I remembered there being a few College-related topics that got a lot of responses; so I think it's safe to say that a fair number of us Giantbomb users are in College. Since the fall semester is over (has been for two weeks already, at least for me), and most official grades should be in by now, I was just curious to see how everyone in the community did in their respective semesters. You don't have to give specific details pertaining to your major and what courses you took if you don't want to, of course.
To start things off, I took four classes this semester. Drawing, which was a worthless elective; World Literature (Existentialism), where we read a lot of Chopin and Camus; Sociology in the Modern World, which was a fifty-minute class I barely bothered with; and finally, Biology, which I loathed like having dental work done.
As for the grades: my drawing teacher told me I was receiving an A, but she ended up giving me a B+. Not bad considering that my work was fairly lackluster compared to the Art Majors in the class (drawing is not a talent of mine), and also considering that I had a tendency to let the teacher rework my pieces to an extent that they became her drawings more than mine. However, I doubt she ever really noticed how often she did that. The promise of an A should have stood out as hyperbole to me the minute she said it, but I felt my final drawings were good enough for a sympathy, you showed up all the time and did something, grade. The class doesn't mean anything anyway, so I'll take the B+.
Sociology was pretty boring, and I had an old-school professor who loved to tell us how he, too, was from New York City---so we shouldn't pull any bullshit with him. His grading was strict: three tests and two writing assignments. Nothing else. I pulled an A- in the course after an 88 on a test made it mathematically impossible for my average to hit the 96 necessary for an A. I think I missed it by a .5 or something; and no, this guy didn't curve. =/
World Literature was an A. No surprise there.
Biology was probably the biggest bitch of them all. Our teacher was a laid-back, dry humor type of guy who often strayed from things in the textbook, instead giving us his version of the material. I went from having the highest grade in the class on the first exam (92) to almost falling to a D average. I needed a 70 on the fourth exam to maintain a C, so I showed up to class the day of that particular exam with a story about how I was sick and needed to go to the doctor; I then had the family physician write me a note for that day (to be fair, I was legitimately sick...the week before). Due to class scheduling, this meant I would take the test on the "make-up day", which was a week later. Translation: An extra week to study. I went in, took the test, and pulled a 75. I held that C average strong, thinking that that's what I was going to end up with, and I went in on the last day and pretty much (at least in my mind) bombed on the final. I then checked my grades online the following week and saw a B-. Go figure. So with all that, my overall G.P.A. this semester is a 3.45. I went down considerably, but it's not bad by any means.
So just share how you did this semester, or any stories you might have of the last few months of College.
So College boys and girls, how'd you do this semester?
Just finished my first semester of college and got a 4.0 like a boss. 8) Admittedly, I only had 3 classes and they really weren't that bad but I'm still happy with myself. I took College Writing I, Statistics, and Calculus. Calculus was the only one I had a little trouble with, but luckily I had already taken it in high school. I was gonna get an A- but at the last minute he scaled some tests so I got an A.
It was actually kind of sad how many times a day I was checking my grades online during winter break.
I'm an education major. I largely coasted to achieve A's in the five classes I took. One of them was a class where I tutored a fifth grader with a reading disability, another was Bowling 101. Pretty odd semester; easy as ever. My last semester as a student, too. Sad day.
Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy your drawing class. I'd trade you.
I'm in a rather complicated transferring situation that requires me to take five classes both semesters at the community college I'm now in. This semester was a goddamned cakewalk. I actually aced all of my classes, which I haven't done since elementary school.
Pop Music in the US - My useless elective course, if you couldn't tell by the title. The professor was good enough, but man was his class easy, as well as way too early in the morning.
American Literature - Favorite class, even if the reading was really dry in the beginning with all the early Puritan writers that were assigned. We weren't given a lot of assignments, just two essays and two in-class tests and an online discussion board we had to write in every week, which I did not like all that much.
US History - This class was alright. Had to write an ass-load of notes for it, though, which kind of wrecked my wrist after awhile . I'm surprised I made it out with an A. He gave us 5-question quizzes each week to make sure we were reading the textbook, and while I often read the chapters assigned, the questions on the quizzes often asked about stuff I completely forgot about. I tended to do pretty badly on them.
English Literature - Another good class with only two essays and three tests assigned to us. He often let us out a little earlier than usual, too, which was nice.
World Civilizations - So damn disappointing. The subject of ancient world civilizations is usually right up my alley, but the professor taught it in a way that made going to class an absolute chore because it was so boring. Oddly enough, I also got my best score in this class. If I didn't get a perfect grade on an assignment, then I was only one or two points off.
I'm afraid that I'm going to pay for having such a care-free fall semester by having to slog through a brutal spring semester. Hopefully I can manage another 4.0 and then get in to the university I applied to next year.
Kinda bad, kinda good. I really should be more studious, put more effort in stuff. I guess that will be my resolution.
Ok, let me vent a little. I had a bad case of Senioritis last semester, but still managed to get decent grades.
My shit:
Artificial Intelligence: Really I don't understand this professor and never will. I swear even if I write perfect code that satisfies all the requirements, I'll get docked 10% for something like lack of comments. Never have I received anything above 90% regardless of quality. I got a C on my first project, so I went to his office to ask what the hell, because I completed every aspect of the assignment. He literally asked me what grade I wanted. So I said full credit, but he said he could only give me a 90%. What kind of grading system is that? I basically gave up on this guy, and ended up with an A- in the class.
Software Engineering: Guess what. It's the same professor as above, but for a class I have trouble giving a rats ass about. Software Engineering, I feel, is about the bullshit side of Computer Science, at least in college. Don't get me wrong, it's real important out there where actual shit is being put together, but it's incredibly difficult to apply the techniques used for giant software projects to our one person team project and have it be something meaningful. The project was basically to fake design a newspaper delivery system, something that was never really clear to me in the first place. So I focused all my efforts on coding the thing (at least this part wasn't as boring). In the end I really don't think he cared about the code, but more the Requirements, Design, and Scheduling crap. The project was fake anyway, so I'm basically tasked with designing bullshit and making up numbers that don't exist. There is no point to it, and crap like that really gets under my skin. So, B-
Key Movements (of the Harlem Renaissance): First off I'd like to say I hate writing papers, and good lord did this class require a lot of it. Most of the time I like to get to the point and say what I mean in the shortest most efficient way possible. But, there is always a page requirement with papers, and I always feel that I'm forced to bullshit to fulfill this. If you've read this far, you can probably tell by now that I hate making up shit or bullshiting for bullshiting sake. And always the longer paper gets the better grade. That's as far as my understanding of writing goes though. I can never tell the quality of my papers much beyond that. The paper I thought was the worst quality got the best grade and the rest averaged A-. Also the professor here really prided herself on being strict. She even told a story about how she was glad to get an A- instead of an A back when she had a strict teacher. The class was sort of interesting at first, but by the end I was so sick of writing. And there was also a cute girl I managed to talk and sit next to for the semester. But, in the end never really got a feel for the class or the girl. Grade: A-
Finite Automata: Once again I manage to sweat the class I get the best grade in. This was an excellent professor, although strict at times, who not only knew his shit, but you also could completely understand what was required of you even if the material was a little tough. I thought the material here was pretty challenging, but I knew I could learn it if I devoted some time. The problem was I never really devoted the time. Luckily homework assignments were required, so I was able to catch up when those were due. Everyone thought they were failing this class, including me, after the first two tests. What was frustrating was that I felt I knew the material, but I always made a few dumb mistakes that I would always get called on. But, the professor softened up and gave us a chance for extra credit. I dominated that extra credit and aced the final test. Grade: A
General Physics 1: This class is basically a joke. No one ever showed to class, besides me and a few people. All the tests were monstrously curved. The biggest curve I've ever seen in fact. So it basically came down to one question. Are you dumber than everyone else in the class or not? Turns out not. Grade: A-
I kinda stopped caring about grades after I finished my undergrad degree. In pharmacy school, grades aren't that important, well unless you want to do a residency later on but I have no interest in that at all. Still I managed a 91 average this semester without much trouble (could have done better if I put more effort into it . . .).
Reporting - C
Human Geography - A (pretty damn good considering that I couldn't understand a single word from my teacher's mouth - His indian/chinese accent was unbelievable)
History of Silent Film - B
PR Strategy - B (would have had an A if I didn't skip so many classes or read the part of the syllabus that said that if you miss more than 3 classes, you'd get points off your final grade - I missed 7)
I'm just happy I passed Reporting since the average grade in that class was a 58 this semester (no joke). Probably one of the hardest classes I have ever taken and I'm ecstatic that I'm not one of the 45% of my class that are taking it again next semester. I'd rather drink a bucket of semen than do it all over again.
Super varied:
Macroeconomics - 42%
Behavorial Economics - 56%
Software Engineering - 78%
Relational Databases - 92%
Maybe economics isn't my thing.
I had to write 4 research papers (12+ pages each) and I nearly burned out my laptop keys from the ungodly amount of notes I had to take. I knew it would be a lot this semester so I bought a cheap netbook to bring to class. The previous 4 years I did all my notes by hand and it was miserable.
History of the United States: (1916 - 1945) = A-
American Colonial History = A
Europe and the French Revolution = B+
Japanese Americans in the United States = B+
Chinese American Culture - Language and Literature = A
Graduated this semester with a BA in History and minor in Ethnic Studies. I'm gonna be rich! McDonald's here I come.
Poorly. All my exams are taken in the second semester, so all I had to do was focus on coursework this semester.
Still couldn't force myself to and they were objectively shocking. Got to pull my socks up next term and rip through the work/reading/dissertation.
Otherwise it's a 3rd for me.
Incredibly average. Bs in two of my English classes and a D in the other (something about that class was off the second half of the semester, basically gave up on it, will retake it next year and ace it)
C in Journalism (I hated that class, professor was too vague about what she wanted from the assignments) and a C in Physical Science, which is good enough for me (not good at science at all) but now I no longer have to take Science classes, so yeah.
Did poorly in some courses and did amazing in others. Hopefully I can bounce back with some hard work.
Not had my exams yet (in 10 days time). Wont get my results until the end of 2nd semester because its my final year :)
This is what im predicting hopefully,
Semester one:
Electricity Markets - 70%
Instrumentation and Condition monitoring - 70%
Project management - 75%
World Literature (Existentialism), where we read a lot of Chopin and Camus; Sociology in the Modern WorldYou studied a non-existentialist in a class about existentialism?
" @Bruce said:Maybe they studied him from the perspective of existentialism? Maybe they studied him purely from an absurdist perspective? Maybe the teacher just gone done fucked up, who knows?World Literature (Existentialism), where we read a lot of Chopin and Camus; Sociology in the Modern WorldYou studied a non-existentialist in a class about existentialism? "
Nutrition and Metabolism: A
Pharmacology: A
Pathophysiology: A
Intro to Nursing Fundamentals: B
Therapeutic Communication: A
I don't want to piss on anyones parade here, but either you're all extremely smart or your respective education systems are handing out high grades like it's going out of fashion.
I'm not tooting my own horn here, but to achieve the best grades you have to do something special, extraordinary, to be classified as such. I suspect with a prevalence of bell curve marking systems and declining standards, some of you, though not all, are being pumped up artificially. But then it's all relative, I suppose.
English University seems a little different, we don't take 'classes' as such, you pick your subject you study and every module revolves around it. 3 of my optional modules were only 1 semester long, [Math's for Scientists, Physics for Scientists, Special Topics in Chemistry 1] and are finished but my core modules [Inorganic Chem, Organic Chem, Laboratory, Physical Chem] are 80% based around exams around the end of the academic year.
Between the modules I finished and small end of semester tests I got ~70% average.
I took 6 classes, got five As and one B. The one B was a senior level English course on subject matter that I have little to no interest in.
I only have this coming Spring semester left, then I'm done with school for good. Thank God.
I passed all 4 classes I took (Chemistry, English Composition, College Algebra, and A College prep course).
3 C's and one B. I'm doing my core classes at a Community College right now, and I'm going to send an application to a University sometime soon (I'll start tomorrow). Hopefully I'll get accepted, but in the meantime I'll be taking another semester at CC.
I always take a break during the summer courses; not because I need the break, but because I live in Las Vegas and I ride my bike to campus, I can't ride my bike in 100+ heat :/" I dropped out. Well, I'm taking a semester off, but 'dropped out' sounds more fun. "
This was my first semester. It had its highs and lows, but I finished up pretty strong with a 3.902.
Calculus II: This was surprisingly my hardest class all semester, though I've heard Calculus II is the hardest of the Calc classes. For awhile, I was worried about holding a B, but eventually I was able to push my grade up to an A-. That was my lowest grade this semester.
Technical Communication: This was my second hardest class. Lots of memos. It was just very dull, and it was the class I spent the least amount of time on. I was able to pull off an A, though.
Computer Science: First real comp sci class. My high school classes were terrible. Learned a lot, did well, got an A. woot.
Foundations of Business: Studied Econ, Accounting, and Finance. All pretty easy. Got an A.
Leadership: Dumbest class ever. Got an A
Creativity 101: This was my honors seminar. It was a really fun class that encouraged us to think outside the box and think creatively. Got an A+! Oorah.
Not too bad...
3D Modeling & Animation III: A- (This was the last class I took before the break. I honestly thought I was going to lose my mind in the class, so the grade is a nice little Christmas present)
Game Design & Game Play: A- (A lot of discussion on "What is Game Play?" and "Can it be defined?" along with creating better game interfaces & new tech)
3D Modeling & Animation II: C+ (Don't ask)
Low Poly Modeling & Animation: B+ (I appreciate the folks that can make low poly characters look good)
My gpa is a 3.7 so I guess I can't complain...much.
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