Any special accommodations your classes are getting because of the pandemic?

[CheeseCucumberSandwich]

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My orgo 2 exams are open-book and open note. We don't' even use a lockdown browser.

 

[jamaica jan sun princess]

My Biochemistry II class is the same way. She made us join a Zoom session so she could keep an eye on us but that's it.

 

[CheeseCucumberSandwich]

My Biochemistry II class is the same way. She made us join a Zoom session so she could keep an eye on us but that's it.

Lol we have no observation at all! It kinda sucks because people can cheat easily...

 

[KnightDoc]

Lol we have no observation at all! It kinda sucks because people can cheat easily...

I honestly wouldn't worry too much about it. Remember, this isn't happening in a vacuum. Med schools are aware of the situation. People are freaking out over classes going online, but med schools are making accommodations to ensure that people aren't penalized for a situation beyond their control. Straight A students will be fine, whether or not they are forced to take Ps for one semester. The reverse is true for straight B students who might be able to cheat their way to As this semester.

It's one semester out of 6, 8, or more. Sure, an otherwise excellent student who might have been struggling in one or two classes this semester might end up catching a break, but, in the scheme of things, nothing that happens this semester is likely to move the needle on a body of work that will ultimately lead to a med school A or R in the future. Just my opinion, but I'm not stressing about things I can't control right now.

 

[jamaica jan sun princess]

So I teach a biology lab, and I've noticed that students who did well in-person do just as well online. It's not the format, it's the student.

 

[KnightDoc]

So I teach a biology lab, and I've noticed that students who did well in-person do just as well online. It's not the format, it's the student.

Not always -- plenty of people are reporting issues with having difficulty adjusting, or dealing with distractions at home, etc. My comment was simply that one semester is not going to change the trajectory of an application, so people need to chill about things like other people maybe cheating, other people getting to mask bad grades, losing the opportunity for one semester to do a little GPA repair, etc.

 

[la flame]

I am a Supplemental instructor for Gen Chem 2 at my university and the professor I am assigned to just announced the class average for the last exam was a 89......mind you, this average is usually in the lower 60's. My uni also lets us see the class averages for all our test grades for different classes and most of them have been up by 10-15 points from the 1st exam, pre-Coronavirus. Chegg must be making a killing this year, lol. The current system is just too easy to cheat unless you have an extremely hardass professor.

 

[KnightDoc]

I am a Supplemental instructor for Gen Chem 2 at my university and the professor I am assigned to just announced the class average for the last exam was a 89......mind you, this average is usually in the lower 60's. My uni also lets us see the class averages for all our test grades for different classes and most of them have been up by 10-15 points from the 1st exam, pre-Coronavirus. Chegg must be making a killing this year, lol. The current system is just too easy to cheat unless you have an extremely hardass professor.

Is there no chance people are legitimately doing better because they have less outside distractions and are actually studying more??

In any event, I don't see how it's going to make a difference in the long run, assuming schools go back to live instruction in the fall. Assuming everyone is cheating, lots of people are just cheating their way to a P they'd get anyway, and others will have a one term blip that will be obvious in the context of a body or work. In classes that are curved, moving the curve up won't change anything at all (other than maybe for the select few who aren't cheating 🙂).

 

[CheeseCucumberSandwich]

I honestly wouldn't worry too much about it. Remember, this isn't happening in a vacuum. Med schools are aware of the situation. People are freaking out over classes going online, but med schools are making accommodations to ensure that people aren't penalized for a situation beyond their control. Straight A students will be fine, whether or not they are forced to take Ps for one semester. The reverse is true for straight B students who might be able to cheat their way to As this semester.

It's one semester out of 6, 8, or more. Sure, an otherwise excellent student who might have been struggling in one or two classes this semester might end up catching a break, but, in the scheme of things, nothing that happens this semester is likely to move the needle on a body of work that will ultimately lead to a med school A or R in the future. Just my opinion, but I'm not stressing about things I can't control right now.

That's a good point. I'm not stressed at all about the situation, I was just making a point in general.

Thanks for your thoughts! It's interesting seeing how med schools are looking at this whole semester from a pandemic point of view...

 

[KnightDoc]

That's a good point. I'm not stressed at all about the situation, I was just making a point in general.

Thanks for your thoughts! It's interesting seeing how med schools are looking at this whole semester from a pandemic point of view...

Yup!!! I think they're going to look at it as a blip in the scheme of things. They gave us comfort in the beginning that we would not have to take prereqs over if they went mandatory P/F, and that was welcome relief to everyone. Then people started stressing over whether or not to choose P/F if they had a choice, and, whether to do it for one class or all. Now cheating is becoming an issue!

In the end, I think the 3.3 student who gets a 4.0 this semester will be here a year from now wondering why he didn't get credit for his upward trend. We'll all end up pretty much where we would have been anyway. Maybe the 3.9 student who was cruising for a C in orgo will now catch a break with a P, and the 3.3 student who was legit headed for a 4.0 this semester will be hurt, but not much difference for the rest of us.