If you had to chose between these two O-chem professors, who will you pick? why?

[alexfoleyc]

Prof A: Grades on a bell curve. There is no official grading scale, thus you have no idea of your class grade until the end of the semester. Basically, your performance is based on the class average. Since it is the bell curve, very few A's and F's are given.

Prof. B: Has a grading scale as A >90, B 89-75, C <74. No strict bell curve, but may bump up the class grade once in a while.

Both are basically same in terms of difficulty.

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[HAART]

Top School: Professor B
State School that does not qualify as top school: Professor A

 

[red10]

prof 2. Seems to be generous with the grade scale, then you know that if you get X number of points, you get the grade and you can only go up. If you go with the bell curve, if everyone in your class is awesome, you could get screwed even if you have 90%+ of the available points.
I always find it nerve racking not to know where i stand.

either that or pick the prof whose class is at a good time for your schedule and just deal with w/e you get

 

[specter]

prof B. I'd rather have my grade based solely on my performance rather than my performance relative to my peers.

 

[EulerianCircuit]

Prof B. I want to be graded on my performance, not everybody else's.

 

[mangomadness]

i kinda would wanna know where i stand gradewise, so i'd pick prof B.

 

[alexfoleyc]

It is a private university, and we are well known for our "top" science and premed programs.


And isn't really difficult to get a 90%?

 

[boaz]

See if you can find out past class average of both profs.

For prof A, if class avg is low that means curve boosts your grade. If avg is high that means curve depresses your grade; that's not good.

For prof B, if class avg is high that means students can handle the material, and you are more likely to get a good grade. If avg is low, material is challenging.

Then use your judgment to choose between the two.

 

[mangomadness]

are you asking if its hard to get a 90%? well most schools have a 90 as the minimum for an A i think.

ochem is no joke, but with studying and practicing the reactions, it can be conquered! lol

 

[specter]

90s can be difficult or easy, it varies from school-to-school and even professor-to-professor. you'll have to try to find out how it is at your school...either via friends or ratemyprofessor or something

 

[Drexon]

I've had a discussion with one of my professors concerning their grading style. My professor currently uses prof A's standard of a curve but he has in the past tried out a straight scale like B. He told me that regardless of which standard to go by giving grades to students it's always the same. He says people in society typically fall into bell curve catagories.

That's his opinion on grading but i recommend to survey both professors if you can before making up your mind. Enroll in one and attend both professor A and B and see which one do you enjoy to sit in. That's perhaps the best indication in my opinion. If you can shine, then you can shine anywhere.
best of luck

 

[Bbon]

I'm surprised the responses are overwhelmingly for Professor B. Is O. Chem at all of your schools that easy? A 90+ average was pretty much unheard of at my school. I would definitely choose Professor A. I ended up with an A in O. Chem 2 with a 75 average since the class average was around a 55%. But it's clear this question really depends on your school and your professor.

 

[bookfreak89]

Top School: Professor B
State School that does not qualify as top school: Professor A

Generalizations for the lose.

 

[addo]

The bell curve is definitely the way to go, they dont call it a normal distribution for nothing. Chances are that most of the people you will be taking the class with are at about the same level as you are, study a bit harder than them and youre a standard deviation closer to an A. Study a lot harder and you got the A for sure.
If its my first time taking it and the class is up to par in difficulty, I wouldnt put money in me being one of those people actually scoring 90+ on my tests, only 2 or 3 people in a 100+ size class achieved that when i took the class. In the end i got an A-.

Also, Drexon had a point about people falling into bell curves. Actually anything with a finite mean and variance, and if the numbers are large enough will fall into a bell curve. Professor B will actually get a normal distribution as well(intelligence=normal distribution), but he wont move it to a more reasonable grading scale...pretty hard headed if you ask me, but then you said that he may bump up the class grade, which eventually is exactly what prof A does in the end. Anyways, same thing, just choose the professor with the better teaching ability.

 

[TooMuchResearch]

The curve is BS. If your prof grades properly, ~10% will earn the A without a curve.

 

[orthomyxo]

Top School: Professor B
State School that does not qualify as top school: Professor A

Spoken like a true toolbag

 

[Marcus Brody]

I would look them up on ratemyprofessors.com and take the more popular one.

 

[Handinhand]

My OChem class had 2-300 kids in it. All of our exams had averages at 50% or below. The professor had to curve a 70% down to an A, and even then, only ~30 kids got an A (or around 10% of the class). I was one of the top kids in the class, and I wouldn't have gotten an A in Prof B's class, let's just say that.

If you're scoring 90% on every OChem exam, then let me know what school you go to, so when time machines are invented I can go back and go to school there, because those are some easy ass OChem exams!

 

[Marcus Brody]

If you're scoring 90% on every OChem exam, then let me know what school you go to, so when time machines are invented I can go back and go to school there, because those are some easy ass OChem exams!

I got all As and they were hard as hell. u mad?

I still remember getting that 99% on the last one of orgo2.

 

[naijaboi]

Top School: Professor B
State School that does not qualify as top school: Professor A

You are a tool!

To the OP: Go with Professor B. I would like to know where I stand. Organic chemistry is hard but it is conquerable is you devote a lot of time to studying.

 

[naijaboi]

My OChem class had 2-300 kids in it. All of our exams had averages at 50% or below. The professor had to curve a 70% down to an A, and even then, only ~30 kids got an A (or around 10% of the class). I was one of the top kids in the class, and I wouldn't have gotten an A in Prof B's class, let's just say that.

If you're scoring 90% on every OChem exam, then let me know what school you go to, so when time machines are invented I can go back and go to school there, because those are some easy ass OChem exams!

I scored 100% or above (+ bonus points) on each exam. My final average was 104% or something like that. Of course I studied my ass off. I read my Ochem book cover to cover, and I did all the practice problems.

 

[mangomadness]

My OChem class had 2-300 kids in it. All of our exams had averages at 50% or below. The professor had to curve a 70% down to an A, and even then, only ~30 kids got an A (or around 10% of the class). I was one of the top kids in the class, and I wouldn't have gotten an A in Prof B's class, let's just say that.

If you're scoring 90% on every OChem exam, then let me know what school you go to, so when time machines are invented I can go back and go to school there, because those are some easy ass OChem exams!

ochem 1 wasnt too much fun for me, but in ochem 2, i had an A average overall, and made a 100 on one of the tests. and they were in no way, shape or form "easy". i studied my butt off. thanks, tho, for making it seem like you can only get A's in ochem if the tests are easy.

 

[Geekchick921]

I would look them up on ratemyprofessors.com and take the more popular one.

Best answer!

 

[Bbon]

ochem 1 wasnt too much fun for me, but in ochem 2, i had an A average overall, and made a 100 on one of the tests. and they were in no way, shape or form "easy". i studied my butt off. thanks, tho, for making it seem like you can only get A's in ochem if the tests are easy.

I think "easy" was probably not the best choice of words, but I sympathize with the person who made that post. My O. Chem 2 class had 150 students (at a well-recognized private school), and no one, I mean no one, ever got a 100 on any of the tests. On our second exam, the highest grade was an 87, only 10 people in the entire class scored above a 65, and the class average was a 38. Even the less intense exams had averages in the low 60's, upper 50's. Clearly experiences vary from class to class, so I'd second the idea of checking ratemyprofessors and seeing who is viewed more favorably. If both seem particularly hard, I'd go with the curved class, no hesitation.