Anyone else finding this last orgo problem set a particularly time-consuming and brutal thing to do to us before the final?
Official Harvard Extension 2012 Thread
- Thread starter MedWonk
- Start date
yup. at least it's better than bio where we get a lecture of new material and a pset 6 days before the final.
looks like there will be 3 spectroscopy problems on the final so it might be a good idea to spend some time on this stuff....
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2011
- Messages
- 123
- Reaction score
- 14
yup. at least it's better than bio where we get a lecture of new material and a pset 6 days before the final.
looks like there will be 3 spectroscopy problems on the final so it might be a good idea to spend some time on this stuff....
Three pages seems like an awful lot for one lecture worth of material for a 16-page exam covering 10 lectures.
And judging by tonight's review, the rest of it is all synthesis. Fun.
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2012
- Messages
- 106
- Reaction score
- 1
I agree. I thought Bio was pretty manageable before midterm 2. Since then it's required much more time and caused my cortisol levels to skyrocket. The Lac Operon lab report, and pset 6 were super frustrating. I'm still not sure I understand everything from pset 8. And I had a nightmare last night there would be a typo in two of the lab practical questions.
Your nightmare was optimistic. There were probably like 10 typos and grammar mistakes in those questions on the lab practical.
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2012
- Messages
- 106
- Reaction score
- 1
Ha, very true. What I meant to say is that the typos would render the questions unanswerable or make them completely ambiguous. There was a question that was kinda odd-whether the I- mutant "would" or "would not" be inducible in different media, or something like that. Maybe a couple other poorly-worded questions that lead people astray, but overall, it went OK, I guess.
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2012
- Messages
- 106
- Reaction score
- 1
I love her in general. Best class ever! Only complaint, I wish there were more lectures and psets to study for this final. I don't feel we covered enough material in this class, and everything was explained way too well. I like to try to figure out everything on my own, because it's so fun, and good for my soul, like chicken soup. Also, why couldn't she have squeezed in one more lecture on Friday or something, and given us a new pset? Didn't we miss a lecture because of the hurricane? Anyway, I hope everybody is having as much fun as I am. Hahaha
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2009
- Messages
- 419
- Reaction score
- 0
Still extremely frustrated with Bio and have the urge to gene express myself off a bridge. Good luck everyone. Make sure to come by John Harvard on Thursday for a pint with the rest of the class and whine about it.
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2012
- Messages
- 106
- Reaction score
- 1
Or maybe find some of that rotenone or lethal 2,4-Dinitrophenol ( DNP) from pset 6
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2009
- Messages
- 419
- Reaction score
- 0
Bwahaha. I have returned! I managed to find myself a really great research gig which takes up more time than I ever imagined. I finally realized why I never see some of our 9-5 classmates - after school I fall into a work induced coma.
But seriously, does Casey hate us?
I feel you. I've been studying all day and can't believe it's already past midnight-- don't know where all the time Wnt!
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2012
- Messages
- 106
- Reaction score
- 1
Is the luciferase gene linked to the AT-Casey gene? Justify your answer.
I know exactly how you feel! I had great grades until I started a full-time research job about a year ago, and since then my grades have plummeted. I'm pretty sure I'm going to quit my job in February, move in with my parents out in the boonies and sublet my apartment so that I can try to scrape together a decent grade in orgo 2 and study for the MCAT I'm supposed to take April 4th but haven't even begun to prepare for. What have I done?!? I'm turning 27 next month! Jesus.
Also, what is the deal with these bio professors - I had Anderson last year and it was the same crap - typos, absurdly ambiguous questions, etc. The only way I got through the class was by trying to get into his head about what he thought about the material (not necessarily what the actual objective answers were) and by making flashcards from every single lecture slide. Something I would have been unable to do if I were working full-time, like I am now. I feel your pain! At least the semester is over so soon.
- Joined
- May 13, 2010
- Messages
- 1,766
- Reaction score
- 970
You've got time to prep for the MCAT, if it's in April. If you start reviewing and prepping in January, you'll be fine.
Speaking from personal experience, living in the boonies with one's parents = great grades + sheer boredom. My part-time job in retail + going out for a drink with classmates after biochem is the only entertainment I have left. Basically, I'm slowly turning into this:
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2012
- Messages
- 36
- Reaction score
- 34
So I'm curious... What did everyone think of the BIO final? I actually thought it was pretty fair... Just LONG
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2012
- Messages
- 106
- Reaction score
- 1
I agree. Much longer than the practice exam, but also fewer ambiguous questions. Overall, not too bad. What I'm more concerned about is how severe the curve will be. In most of my curved undergrad classes, the course was curved around a B+, here it's curved around a B/B-, and the population of students is also harder working and more intelligent than what you typically get in an intro course. As much as I thought every exam was difficult, if you consider the standard deviation on the two midterms, roughly 15% of the class was scoring above 90% (Impressive!) If that's were she draws the B+/A- line, it's a very tough curve to beat. I hope she does not actually draw the line at 1 standard deviation. I realize labs and the final will make a difference, however I tend to believe people did better on labs, and perhaps only slightly worse on the final.
Well put. Working full-time probably leads one to drink more of the Casey hateraid. It's not that I actually think she is evil, she's just way out of touch with her students, and I cannot forgive her for all the typos, and poorly-phrased questions. I really hope this class gets cleaned up!
Last edited:
I actually thought the test was awful. I studied for the past two weeks for this test pretty much nonstop and spent no time studying for Orgo and I completely guessed on more than 5 of the short answers because of time. The practice test was nothing like the exam! I got in the 90%s on the first two exams and feel that there is no way I passed that test! I wish we knew more about how she was going to curve the class because this totally ruined my chances ! Ughhh I've never had a class with so many typos and errors and inconsistencies its so frustrating !! haha
Was it just me or did that BIO exam contain less than 50% of what we learnt after midterm 2.. Felt like I wasted my time on the later lectures and my time would have been better spent just reviewing contents of midterms one and two...sigh.
I agree there was barely anything important post midterm. I spent days learning photosynthesis and metabolism and they were like two questions
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2011
- Messages
- 948
- Reaction score
- 62
If true that's quite the shame. Metabolism is one of the most important topics (next to the central dogma) that you learn.
I think it's really unfair that she put structures of organic molecules using organic chemistry line drawing on the test. Organic chemistry isn't a prereq for the class and we're supposed to know how to read and interpret it?
Yeah it was benzene ring. Luckily I am in Orgo but I thought of that! I couldn't believe she put that on there
I thought it was ok. Definitely didn't expect 16 pages after the practice was what? 14 I think? I didn't see that there were 2 extra pages until 30 minutes were left so I kind of sped through the last several pages.
Definitely got thrown off by all the stop codons in that coding strand, wtf. And that allele question about cholesterol???? I wasn't expecting something like that.
I completely agree that it didn't seem like the last 1/3 of the lectures made up 50% like she said they would. Damn, half a page about membrane transport? Reviewed that in like 2 minutes thinking if it even made it to the test it would probably be multiple choice. Ouch.
Definitely got thrown off by all the stop codons in that coding strand, wtf. And that allele question about cholesterol???? I wasn't expecting something like that.
I completely agree that it didn't seem like the last 1/3 of the lectures made up 50% like she said they would. Damn, half a page about membrane transport? Reviewed that in like 2 minutes thinking if it even made it to the test it would probably be multiple choice. Ouch.
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2012
- Messages
- 106
- Reaction score
- 1
Yeah, the stop codons were killer. I realized my mistake with a minute left and had to change my answer for the mutation. The allele question also was kinda weird. I said something like maybe the family ate junk food because I ran out of time.
I'm with you. I thought the test was pretty brutal and very poorly worded. I could've used an extra 30 minutes especially with that last question. I was pretty stumped by the stop codon, I just answered b) and c) as if it weren't there and said it was a stop codon for a). Did someone actually figure this one out?
I went to one of the TF's office hours more than once where we both couldn't figure out the reasoning behind some of the answers in the PSETs/practice exams.
Not to be too negative because it's we're post-baccs and we should expect things to be tough but I feel like right after the first midterm, she just stopped caring, whether it was students understanding the material, vague questions, answer key typos, PSETs right before exams, etc. so I'm not predicting a lenient curve.
I noticed with about 5 minutes left it said "coding region" not coding strand (or at least iI THINK?! haha) so I transcribed it into mRNA then i didn't run into the stop codons except for in a nonsense mutation. But i could also be extremely wrong haha.
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2012
- Messages
- 106
- Reaction score
- 1
I expect things to be tough here, and don't mind it in general, especially if the problem solving leads me to do well on my MCAT. But do I expect classes to be incomprehensible? Definitely not. I met with Dr. Vaughn before last exam and she couldn't explain the pedigree problem on the last page. My lab TF, Dr. Carr, also couldn't explain question 7 from lac operon and agreed it was a stupid question. I got the sense Casey just pieced things together the night before, and most psets were not peer-reviewed. The reason I think she cared a little was how often she responded on the discussion forum, but maybe that was just to cover her behind? Idk, I'm trying not to be so cynical, but I would like to protest to somebody who can actually make a difference! Is it true that Fixsen is in control of the science curriculum here?
- Joined
- May 13, 2010
- Messages
- 1,766
- Reaction score
- 970
Maybe. You probably won't appreciate his attitude, but you probably won't have PSets either. He also tends to curve generously.
Exactly, if the TFs can't come up with the same answer much less explain the answer that when they see it in the answer key, then how are students supposed to prepare for the exam.
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2011
- Messages
- 948
- Reaction score
- 62
I was at least 10-12 pts above the class average on exams and had a raw score of 90 in the class and got an A-. There was either no curve at all or the A/A- cutoff was set at 95.
That sounds really unfair. Is it possible they made a mistake?
Hey fellow bios e1a'ers, let your voice be heard on ratemyprofessors. We just took our final so if you feel like giving a review try to give an honest assessment. Obviously you're free to write what you want but try not to let your emotions control you in this time of vulnerability. Remember that this someone's public reputation you're dealing with.
I am pleased with the difficulty of the class but compared to the other classes in the premed curriculum it falls short in many ways and I hope that changes (not necessarily changing professors) are made to improve the class for future students.
I am pleased with the difficulty of the class but compared to the other classes in the premed curriculum it falls short in many ways and I hope that changes (not necessarily changing professors) are made to improve the class for future students.
I had the same thing happen to me with Anderson in the spring semester class... I had a 93.9 raw score in the class and wound up with an A-, because he'd set the cutoff to 94 (which we didn't know about until after the final was over). That's one thing I really appreciate about the other classes - at least there's a score you know you have to get to be guaranteed an A, B, whatever, and you're not going to do worse if your classmates do better.
Speaking of other classes, orgo is done in 10 hours! I have passed through denial, anger, bargaining, and depression stages and am feeling completely accepting of the fact that one way or another, the torture ends soon (for a while, at least).
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2011
- Messages
- 948
- Reaction score
- 62
Wait until you have multiple-choice questions where they all can have zero, one or more than one correct answer and you only get credit if you get every single correct answer. Whoops, did you only choose two out of the three correct choices? No credit for you.
- Joined
- May 13, 2010
- Messages
- 1,766
- Reaction score
- 970
He stopped doing that. You get a point off for each wrong answer. I think means you could potentially get negative points on the exam. I lost a bunch of points on one of his exams like that.
- Joined
- May 13, 2010
- Messages
- 1,766
- Reaction score
- 970
It sounds like he was a way bigger **** to you guys than he was to us. Not saying he's a ray of sunshine now, though.
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2012
- Messages
- 106
- Reaction score
- 1
How about that Chem E-1a final? It was the daylight to Bio's darkness for me, at least. And happy break, everybody!!!!!
