Why is it so hard to get A's in science classes

[wlee43]

Why couldn't it be like other classes where if you do the work you get an A. Why do they make it so top 5 % get A's. Why do they have to make science classes so many credits to bring down our gpa. Why is this world so cruel

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[gettheleadout]

Why couldn't it be like other classes where if you do the work you get an A. Why do they make it so top 5 % get A's. Why do they have to make science classes so many credits to bring down our gpa. Why is this world so cruel

Because you won't get an A for effort as a physician

inb4entitlement

 

[Ignatius M.D.]

If it makes you feel better, only 3 out of 160 students in my Orgo 1 class have A/A-. It probably doesn't though...

 

[chman]

 

[Mithril]

.

 

[MeowMeowCAT]

I sometimes envy people with a major in some form of Liberal Arts. Always whining about on Facebook about having to write plays, stories, papers, and apparently still finding time to party.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

I sometimes envy people with a major in some form of Liberal Arts. Always whining about on Facebook about having to write plays, stories, papers, and apparently still finding time to party.

I'd love to see some pre-meds taking upper level English composition or an advanced psycho-biology class where you need to apply multiple methods from courses you took a long time ago . It's a different cup of tea. But anyways plenty of pre-meds party, I personally am taking 18 credits this semester and partied at least once a week and still managed a 4.0. It's all about good organization and time management.

 

[Evergrey]

I sometimes envy people with a major in some form of Liberal Arts. Always whining about on Facebook about having to write plays, stories, papers, and apparently still finding time to party.

My humanities work was way harder than my science coursework. I was a humanities major, too. Organic chemistry? Easy, and my favorite class in college to boot. It irritates me when people reduce entire disciplines into "easy stuff that I could ace and still have time to party every night." It is much more dependent on school, prof, and individual than anything else.

 

[wlee43]

What pisses me off its that a couple of percent difference in a class kills my gpa. Literally a 4 % difference in my bio class equates to either 3.9 or 3.5. The whole system is a farce when med schools give so much more liking to a student who might be 3.7 over someone who has a 3.5

 

[IrishCalini]

I will say this... Any major, as you reach the upper level classes, is difficult. However, I'll agree that its not quite fair that science classes are just all hard (even the intro chems and orgos).

Ah well, we survive and that's all that matters...

 

[apumic]

Why couldn't it be like other classes where if you do the work you get an A. Why do they make it so top 5 % get A's. Why do they have to make science classes so many credits to bring down our gpa. Why is this world so cruel

Why the h*ll would we want that?! If most people who put in some effort get an A, you don't know who performed well and who didn't. Sure, I don't want most of my students getting Ds and Fs, but if most of my students got low Bs and high Cs, I've done my job well. Some of the classes you'll take will involve averages in the "high Fs."
That's just how it goes. You have to beat the odds. Be the only one who gets a 90+ in the class. I don't really think it's all that tough, TBH. You put forth the work -- whatever it takes.

I sometimes envy people with a major in some form of Liberal Arts. Always whining about on Facebook about having to write plays, stories, papers, and apparently still finding time to party.

Ever take one of those humanities, etc. types of classes? Many of them take a ridiculous amount of time and effort beyond that of a science course. IME, science students are often quite lazy. They do whatever the minimum is to make the grade because so many courses are taught by grad students, etc., and, as a result, you get rubrics that make it easy for students to obtain an A with little effort. Consider the difference in such courses as you've mentioned where critical thinking and analysis are actually a requirement.

I mean...come on. I could train a frickin' monkey to do your Ochem II lab practical!

...Now try doin' that with a research paper!

 

[Barcu]

Because other areas of studies like to produce surpluses of graduates so it is impossible to get a job in the field.

I'll take science and medicine any day.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

What pisses me off its that a couple of percent difference in a class kills my gpa. Literally a 4 % difference in my bio class equates to either 3.9 or 3.5. The whole system is a farce when med schools give so much more liking to a student who might be 3.7 over someone who has a 3.5

It's a rat race. What can I say? Go to an easy university or liberal arts college with professors who love giving out A's. As a personal example of why you should do the above, I go to a state university (one of the best) and I can tell you is that it is designed to kill freshman pre-meds. The way the registration process is made it is designed to put freshman with the worst teachers and they literally end up with the most horrible grades ever. No mercy at all.

 

[VikingLegacy]

baleeted

 

[kmktz]

Im my opinion it all depends on the person. Some people just naturally do well in one area while others not so much. If you're not gifted in the sciences but that is what you want to pursue then you just have to put in that extra work.

Myself, humanities courses kill me. I can be creative and do well but it seems like it doesn't come natural to me, therefore I put in the extra work.

Science on the other hand is a much easier topic for my brain to digest. Don't know why, but I'm just thankful my desire is medicine and not journalism or something along those lines. Not to say that orgo is easy by any means but for me it's less painful than writing a ten page essay.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

My humanities work was way harder than my science coursework. I was a humanities major, too. Organic chemistry? Easy, and my favorite class in college to boot. It irritates me when people reduce entire disciplines into "easy stuff that I could ace and still have time to party every night." It is much more dependent on school, prof, and individual than anything else.

Because people think that the intro courses are reflective of the whole field. They are so watered down.

 

[lacrosse87]

I mean...come on. I could train a frickin' monkey to do your Ochem II lab practical!

Really? You could train a monkey to do a six step synthesis from aniline to 1-Bromo-3-Chloro-5-Iodobenzene while maintaining a decent yield/purity? And understand the mechanism's of each reaction, and accurately interpret the NMR and IR spectra of each intermediate?

Sorry if I'm grumpy, I need a beer.

 

[Mithril]

.

 

[VikingLegacy]

baleeted

 

[gettheleadout]

I normally would jump on the "suck it up" bandwagon, but this particular semester I finally see what all of the whining is about.

I am a GOOD student. I am a top notch student. I always have been. I got perfect or near-perfect scores on everything through third year. Here I'm in my second to last quarter and I feel like I'm fighting for my life. I think my last quarter will be easier, because I intentionally filled it with what I've heard to be the easiest electives, but this quarter is driving me nuts.

Why? Because - I have a near photographic memory, a good eye for detail and a great critical thinking/deductive ability, and I just cannot find out what these friggin' professors want to see on their exams. They're researchers, they don't have any idea how to teach. They show us research data in class and then test us on theory behind it, though largely that theory has gone untaught. The TA's have never seen this material before. The class was never taught before. The slides and officially provided lecture notes have BLATANT GLARING CONTRADICTIONS in them on extremely critical information. The professors flee the second class is over, giving minimal answers ("yes"/"no"/"do your reading") to everybody's questions while walking away at a fast pace. The class is straight graded. 5 people are getting good grades. 5 students are in this class who work for their lab.

I usually like to say "hurr durr, stop whining and work harder," but that was before I ran into a genuinely unbeatable class. Screw this guy, screw his family, and screw anybody who thinks I should be able to get an A in this. My best friends, also great students in their own right, are in this class and all fighting very hard for very little. It's genuinely unreasonable and I won't let anybody tell me otherwise.

Drop it? Seriously, assuming your deadline to drop is reasonably into the semester, hopefully you would have enough of a perspective on the class to realize you're better off just taking something else than dealing with that.

 

[MeowMeowCAT]

Lab practicals are annoying. I have yet to see lecture exams or even heard of exams like the MCAT require actual on-hands experience performing the experiments to answer questions. And it's not like you don't relearn most of this stuff in Med, Graduate, Pharmacy, etc. school or even in the workplace.

Meh.

 

[Hypaspist]

I normally would jump on the "suck it up" bandwagon, but this particular semester I finally see what all of the whining is about.

I am a GOOD student. I am a top notch student. I always have been. I got perfect or near-perfect scores on everything through third year. Here I'm in my second to last quarter and I feel like I'm fighting for my life. I think my last quarter will be easier, because I intentionally filled it with what I've heard to be the easiest electives, but this quarter is driving me nuts.

Why? Because - I have a near photographic memory, a good eye for detail and a great critical thinking/deductive ability, and I just cannot find out what these friggin' professors want to see on their exams. They're researchers, they don't have any idea how to teach. They show us research data in class and then test us on theory behind it, though largely that theory has gone untaught. The TA's have never seen this material before. The class was never taught before. The slides and officially provided lecture notes have BLATANT GLARING CONTRADICTIONS in them on extremely critical information. The professors flee the second class is over, giving minimal answers ("yes"/"no"/"do your reading") to everybody's questions while walking away at a fast pace. The class is straight graded. 5 people are getting good grades. 5 students are in this class who work for their lab.

I usually like to say "hurr durr, stop whining and work harder," but that was before I ran into a genuinely unbeatable class. Screw this guy, screw his family, and screw anybody who thinks I should be able to get an A in this. My best friends, also great students in their own right, are in this class and all fighting very hard for very little. It's genuinely unreasonable and I won't let anybody tell me otherwise.

Viking, I gotta ask... what horror of a class is this???

 

[rafflecopter]

Why couldn't it be like other classes where if you do the work you get an A. Why do they make it so top 5 % get A's. Why do they have to make science classes so many credits to bring down our gpa. Why is this world so cruel

Because God doesn't want anyone who believes in evolution to have an easy time.

 

[apumic]

Really? You could train a monkey to do a six step synthesis from aniline to 1-Bromo-3-Chloro-5-Iodobenzene while maintaining a decent yield/purity? And understand the mechanism's of each reaction, and accurately interpret the NMR and IR spectra of each intermediate?

Sorry if I'm grumpy, I need a beer.

lol...

I normally would jump on the "suck it up" bandwagon, but this particular semester I finally see what all of the whining is about.

I am a GOOD student. I am a top notch student. I always have been. I got perfect or near-perfect scores on everything through third year. Here I'm in my second to last quarter and I feel like I'm fighting for my life. I think my last quarter will be easier, because I intentionally filled it with what I've heard to be the easiest electives, but this quarter is driving me nuts.

Why? Because - I have a near photographic memory, a good eye for detail and a great critical thinking/deductive ability, and I just cannot find out what these friggin' professors want to see on their exams. They're researchers, they don't have any idea how to teach. They show us research data in class and then test us on theory behind it, though largely that theory has gone untaught. The TA's have never seen this material before. The class was never taught before. The slides and officially provided lecture notes have BLATANT GLARING CONTRADICTIONS in them on extremely critical information. The professors flee the second class is over, giving minimal answers ("yes"/"no"/"do your reading") to everybody's questions while walking away at a fast pace. The class is straight graded. 5 people are getting good grades. 5 students are in this class who work for their lab.

I usually like to say "hurr durr, stop whining and work harder," but that was before I ran into a genuinely unbeatable class. Screw this guy, screw his family, and screw anybody who thinks I should be able to get an A in this. My best friends, also great students in their own right, are in this class and all fighting very hard for very little. It's genuinely unreasonable and I won't let anybody tell me otherwise.

You know, while I've seen instructors who are poor, the reality is that the cream of the crop ALWAYS rise to the top. One of the faculty with whom I work is known for grading unfairly. There have been YEARS of complaints -- from junior faculty that have to work under him and suffer their students failing by his hand! (He's a course director.) You know what? It does nothing. The reality is that this guy knows his stuff and tests hard. He expects students to have an unwavering grasp on the material, to read and study HARD outside of class (and memorize the little mundane details you think are totally useless). Do I agree with his philosophy? H*ll no. But at the same time, when I took his class (prior to teaching), I pulled a grade in the high 90s when the class average was in the low 50s (i.e., 50% of the class outright flunked). I don't believe in the whole blaming it on a bad instructor thing because while a good instructor can make even average students shine, NOBODY can make the best fail (assuming the course content is available from other sources, etc.). Nobody. Period.

 

[mitchlucker]

Lol, I've never heard of any UG class where only 5% gets an A, even in my upper level classes. What's a B? Next 10%? Or is the B range the next 30%? Doesn't make sense. A range is usually around 15% but could be higher for some classes.

And school blows, especially when you have peripheral issues at hand. Just inform your professors and have them give you a break if you need it.

 

[VikingLegacy]

baleeted

 

[rafflecopter]

You know, while I've seen instructors who are poor, the reality is that the cream of the crop ALWAYS rise to the top... I don't believe in the whole blaming it on a bad instructor thing because while a good instructor can make even average students shine, NOBODY can make the best fail (assuming the course content is available from other sources, etc.). Nobody. Period.

There's a lot of truth to this. My first semester as a post-bac I had a calculus professor who hadn't given anyone an A in 2 years. I was de-freaking-termined to get straight As in post-bac so I studied my a** off. Bombed the first test. Got really mad, decided to make that class my priority and cut out most other distractions. Studied every day. I had to go to tutoring, seek extra math problems online, and pick up another textbook to supplement my studies. I finally ended up with that A. Brutal class but I was really proud to get that grade.

What Viking seems to be describing seems to be different though. If his lectures are based on his research, and his research is new, then there might not be any other way to get the information. If that is the case, then he has to rely on the lecture/slides on his professor, which if it was as conflicting as Viking said it was, would make it extremely difficult to do well. Not to mention that if 5 people in the class work in his lab then they have somewhat of an unfair advantage having been exposed to the material already.

 

[apumic]

...Unless the 5 people from the teacher's lab are getting A's and everyone else is fighting for their lives.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still pulling at least a B, but I'm having to work inordinately hard for it and it pisses me the hell off.

Are those 5 students performing better than the rest of you?
Sure, the fact that they're in the prof's lab may mean they get some extra tips (b/c they have a relationship w/ the prof), but unless the prof is actually grading unfairly somehow and giving them pts for things when you are not given the pts despite having the exact same answer AND having produced other answers showing your mastery of the subject. (The latter criterion becomes especially important when evaluating partial credit or alternative responses; sometimes, a student may come up w/ a "wrong" answer but show they understood the concept through another answer; in those cases, it may make sense to give the student partial or even most/all of the credit for the "wrong" response b/c the process was actually just as good or better than that used in the key.)

 

[Narmerguy]

lol...



You know, while I've seen instructors who are poor, the reality is that the cream of the crop ALWAYS rise to the top. One of the faculty with whom I work is known for grading unfairly. There have been YEARS of complaints -- from junior faculty that have to work under him and suffer their students failing by his hand! (He's a course director.) You know what? It does nothing. The reality is that this guy knows his stuff and tests hard. He expects students to have an unwavering grasp on the material, to read and study HARD outside of class (and memorize the little mundane details you think are totally useless). Do I agree with his philosophy? H*ll no. But at the same time, when I took his class (prior to teaching), I pulled a grade in the high 90s when the class average was in the low 50s (i.e., 50% of the class outright flunked). I don't believe in the whole blaming it on a bad instructor thing because while a good instructor can make even average students shine, NOBODY can make the best fail (assuming the course content is available from other sources, etc.). Nobody. Period.

Fail? Perhaps not. But certainly a professor can throw the best off their game and into a troubling GPA situation for that semester. Sometimes **** just isn't fair and all you can do is complain and rant and move on. That doesn't mean what the professor did is right or justifiable, but mostly it doesn't matter, especially when they have tenure.

But back to your original point...the point of a class isn't to give the best student in the class a worthy challenge. Whether or not the best succeed is no reflection of the professor or his course. Don't give professors free passes for this garbage. I'm a physics major and I get plenty of it and it always ticks me off, regardless of what the ultimate outcome is on my grade (which has typically been just fine).

 

[VikingLegacy]

baleeted

 

[Morzh]

This is somewhat of a stereotype and doesn't always apply, but one explanation may have to do with the fact that humanities/non-science majors tend to feed directly into the job market, or into less competitive graduate programs (where GPA's are less important). Science majors on the other hand have a high percentage of students applying for professional/competitive grad school spots.

It is generally bad for a department's reputation in the world of academia if there is perceived grade inflation because the implication - regardless of whether or not it is true - is that graduates of those programs are not pushed hard enough.

For example, I know for a fact that at my university the chemistry department encourages its professors to always shoot for a course GPA of 2.8. By comparison, in my humanities classes (I'm double major) the GPA for each course is usually a 3.7. My father-in-law teaches in the business school here, too, and has told me that in his department the gpa for most of their courses is ~3.5.

Basically my theory is that the push for more "balanced" grades, if there is one, comes from the deans, who are influenced by things like rankings, funding, and perception of quality. Of course there will always be a handful of rogue professors who, even though their peers give out half As/half Bs, couldn't live with themselves if they taught a class where the GPA ended up any higher than a 3.0.

 

[Cleavername]

Why couldn't it be like other classes where if you do the work you get an A. Why do they make it so top 5 % get A's. Why do they have to make science classes so many credits to bring down our gpa. Why is this world so cruel

ur looking at it the wrong way.

let me use mah school as an example. last semester top 7% students got A and next 8% got A- in intro bio 2 class. now that may seem harsh, tho if u look closely, the A cut off was only a 75. that means for you to get an A in that class u would need just a 75. now my Macro-eco class there was no curve for anything, it was if u get over a 90, ull get A. now if we apply that same principle to the bio class how many people would get As? none, lol, that would be ******ed for a reputable school like mine.

now you may argue, may be ur bio class was 10X harder than your eco class. i am sure this can be the case, too bad thats not a scientific statement in which we may disapprove, there for, the curve in bio class is more than justified. the curve isn't meant to keep people from getting A's, it was meant so that people can actually get A's lol.

 

[akuarys]

I think my biggest complain is not why it's so hard to get an A but why make tests in a course so difficult that a 70% ends up being an A and you can pass the class with a C as long as it is above a 55%. Seriously I hate not knowing what my real grade is because the professor relies on a major curve at the end.

 

[mitchlucker]

The real question should be why is it so easy to get an A in a science class?

 

[phltz]

What pisses me off its that a couple of percent difference in a class kills my gpa. Literally a 4 % difference in my bio class equates to either 3.9 or 3.5. The whole system is a farce when med schools give so much more liking to a student who might be 3.7 over someone who has a 3.5

You have a lot of choices to make about what you make the highlight of your application. If it's gonna be grades, yeah, you'll need to have excellent grades. If you have some other good, compelling stuff that some Bs aren't going to hurt you, trust me.

 

[getright]

Grade distributions really vary from school to school and from professor to professor. OP, I think you should really make note of ratemyprofessor.com before you pick professors from now on. Some just do not like to give out A's.

As for the person that said they've never heard of an UG class where only 5% give out A's, I had an instructor for physics who taught a class of 69 students where only 2 received A's and one got an A-. There were 39 F's, so the gpa for the class was a 0.94 lmao.

 

[chman]

Fail? Perhaps not. But certainly a professor can throw the best off their game and into a troubling GPA situation for that semester. Sometimes **** just isn't fair and all you can do is complain and rant and move on. That doesn't mean what the professor did is right or justifiable, but mostly it doesn't matter, especially when they have tenure.

But back to your original point...the point of a class isn't to give the best student in the class a worthy challenge. Whether or not the best succeed is no reflection of the professor or his course. Don't give professors free passes for this garbage. I'm a physics major and I get plenty of it and it always ticks me off, regardless of what the ultimate outcome is on my grade (which has typically been just fine).

 

[circulus vitios]

You can switch to a liberal arts major if you want easy (really easy) As. But if you don't get into med school your options range from scrubbing toilets to being an office slave, as my liberal arts major friends have found out.

I usually like to say "hurr durr, stop whining and work harder," but that was before I ran into a genuinely unbeatable class. Screw this guy, screw his family, and screw anybody who thinks I should be able to get an A in this. My best friends, also great students in their own right, are in this class and all fighting very hard for very little. It's genuinely unreasonable and I won't let anybody tell me otherwise.

Welcome to the dark side.

lol...



You know, while I've seen instructors who are poor, the reality is that the cream of the crop ALWAYS rise to the top. One of the faculty with whom I work is known for grading unfairly. There have been YEARS of complaints -- from junior faculty that have to work under him and suffer their students failing by his hand! (He's a course director.) You know what? It does nothing. The reality is that this guy knows his stuff and tests hard. He expects students to have an unwavering grasp on the material, to read and study HARD outside of class (and memorize the little mundane details you think are totally useless). Do I agree with his philosophy? H*ll no. But at the same time, when I took his class (prior to teaching), I pulled a grade in the high 90s when the class average was in the low 50s (i.e., 50% of the class outright flunked). I don't believe in the whole blaming it on a bad instructor thing because while a good instructor can make even average students shine, NOBODY can make the best fail (assuming the course content is available from other sources, etc.). Nobody. Period.

You like the class because you managed to get an A, while everyone else hates him. Cool story, bro.

 

[apumic]

Slide 1 shows the function of layers 1-5 of the entorhinal cortex.
Slide 2 talks about something else.
Slide 3 asserts strongly that the entorhinal cortex does not have a fourth layer.

Quiz: What does the fourth layer of the entorhinal cortex do?

Nope, sorry, you can't ask me for explanation. I'm busy walking away from you at the pace of a light jog.

...Exactly. That's what I thought too.

Shut your face. You have no idea how awful this class is.

So the logical thing to do when slides don't seem to make sense together is ask. You don't wait until the quiz to realize something didn't make sense. Just the other day, I had a prof state several times that a specific protein in a cellular pathway is inactivated AND activated by phosphorylation at the SAME site and in the SAME way -- he kept flip-flopping. A student asked and he said it inactivated the protein and then moments later he talked about how it activates it. If I want to get that question right, I need to go talk w/ that prof prior to the final. (In reality, I probably won't because, frankly, I don't care how I do on the final as all I need is a D to maintain my A -- perfect scores on the previous exams). I've had difficult and "impossible" instructors and I've consistently ended up with an "A" every time. While I empathize with your situation and understand it sucks, I really don't buy into the whole "it's impossible for me to get an 'A' in this class" B.S. Sure, some classes are tough, but unless that prof has some secret information only he knows, you can find it elsewhere.

As for your quiz question, I vaguely remember that from neurophys. You can find some information on it on Wikipedia (esp. in terms of confirming it exists and you should do some further research on layer IV):

The superficial layers - layers II and III - of EC project to the dentate gyrus and hippocampus: Layer II projects primarily to dentate gyrus and hippocampal region CA3; layer III projects primarily to hippocampal region CA1 and the subiculum. These layers receive input from other cortical areas, especially associational, perirhinal, and parahippocampal cortices, as well as prefrontal cortex. EC as a whole, therefore, receives highly-processed input from every sensory modality, as well as input relating to ongoing cognitive processes, though it should be stressed that, within EC, this information remains at least partially segregated.
The deep layers, especially layer V, receive one of the three main outputs of the hippocampus and, in turn, reciprocate connections from other cortical areas that project to superficial EC.
The rodent entorhinal cortex shows a modular organization, with different properties and connections in different areas.

You could find a lot more looking in your book or elsewhere (e.g., your library, other textbooks, etc.). In addition, you probably have a tutoring service available at your school that could help you. I always encourage my weaker students to also seek out the stronger ones as they may have some suggestions for you.

Basically, what I am saying is to use your resources. Think outside the box. Find creative solutions to solving the problem (i.e., doing well in this class). The fact that you're ranting on SDN about the class tells me you could CERTAINLY be putting more time and effort into the course.

 

[Evergrey]

Edit

 

[chman]

You can switch to a liberal arts major if you want easy (really easy) As. But if you don't get into med school your options range from scrubbing toilets to being an office slave, as my liberal arts major friends have found out.

Oh really? That would have nothing to do with the current economic climate..would it? If you look up statistical data, you might find that while science majors have greater starting salaries, they are often surpassed in earnings by their liberal arts counterparts soon enough.

Lets face it, a BS in bio and a BA in English are both fairly useless for specific jobs relating to said degrees.

 

[apumic]

You like the class because you managed to get an A, while everyone else hates him. Cool story, bro.

Challenges make life interesting, whether it's to get an A in an "impossible" class, swim a 1650 in <20 min, or summit a 14-er. If things are always easy, life gets boring real fast.

That being said, I don't think the prof is a particularly good prof. I disagree with his expectations as I don't think they're relevant to the course he's teaching; however, I disagree that students are unsuccessful simply "because" of him. They're unsuccessful because his exams tend to find their weaknesses. He tends to target students' weak points. A good student learns those targets and adapts. A poor student continues to make the same mistakes over and over and over again. The ultimate responsibility, IMO, lies upon the student, not the instructor.

 

[apumic]

But back to your original point...the point of a class isn't to give the best student in the class a worthy challenge. Whether or not the best succeed is no reflection of the professor or his course. Don't give professors free passes for this garbage. I'm a physics major and I get plenty of it and it always ticks me off, regardless of what the ultimate outcome is on my grade (which has typically been just fine).

The point of a class is to teach the students (ALL of them) AND fairly evaluate ALL of them. In other words, EVERY student should LEARN and EVERY student should be CHALLENGED.

Your bolded statement is, in essence, my point. Sure, a prof may be poor, however this doesn't give ANY student an excuse for doing poorly. If you do better b/c the prof did a good job, s/he has served you well. If you do well in spite of the prof, even better! The reality is that after you graduate (from your final school, residency, etc., depending upon what you end up doing), no one is going to "teach" you things (for the most part). You'll be learning most of this on your own. When you do get trained at work, it will often be by someone with poor teaching skills and will be quite surface-level. Your learning will be primarily on the job. When faced with difficult situations for which no one prepared you, are you going to go on SDN and rant about how unfair your boss's expectations are or how impossible JCAHO's "recommendations" (i.e., mandates) are and how your CMS reviewers said all the opposite things and so it's truly impossible to both lower your ICU beds (to prevent falls) AND not use stepping blocks (also to prevent falls) without causing undue risk of [back] injury to your nursing staff?

 

[circulus vitios]

apumic I like how you say every student should be challenged. But you got an A which means you weren't challenged because it's impossible to truly know 90% of a subject. Your definition of challenging a roundabout way of saying whatever gives you an A.

 

[transfec]

The time you've spent whining is time lost studying for those "unbeatable" classes.

 

[circulus vitios]

The time you've spent whining is time lost studying for those "unbeatable" classes.

LOL you have no idea how hard a class can be.

 

[apumic]

apumic I like how you say every student should be challenged. But you got an A which means you weren't challenged because it's impossible to truly know 90% of a subject. Your definition of challenging a roundabout way of saying whatever gives you an A.

Fine... it should have been tougher and I should have ended up with an A-. I guess he's not hard enough. I'll let him know. (Sorry to all his future students when the class average drops from a 52% F down to a 40%....)

I do think As should be attainable, obviously, but I think most students should end up in the low B/mid-high C range. That would be a near perfect bell curve (avoiding too many Fs, that is).

 

[transfec]

LOL you have no idea how hard a class can be.

I do, actually.

Suck it up.

 

[circulus vitios]

I do, actually.

Suck it up.

Obviously you don't because any class can be made impossibly difficulty. You know, where you literally get 0 answers correct on an exam.

 

[VikingLegacy]

baleeted