For those of you who took science courses at a large public state school..

[AASDDS1]

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how easy/hard were your classes and was it to make an 'A'?
did professors do things such as
-post sample tests that were almost identical to the real exam
-give out study guides that outlined exactly what to know
-drop lowest test grades and replace with final
-give bonus points at the end of the semester
-give bonus points or a 'free question' with each test
-give homework points to boost averages

not asking how well you ended up doing, but how many opportunities your professor gave you to do well. i'm just curious because i go to a school that does many of the above and i'm starting to wonder how much i should value my 'A' or worry about my knowledge relative to students at other universities.

 

[mx41]

I go to a mid-large sized public university, and I have to say that your list doesn't just have to apply to public schools. It's more about the professor you have. In one scenario you can have a professor in a private university who is hard as hell, who will show no mercy to his/her students. In another scenario you can have a professor who is pretty chill who can give multiple-choice exams and lots of extra credit. The point is that it doesn't matter what school it is, rather what kind of professor you have and his/her philosophy.

But to answer your question about the classes, generally...
-never post sample tests that were almost identical to the real exam
-rarely give out study guides that outlined exactly what to know
-only for intro bio: drop lowest test grades and replace with final
-never give bonus points at the end of the semester
-sometimes give bonus points or a 'free question' with each test
-rarely give homework points to boost averages

 

[Bchance]

how easy/hard were your classes and was it to make an 'A'?
did professors do things such as
-post sample tests that were almost identical to the real exam
-give out study guides that outlined exactly what to know
-drop lowest test grades and replace with final
-give bonus points at the end of the semester
-give bonus points or a 'free question' with each test
-give homework points to boost averages

not asking how well you ended up doing, but how many opportunities your professor gave you to do well. i'm just curious because i go to a school that does many of the above and i'm starting to wonder how much i should value my 'A' or worry about my knowledge relative to students at other universities.

I'm with you... My profs at my college do most of the above and I also wonder if my knowledge is up to par with everything else... I find my self having to teach myself some of the materials that are in the DAT study materials...... And when I say teach my self... I mean TEACH MY SELF... Like I haven't been exposed to it!...

 

[jstar86]

I went to a very large public university and (no, i'm not exaggerating)...I only had ONE of my courses in four years provide the following: if you have an A going into the final you don't have to take the final.


With regards to all of the others...never did I have these opportunities.

 

[sfrice80]

how easy/hard were your classes and was it to make an 'A'?
did professors do things such as
-post sample tests that were almost identical to the real exam
Almost Never

-give out study guides that outlined exactly what to know
30% of the time

-drop lowest test grades and replace with final
Once or Twice that I can remember

-give bonus points at the end of the semester
Again once or twice in my whole 4 years

-give bonus points or a 'free question' with each test
Sorry to be redundant but once or twice in my 4 years

-give homework points to boost averages
Never that I can remember

not asking how well you ended up doing, but how many opportunities your professor gave you to do well. i'm just curious because i go to a school that does many of the above and i'm starting to wonder how much i should value my 'A' or worry about my knowledge relative to students at other universities.

I went to a large university and took many science courses. The majority of just lecture science courses only had your tests to count towards your final grade. At most large universities I would say your best friend is the curve. It was pretty unusual at my school to get many freebies if any at all and most of those instances occurred in my intro science courses. I hardly had a single "handout" in my upper levels.

 

[MrBeans]

how easy/hard were your classes and was it to make an 'A'?
did professors do things such as
-post sample tests that were almost identical to the real exam
Yes. ~35% of my classes.

-give out study guides that outlined exactly what to know
Yes, quite frequently. But they really did not outline EXACTLY what we needed to know; they more or less scattered important questions with non-important questions to help us re-cap all the material.

-drop lowest test grades and replace with final
I only had these experiences:
1 time: Final test grade = final grade for the class.
2 times: Drop the lowest test score.

-give bonus points at the end of the semester
Never.

-give bonus points or a 'free question' with each test
Never.

-give homework points to boost averages
A couple of times my classes offered this option, but it was seldom.

I went to one of the largest institutions in the US.

 

[TurkTurkleton]

how easy/hard were your classes and was it to make an 'A'?
did professors do things such as
-post sample tests that were almost identical to the real exam
Never. I only had a couple classes that posted practice exams, and they were always significantly easier than the actual exams.

-give out study guides that outlined exactly what to know
Never study guides, but it was fairly common for professors to post their lecture slides before or after each class. They were more like outlines; not thorough enough to be the only study material.

-drop lowest test grades and replace with final
Occasionally.

-give bonus points at the end of the semester
Never.

-give bonus points or a 'free question' with each test
Never.

-give homework points to boost averages
Never.

I went to a large university. My science classes were graded on a curve or with a scale. Honestly, I don't think I've had extra credit points since middle school at least, so it's interesting some colleges provide those opportunities. I don't know if the policies you're asking about are specific to any particular kind of school, though. I think all schools have different grading policies, regardless of their size or anything else. Even each professor, department, and college within a single university can have different policies.

 

[Avery07]

how easy/hard were your classes and was it to make an 'A'?
did professors do things such as
-post sample tests that were almost identical to the real exam
-give out study guides that outlined exactly what to know
-drop lowest test grades and replace with final
-give bonus points at the end of the semester
-give bonus points or a 'free question' with each test
-give homework points to boost averages

not asking how well you ended up doing, but how many opportunities your professor gave you to do well. i'm just curious because i go to a school that does many of the above and i'm starting to wonder how much i should value my 'A' or worry about my knowledge relative to students at other universities.

I go to one of my state's main public colleges and for the most part, these extra opportunities are very rare. Some professors do offer them but not many. I think I had 2-3 classes like this and I have completed all of my undergrad bio and chem science courses.

 

[coolslugs]

how easy/hard were your classes and was it to make an 'A'?
did professors do things such as
-post sample tests that were almost identical to the real exam
*almost never, but old exams are out there. If you can find them, then A/B in the class. If not, B/C.
-give out study guides that outlined exactly what to know
*never
-drop lowest test grades and replace with final
*I wish
-give bonus points at the end of the semester
*I wish
-give bonus points or a 'free question' with each test
*I wish
-give homework points to boost averages
*what homework?

.

 

[emurocker]

I went to my state's main public university too and it definitely depended on what track you were on.

For some reason there were usually two tracks for most science courses.

Physics:

• 141/142-algebra based, usually pre-professionals take this one
• 211/212-calculus based, BS majors have to take these

GChem, same sort of thing: one that 400+ students take and one that Chem/chem engineer majors have to take and there are only ~20 students in that one.

My point:

I took Chem majors' OChem because I am a Chem major and my grade was based on four tests plus the final, that's it, no second chances, study guides or anything.

I was a recitation TA for the OChem that all the pre-professional students/Chem BA majors take and they could drop their lowest test score, didn't have to take the final if they had an A, and had a lot of opportunity for extra credit.

All in all, it probably still depends. My bf took the algebra based physics (he's pre-med) and apparently the teacher made all the pre-health students raise their hands and basically told them he was there to make their lives hell.

There's good and bad teachers everywhere!

An A's, an A, be proud!! 😉

 

[LaughingGas]

how easy/hard were your classes and was it to make an 'A'?
Depends on the class. Some followed the strict grading while some others were curved. Those curves could work "for" you or "against" you
did professors do things such as
-post sample tests that were almost identical to the real exam
This is tricky. Some professors would say it would be identical and the exam would be identical, while some others would say there is the format but show a different format of the test.
-give out study guides that outlined exactly what to know
Study guides, I believe study guides are what professors lecture
-drop lowest test grades and replace with final
yes it happened for only for organic chemistry but yet, most of the science classes didn't have such a eligibility
-give bonus points at the end of the semester
Even if there were bonus points it would not exceed 5% of total grade
-give bonus points or a 'free question' with each test
Very rare
-give homework points to boost averages
No homework, if there was homework it would be part of the grade, not just points to boost averages.

 

[flontario]

I go to University of Toronto in Canada and NEVER had any of the listed actions happen in my science, social science and humanity classes.

I even had 2 of my courses curved DOWN by the faculty , because the average was too high (B+) and my prof refused to bring it down.

 

[dentnerd]

how easy/hard were your classes and was it to make an 'A'?
did professors do things such as
-post sample tests that were almost identical to the real exam
-give out study guides that outlined exactly what to know
-drop lowest test grades and replace with final
-give bonus points at the end of the semester
-give bonus points or a 'free question' with each test
-give homework points to boost averages

not asking how well you ended up doing, but how many opportunities your professor gave you to do well. i'm just curious because i go to a school that does many of the above and i'm starting to wonder how much i should value my 'A' or worry about my knowledge relative to students at other universities.

I went to a large public state school and we never received any study guides, our lowest test grades were sometimes dropped, but there were hardly ever any bonus points or homework. In fact, I don't remember ever having homework in any of my science classes. Usually we just had 3-4 tests and a final. Sometimes the professor would post old tests, and if we got lucky, one or two questions were similar.

 

[ItalianPrincess]

once someone in my biochemistry class asked for a practice test and my prof almost wet himself laughing...in short no none of the above, i am so jealous of everyone who has kind hearted teachers...i go to a small state school

 

[TeethandLakers]

how easy/hard were your classes and was it to make an 'A'?
did professors do things such as
-post sample tests that were almost identical to the real exam
Maybe once of twice
-give out study guides that outlined exactly what to know
Once
-drop lowest test grades and replace with final
Never
-give bonus points at the end of the semester
Once
-give bonus points or a 'free question' with each test
Once
-give homework points to boost averages
Never

not asking how well you ended up doing, but how many opportunities your professor gave you to do well. i'm just curious because i go to a school that does many of the above and i'm starting to wonder how much i should value my 'A' or worry about my knowledge relative to students at other universities.

My classes have always been big lectures, tests were everything, no extra credit (except once) and no test replaces another. When you have a class of 400, its not easy to do all those things. You have to just be disciplined and work hard. If you study hard, attend office hours, and try to understand things instead of memorizing, you will be in the Top 15% who gets an A.👍

 

[Medwell]

I attend one of the largest universities (public) in the USA.

how easy/hard were your classes and was it to make an 'A'?
did professors do things such as
-post sample tests that were almost identical to the real exam
At my school, we regularly receive OLD exams (the ones that the professor gave last semester/year). Their similarities to the "real" exams are debatable.
-give out study guides tat outlined exactly what to know
Never.
-drop lowest test grades and replace with final
This happened for me in DiffEQ, and GenChem 1 and 2. It's not too common.
-give bonus points at the end of the semester
Never.
-give bonus points or a 'free question' with each test
Never.
-give homework points to boost averages
This happened for me in GenChem 2 and Calc 2. Also, after I took Bio 1 and 2, the bio department has also started doing this for these courses. Homework is now worth 25% of the total grade! It's completely ridiculous, but general bio was previously known for the most C's of any science courses in the school.

 

[psi169]

I also go to one of my state's big universities.

how easy/hard were your classes and was it to make an 'A'? it depends
-post sample tests that were almost identical to the real exam
haha, never. But in some classes, last year's exams would be posted so that you could get a feel for what main points the professor thought was important
-give out study guides that outlined exactly what to know
Almost never. Most of the time, the answer is, "Know everything." But just last semester, I had a teacher give out a study guide, but with a, "This is not everything you need to know," clause.
-drop lowest test grades and replace with final
Almost never. I have had one or two classes do this, but all it ends up doing is shifting the class curve, so your final grade is basically unchanged. I feel like professors explain this every year.
-give bonus points at the end of the semester
I had a few in Orgo, microbio, and p chem. But for the most part, the test is a possible 105 and the grade is taken out of a 100. Not really freebies, per se; just a few extra points sprinkled in.

Oh, and homework? What homework? Profs don't care if you don't do your homework. Its up to you to have the motivation to study.

And as far as getting A's, you just gotta study as you go. If you are taking, say, 4 classes, every night you need to focus on 2 of them. Sit down and study. The next night, do the same for the other 2. If you get into the habit of doing it, then it's not that bad.

As nerdy as this will sound, I got into the habit of studying this past semester, and I found it really relaxing to go and sit and study. I would go, put my headphones on, and cruise for a few hours. And it wasn't NEARLY as stressful when the exams came, trust me.

 

[aDentite]

I went to UNC-Chapel Hill - In most of my science classes, the class averages were around 40-50% and then the curve was set at 75%. Then, the exact opposite happened in other classes - The average was high and then curved down to 75%. I was curved down from an A- to a C+ in two classes. Overall, the majority of EVERY science class made a C. This means that only 10-15% made A's and most people made C's, D's and F's. When I graduated I had a 2.96 science GPA but I made a 23 Total Science on the DAT.

I don't think adcoms put enough emphasis on where you went to school. I have several friends at other schools who put in half the effort I did and made much higher grades and are now in dental school.