Pulling up your grade by acing the final?

[vitaebellaa]

Gen. bio at my school is probably considered the "weed out" pre-req. at my school. I significantly beat the curve on the first exam and scored an A-, but due to having all my midterms in the same week and poor time management, I got a B- on the last exam. To get anywhere near the A/B+ range I have to ace in the final with a high A (it is worth 50% of our grade).

My exam is in 2 weeks and I have began studying... I know what I have to do but I guess I am just looking for some inspiration. Has anyone completely pulled up their grade by doing awesome on a final? Or has the other way around happened? What did you change with your study habits? What works and doesn't work with studying for finals?

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[metallica81788]

You can do both, but it's a lot more likely to drop your grade.

But then again, I'm one of those people who tries to have the highest possible average going in so I can blow off finals week.

 

[FuSoYa]

Yup, in one upper div bio course we had 1 midterm and 1 final, that's it. My midterm grade hit right at the curve. So I spent 14+ hours before the final going through a stack of notes multiple times, dunno what I got on the final, but I pulled an A in the class. Still not sure how it happened numbers-wise, but it is possible.

edit: the midterm and final were 50% each.

 

[anfleisch]

I am like metallica in that I try to make it so there is no way I can lose my A on the final (finals week is usually the most stressful). It seems to me right now you are putting too much pressure on this one test, which will ultimately hurt your grade. If it is a weed out class, you can just shoot for a good score and not get in the B range. It is hard to shoot for your best score on a cumulative final, but I do find that cumulative finals sometimes are easier due to more basic questions from each unit. Don't overstudy and mess up the finals in your other courses.

 

[OhioDoc]

Gen. bio at my school is probably considered the "weed out" pre-req. at my school. I significantly beat the curve on the first exam and score a A-, but due to having all my midterms in the same week and poor time management, I got a B- on the last exam. To get anywhere near the A/B+ range I have to ace in the final with a high A (it is worth 50% of our grade).

My exam is in 2 weeks and I have began to study.. I know what I have to do but I guess I am just looking for some inspiration. Has anyone completely pulled up their grade by doing awesome on a final? Or has the other way around happened? What did you change with your study habits? What works and doesn't work with studying for finals?

I imagine it's fairly common for people to ace a final and raise their grade as a result. That being said, it's probably also common that people don't achieve the score they need on a given test and as a result end up with a lower grade. My advice to you is to make sure you know everything! While there are certain high-yield topics that are more likely than others to show up on the final, when you need a high A you can't afford to not know the minor topics.

 

[vitaebellaa]

You can do both, but it's a lot more likely to drop your grade.

But then again, I'm one of those people who tries to have the highest possible average going in so I can blow off finals week.

I am also one of those people who tries to have the highest possible average going in.......... but that didn't happen and the only thing I can do now is do my best on the final.

 

[Earl Grey]

All the freaking time... better to have a B in the class and work your ass off to get an A on the final than an A in class and thinking you'll be "fine" on the final.

 

[LRAccord624]

I almost completely screwed last semester up because of traveling, interviews, stress, and poor time management. Luckily, I pulled A's in all but one class. For microbiology, I needed a 98% on the final to make an A... and I did it!

I can't say that I really changed my study habits, but my test review became obsessive... I could probably have quoted every single slide covered as well as my lecture notes word for word. You just have to be determined, and study smartly and efficiently! Good Luck!

 

[svftw]

I've done this before. It's totally possible to kick major ass on the final to bring a poor grade up to an A. If you're willing to work and seriously study, you can go into the test feeling confident and do well.

 

[addo]

Pulling your grade up on the final is only unlikely when you have studied your butt off, but done badly on all the exams. Trend says there is no reason for you to ace the final.
However, if you have managed to get an A on a test, and the lower grade was due to external circumstances, then it is very likely that youll pull your grade up, with considerable studying.

 

[vitaebellaa]

Pulling your grade up on the final is only unlikely when you have studied your butt off, but done badly on all the exams. Trend says there is no reason for you to ace the final.
However, if you have managed to get an A on a test, and the lower grade was due to external circumstances, then it is very likely that youll pull your grade up, with considerable studying.

This is a good point. thankfully the last part holds true for me (I hope).

 

[bamtuba]

If you had to work hard to get less than A's on the other tests, and did so to the best of your ability, then chances are that you won't "ace" a well-written final.

If you had trouble with the other tests due to other factors that won't be an issue for the final, then you have a good shot if you work hard and study efficiently.

Efficiency, in my experience, is usually the deciding factor.

Though we are all different in our study habits, I tend to agree with Metallica et. al. (citation needed? 😉) that it is usually best to go into any final with a nice "cushion" to protect your grade. I know of at least one class where a professor recycled material for a final and those who had friends from two years prior/knew where to get copies of that exam broke the curve for everyone else. I don't think the prof. ever figured it out, but I gotta tell you there were a LOT of people who worked hard for that exam that just didn't have the same advantage of about 10-20% of the class and all hopes of "acing the final" came to a rather inglorious end.

As a teacher I saw very few students capable of "using the final" to really bring grades up beyond their normal classroom performance, but it did happen for those with extenuating circumstances at times.

Also, I really hate it when people make their midterms/finals more than 1/3 of the final grade. Makes the rest of the class seem so pointless, IMO.

No matter what, do your best and !

 

[Hopeful2012]

I did this in microbiology last semester. I didn't study for 2 tests and got an 89% on one and a 79% on another. I studied properly for the last two tests and got 100% on each. I pulled off the A in the end.

I wouldn't recommend this method though. Keeping up with the material over the semester would have been much less stressful, but I was taking 16 credits and working 70 hours that semester. That was just a stupid move to begin with.

 

[drizzt3117]

haha all our med school finals are like 60-85% of the total grade... Good times.

If you had to work hard to get less than A's on the other tests, and did so to the best of your ability, then chances are that you won't "ace" a well-written final.

If you had trouble with the other tests due to other factors that won't be an issue for the final, then you have a good shot if you work hard and study efficiently.

Efficiency, in my experience, is usually the deciding factor.

Though we are all different in our study habits, I tend to agree with Metallica et. al. (citation needed? 😉) that it is usually best to go into any final with a nice "cushion" to protect your grade. I know of at least one class where a professor recycled material for a final and those who had friends from two years prior/knew where to get copies of that exam broke the curve for everyone else. I don't think the prof. ever figured it out, but I gotta tell you there were a LOT of people who worked hard for that exam that just didn't have the same advantage of about 10-20% of the class and all hopes of "acing the final" came to a rather inglorious end.

As a teacher I saw very few students capable of "using the final" to really bring grades up beyond their normal classroom performance, but it did happen for those with extenuating circumstances at times.

Also, I really hate it when people make their midterms/finals more than 1/3 of the final grade. Makes the rest of the class seem so pointless, IMO.

No matter what, do your best and !

 

[apumic]

All the freaking time... better to have a B in the class and work your ass off to get an A on the final than an A in class and thinking you'll be "fine" on the final.

Have to strongly disagree with you here. MUCH better to go in w/ a strong A in the class (say ≥97%) think you're "fine" on the final and study minimally and here's why: if you've got a strong A in the class, you obviously learned the stuff the first time. Studying more isn't really necessary at this point (although a brief review can be helpful in making absolutely sure you'll get that coveted A). Say the final is worth 40% of your grade and a 93.0% is the cutoff for an A (you currently have a 97% in the class). To maintain that A, all you need now is an 84.5%. If you were getting near-perfect scores on your midterms, quizzes, projects, etc. all semester, you are practically guaranteed that 85% (unless you've been cheating or cramming all semester). Sure, you may end up getting an 84.5% and end up at the 93.0% line exactly, but you still ended w/ an A. OTOH, if you have a mid-range B, say 85% (83% cutoff for B-/87% for B+) and the final is worth 40% of your grade, you need a 97.5% to even get an A-. Even with a perfect score (100%), you would still end up 2 lousy percentage points short of your A! In addition, if you've been getting Bs all semester, the stress of multiple exams in one week is far more likely to lower your average than raise it. In other words, your chances of pulling an 85% again are moderately weak, much less your chances of suddenly performing at over a grade level better (i.e., 12.5% stronger).

Past performance strongly predicts future performance. As a result, entering a final with the hope of raising one's grade is like walking into a casino and hoping to come out wealthier than when you walked in. Sure, it's possible, but the odds are stacked pretty strongly against you.

 

[Jasgop]

You can do it!

 

[FloatOn]

This has happened to me at least once a semester and after 7 semesters of college, I like to think it's not luck anymore. Only one time did I squeak by and the rest I ended up with a pretty solid/kick-ass grade on the final.

You really have to be efficient in your studying. Don't keep on reviewing the things you already know. Focus on the things that you don't. Good job on starting this early because you're more likely to retain the information and use it well on the final. I've witnessed so many people give up in studying for their finals when they were very much capable of doing well, so when it's time to bring it on, you bring it on.

Good luck!

 

[VTBuc]

In OChem, my professor had an incentive that the top 5 grades on the final receive automatic As for the semester. I had a B going into the final, studied about 20 hours for it...and pulled off a 103. It ended up being the 3rd highest grade in the class, so I got an A. 😎

 

[vitaebellaa]

update: I ended up getting a 95 on the final! Thank you everyone for the encouragement and good luck to everyone who still has finals

 

[chman]

I just wrote a big response only to see that you took the final. Where is blearg's avatar when I need it.