Second Year Science Courses that are GPA Killers?
05-23-2011 at 03:06 PM
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#1
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Second Year Science Courses that are GPA Killers?
You know what I'm talking about....you study for hours and hours before your midterm, but you cannot get a 12 no matter how hard you try. It is not your fault, it is just that the course is too damn hard. In your experience, what courses have you experienced that fall into this category?
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05-23-2011 at 04:05 PM
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#2
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Tooth Fairy
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well getting a 12 is not everything u need to do in school. 8+ is still a great mark and its not bad for the GPA.
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Last edited by L'Étoile : 05-23-2011 at 04:23 PM.
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05-23-2011 at 04:08 PM
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#3
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Every course I took.
Oh wait..
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05-23-2011 at 04:19 PM
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#4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil
Every course I took.
Oh wait..
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same here
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05-23-2011 at 04:59 PM
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#5
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Trolling ain't easy
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Science 2B03. You will get raped on everything besides the test/exam.
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05-23-2011 at 06:15 PM
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#6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ownaginatios
Science 2B03. You will get raped on everything besides the test/exam.
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kidding right? that was an easy 11 with parker two years ago.
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05-23-2011 at 06:18 PM
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#7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thedog123123
kidding right? that was an easy 11 with parker two years ago.
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Depends on your TA. The tests were easy as hell, but my TA was a huge douchebag (had him for a physics course in first year too).
Failed most of the class on the presentations :/.
I got a 10, but I definitely felt like I put in more work than that...
Meh, stupid non-sensical prerequisite for software engineering done :p.
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05-26-2011 at 11:08 AM
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#8
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bump? what other level 2 science courses are gpa killers?
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05-26-2011 at 11:36 AM
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#9
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I wanna hear answers for this, but for 3rd year courses haha
It's good to aim for 12s, but I agree with the comment above that 8+ is an excellent grade that you should be proud of. I found that every 2nd year science course I took was difficult to achieve a 12, but at the same time none were GPA killers. You get out of each course what you put into it. I guess the ones I'd watch out for are:
Chem 2OA3 & 2OB3 - there were two types of people in this class. People who got it, and people who didn't. (Lol, redundant sentence is redundant). It takes some effort, patience and brainpower to be one of the people who "gets it".
Bio 2D03 (Plant Biology) - Not too hard of a course, just harder than its MI Course Review would make it seem.
Biochem 2EE3 (Metabolism) - Difficult to get a high grade because it's strictly memorization of small details.
Bio 2EE3 (Microbiology) - Just, no.
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05-26-2011 at 12:33 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by marcie
I wanna hear answers for this, but for 3rd year courses haha
It's good to aim for 12s, but I agree with the comment above that 8+ is an excellent grade that you should be proud of. I found that every 2nd year science course I took was difficult to achieve a 12, but at the same time none were GPA killers. You get out of each course what you put into it. I guess the ones I'd watch out for are:
Chem 2OA3 & 2OB3 - there were two types of people in this class. People who got it, and people who didn't. (Lol, redundant sentence is redundant). It takes some effort, patience and brainpower to be one of the people who "gets it".
Bio 2D03 (Plant Biology) - Not too hard of a course, just harder than its MI Course Review would make it seem.
Biochem 2EE3 (Metabolism) - Difficult to get a high grade because it's strictly memorization of small details.
Bio 2EE3 (Microbiology) - Just, no.
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Really Biochem 2-easy3? Definitely 12able if you cram the day before and do past tests.
For 3rd year courses:
I didn't do so well in Psych 3J03 but I also didn't study for the exam.
Psych 3N03 is considered easy but Dr. Day puts lots of random/useless textbook questions in.
marcie
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05-26-2011 at 12:39 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ownaginatios
Depends on your TA. The tests were easy as hell, but my TA was a huge douchebag (had him for a physics course in first year too).
Failed most of the class on the presentations :/.
I got a 10, but I definitely felt like I put in more work than that...
Meh, stupid non-sensical prerequisite for software engineering done :p.
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Big Questions was most definitely an easy 12. I got a 10, but the only reason I didn't get a 12 was because I slept through half of the (mandatory) tutorials.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marcie
I wanna hear answers for this, but for 3rd year courses haha
It's good to aim for 12s, but I agree with the comment above that 8+ is an excellent grade that you should be proud of. I found that every 2nd year science course I took was difficult to achieve a 12, but at the same time none were GPA killers. You get out of each course what you put into it. I guess the ones I'd watch out for are:
Chem 2OA3 & 2OB3 - there were two types of people in this class. People who got it, and people who didn't. (Lol, redundant sentence is redundant). It takes some effort, patience and brainpower to be one of the people who "gets it".
Bio 2D03 (Plant Biology) - Not too hard of a course, just harder than its MI Course Review would make it seem.
Biochem 2EE3 (Metabolism) - Difficult to get a high grade because it's strictly memorization of small details.
Bio 2EE3 (Microbiology) - Just, no.
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Absolutely Chem 2OA3 and 2OB3. If you don't stay on top of your work, these class will demolish you. Luckily, you can drop your midterms to make your final worth more. In 2OA3 everything kind of clicked for me just before the final and ended the class with a 10, but I didn't know what was going on for weeks at a time. In 2OB3 I didn't learn my lesson. I did pretty badly on the midterms. For exams I spent a week and a half studying the class HARDCORE, hours and hours a day. And the final still killed me. Labs brought me up to an 8 though. The labs are either good or bad depending on your TA, as it always seems to be...
Microbiology was pretty mediocre. It was a night class (ie HARD TO NOT FALL ASLEEP), and for many people the Dr. Xu was very hard to understand due to his accent. Personally I had no problem, but a lot of people did. Dr. Xu claims he doesn't test directly out of the textbook, but if you don't do all the readings you are SCREWED. Not nearly enough class time is given to the things that end up on the test. However, if you've done all the readings the tests are fair; many questions are True/False so if you've skimmed the part in the textbook for those questions odds are you'll get them. I stopped going to class halfway through the semester because for me I didn't find the lectures were worth going to. I just read the textbook (endlessly) for 2 days before the exam and just barely did well enough on the final for a 10. Labs are worth 25% of your mark, and they are very reasonable to do well on even if they seem a little disconnected from course material at times. The one and only formal lab is on the same topic as your Bio 1A03 formal lab, so it's not difficult.
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Last edited by Freak705 : 05-26-2011 at 12:43 PM.
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05-26-2011 at 01:31 PM
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#12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lois
Really Biochem 2-easy3? Definitely 12able if you cram the day before and do past tests.
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I crammed and 11'd the course but I feel like I lost some sanity in the process that I will never regain, lmao.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Freak705
Microbiology was pretty mediocre. It was a night class (ie HARD TO NOT FALL ASLEEP), and for many people the Dr. Xu was very hard to understand due to his accent. Personally I had no problem, but a lot of people did. Dr. Xu claims he doesn't test directly out of the textbook, but if you don't do all the readings you are SCREWED. Not nearly enough class time is given to the things that end up on the test. However, if you've done all the readings the tests are fair; many questions are True/False so if you've skimmed the part in the textbook for those questions odds are you'll get them. I stopped going to class halfway through the semester because for me I didn't find the lectures were worth going to. I just read the textbook (endlessly) for 2 days before the exam and just barely did well enough on the final for a 10. Labs are worth 25% of your mark, and they are very reasonable to do well on even if they seem a little disconnected from course material at times. The one and only formal lab is on the same topic as your Bio 1A03 formal lab, so it's not difficult.
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I actually kinda loved Dr Xu. His tests sucked, but I thought he was so nice, and hilarious without trying to be. Like this one time he made some offhand comment about HPV or yeast infections and the whole class was just cracking up... ahhhh I wish I could remember what he said. The labs weren't bad. Dr Xu mentioned that for students taking the course in Fall 2011, he might add a lab where students make beer!
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05-26-2011 at 02:10 PM
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#13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by marcie
Dr Xu mentioned that for students taking the course in Fall 2011, he might add a lab where students make beer!
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I feel so robbed. That would have been awesome. Haha.
I was definitely there for that joke too, btw :p He himself was great, but I just didn't like the way the course was structured. I find it 100x harder to retain information when it's only presented once a week, especially at a time where all I want to do is go home, eat and go to sleep :p I think Microbio would work 100x better as a regular, 3 lectures/week class.
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Last edited by Freak705 : 05-26-2011 at 02:13 PM.
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05-26-2011 at 06:21 PM
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#14
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Any chem bio course is pretty much asking for a large ***** in your ass.
example? Chem Bio 2A03 (aka. **** Chem)
Chem Bio 2P03 (phys chem)
Many students find themselves taking analytical chemistry in undergrad and go through hell. You can still do well in them though but it was not fun =/
I guess in retrospect, the only courses that you can't get a 12 in are ones that you have NO interest in, so take courses that will genuinely intrigue you. That's the lesson that should be taken from this.
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05-26-2011 at 07:04 PM
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#15
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CLASS IS TOO HARD I DIDNT GET A 12
You people make me sick.
L'Étoile
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