mean, and everyone gets a very high true grade, people who do well can still do poorly or fail (example: if everyone's real mark is an A, and you get a B, and then the prof grades on a curve with a mean of C and a wide SD, all those A students will get a C, and the B student might fail).

Anyway, rambling a bit.. the point is that you're ranked compared to your peers, and the effect of being below the class average can either have either negative or positive effects entirely depending on how the curve is designed, and how many other people deviate from the norm, and by how much. It only helps people with poor grades relative to the rest of the class if the prof selects a narrow curve with a high mean.