Grading curves at UC's

[bigbad]

So I go to a small private school so not much goes on in the way of curves here.

I'm taking the O chem sequence this summer at a UC (a lower tier one if it matters). I'm crapping brix as it is about the class and how hard it's gonna be but I wanted to know more about grading curves. I've heard its pretty much a bell distribution with the top 10% getting A's and it going down from there.

Should I expect a normal distribution of 10% A's, 10% B and on? Do the numbers ever differ?

I'm looking to hear from UC students specifically (UCR O chem students, please reply! I'm taking it from Marsella) although any other insight is much appreciated.

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[LuciusVorenus]

So I go to a small private school so not much goes on in the way of curves here.

I'm taking the O chem sequence this summer at a UC (a lower tier one if it matters). I'm crapping brix as it is about the class and how hard it's gonna be but I wanted to know more about grading curves. I've heard its pretty much a bell distribution with the top 10% getting A's and it going down from there.

Should I expect a normal distribution of 10% A's, 10% B and on? Do the numbers ever differ?

I'm looking to hear from UC students specifically (UCR O chem students, please reply! I'm taking it from Marsella) although any other insight is much appreciated.

At UCI all OChem classes are 20-17% As, 33% Bs, 33% Cs, and around 14% Ds and Fs, so it's more of a ranking system than a real "curve."

In general though, from what I've heard, if you get 1 SD above the mean point wise, you're pretty much guaranteed an A.

 

[Sloo0]

Marsella--- http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=218619


Went to UCD as a undergrad. The curves really depended on your teacher. There was a fabled teacher there who was known for being brutal and there was actually a program on Facebook called Veechi where somehow the makers had access to the schools files over the years so they were able to calculate what % of students got A's, A-, B+, etc for each teacher for each quarter till about 5 years back.

The "fabled" Teacher had about 5% of class getting A's each quarter whereas other teachers had about 10%.



That being said, I also retook a General Chemistry class at UCR this Winter and it was much easier than my classes at UCD.



------ But uh, all that aside, Ochem is going to be hard for you either way. Its not really "hard" but its just that you are forced to sort of teach yourself an entirely new language so you just dont really have a chance to master what you just learned before you are tested on it. I figured out early on that the best way to study was to teach myself so I stopped going to lecture because what I taught myself during the week/over the weekend went way past the mechanisms that the teachers were painfully slow at covering during the lecture.


Do yourself a favor and teach yourself Ochem Nomenclature before classes start and youll have a big edge in terms of being able to withstand the firehose of information that will be shoved at you during a Summer School pace.




Look up the

 

[PanRoasted]

Honestly, the best thing you can do is review the very fundamental genchem stuff that most orgo books cover in the first chapter. Knowing the nomenclature is, in my opinion, not terribly important. Obviously you need to know it, but it's something you could probably learn in a day or two.

 

[RapplixGmed]

If I were you, I would ask a little kid to draw stick figures and then memorize them.

Then I would ask the little kid to draw a stick figure flip book and then I would memorize how each picture is different from the next using arrows.

Then I would ask the little kid to give me the first and last picture of the flip book and a set of rules about what can change from picture to picture. I would then generate the flip book from the first to last page by figuring out what combination of rules gets me to where I need to be.

That is essentially what Ochem is, except the stick figures are cartoons and crutches for understanding things (The nature of the chemical bond) that can be only properly described with quantum mechanics.

 

[majahops]

He's kidding, but not entirely. OChem is hard as SHI*. I really enjoyed it, but it was really tough for me at the same time. I'm sure you'll do fine at Riverside.

If I were you, I would ask a little kid to draw stick figures and then memorize them.

Then I would ask the little kid to draw a stick figure flip book and then I would memorize how each picture is different from the next using arrows.

Then I would ask the little kid to give me the first and last picture of the flip book and a set of rules about what can change from picture to picture. I would then generate the flip book from the first to last page by figuring out what combination of rules gets me to where I need to be.

That is essentially what Ochem is, except the stick figures are cartoons and crutches for understanding things (The nature of the chemical bond) that can be only properly described with quantum mechanics.

 

[bigbad]

Marsella--- http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=218619

Thank you everyone for the input and advice, it's all very helpful.

Haha why didn't I look at his RMP page? Thanks a lot. He has pretty good reviews and people seem to think he's fair.

What about the fact that I'm taking O chem in the summer? How many hours of hw/study per day should I be expecting? I'll have class from 8-3pm every day.

 

[gravitywave]

If I were you, I would ask a little kid to draw stick figures and then memorize them.

Then I would ask the little kid to draw a stick figure flip book and then I would memorize how each picture is different from the next using arrows.

Then I would ask the little kid to give me the first and last picture of the flip book and a set of rules about what can change from picture to picture. I would then generate the flip book from the first to last page by figuring out what combination of rules gets me to where I need to be.

That is essentially what Ochem is, except the stick figures are cartoons and crutches for understanding things (The nature of the chemical bond) that can be only properly described with quantum mechanics.

this is fantastic. i am double word score impressed as i know you have Step I coming up soon, so how you have the spare mental capacity to come up with something like this i have no idea.

OChem really is a foreign language. your goal should be to get fluent, ie you look at a reaction and it can only go one way because anything else will "just sound wrong."

 

[gravitywave]

Thank you everyone for the input and advice, it's all very helpful.

Haha why didn't I look at his RMP page? Thanks a lot. He has pretty good reviews and people seem to think he's fair.

What about the fact that I'm taking O chem in the summer? How many hours of hw/study per day should I be expecting? I'll have class from 8-3pm every day.

80 hrs/wk total is not outside the norm.

it'll be a lot like med school, actually. sometimes people post on here that adcoms look down on pre reqs taken in the summer, which is patently ridiculous when you consider the fact that summer orgo is probably the closest thing to medical school outside of a really hardcore SMP.

 

[Sloo0]

I actually know a lot of premeds who took Ochem purposefully during the summer because they claimed it was a easier A. I am not sure if that is the case but I dont think I ever heard them complaining


As far as the course load, its gonna be intense. I think instead of having 1 lab per week youll have 2. So thats 2 pre-lab write ups, 2 post-labs, etc etc on top of having like probably 2 hours of lecture per day.


Its gonna be fast.

 

[Mace1370]

this is fantastic. i am double word score impressed as i know you have Step I coming up soon, so how you have the spare mental capacity to come up with something like this i have no idea.

OChem really is a foreign language. your goal should be to get fluent, ie you look at a reaction and it can only go one way because anything else will "just sound wrong."

This was a pretty good description of how my OChem class went. You just did problem after problem until you started recognizing patterns.

 

[bigbad]

I actually know a lot of premeds who took Ochem purposefully during the summer because they claimed it was a easier A. I am not sure if that is the case but I dont think I ever heard them complaining


As far as the course load, its gonna be intense. I think instead of having 1 lab per week youll have 2. So thats 2 pre-lab write ups, 2 post-labs, etc etc on top of having like probably 2 hours of lecture per day.


Its gonna be fast.

Actually 3 labs/week.

I'll have Friday, sat and sunday to fit in some of that studying though haha