[Messiahtosh]

I just got back my grade from one of my mid term exams that I took this week. I was very happy with the score! I got a 95% so I was really pleased and kind of shocked. The reason I was so happy is because on the first exam in the class (the overall grade for this class is determined by 4 tests that are each worth 25% of the total class grade) I got a 70%.

I don't know how I got a 70% and I'll never figure it out. I handed in that exam thinking I had aced it and I just felt really good about it. During the test I did usually cross out 3 of the 5 possible answers for each question; maybe I went with the wrong one of the two remaining answers?

Whatever the case is, I went from a C- to a B in one fell swoop, and now the pressure's off for a week since it's spring break time! Phew! :smokey:


It's always nice when you open up an email to see this:

Your total score was 95 out of 100
The class average was 70.2

The highest score was 100 and the lowest score was 13

Of the 282 other students taking the test,
19 scored higher than you did, 15 had a score equal, and 248 scored lower
than you.

[The Return of the 'nut]

damn, i remember when I used to get 95% on exams. damn berkeley and their making every test so hard that half the class fails and 40% becomes the average score

[billybobsky]

I still don't understand why they give multiple choice tests at Penn State. It isn't testing understanding, no matter how vaguely answered the question is worded, or how many possible answers are right.

[Messiahtosh]

Originally Posted by billybobsky I still don't understand why they give multiple choice tests at Penn State. It isn't testing understanding, no matter how vaguely answered the question is worded, or how many possible answers are right.

i dont know either man. I just role with it...

[Mac+]

*ahem* "roll" with it

[InactionMan]

Originally Posted by Mac+ *ahem* "roll" with it

Zing!

Seriously, multiple choice shouldn't exist in universities. It's wrong. My mid-terms in first year were evil. It was a combination of a three hour short answer/essay exam followed by a 45 minute verbal exam that involved 2 of the programs Profs grilling you on the course work. I had to get so shitfaced to recover from that one.

[Messiahtosh]

Originally Posted by Mac+ *ahem* "roll" with it

Maybe that's why I got a 70 on the first exam...

[I Thrash Therefore I Am]

Originally Posted by The Return of the 'nut damn, i remember when I used to get 95% on exams. damn berkeley and their making every test so hard that half the class fails and 40% becomes the average score

Hahahahahaha. I heard about that today. My chem professor actually came from Berkeley (yes, its community college but its the best one in the state, and has a science department apparently better than Berkeley), and he said it was ridiculous. He's apparently the hardest chem 11 professor at my school, but his A's are only dropped down to an 87%.

He's awesome, the only thing that pisses me off is that he gives us 5 minute breaks for a 2 1/2 hour 8am class.

How is it spring break already? my midterms not til like, April.

[Messiahtosh]

We start early and end early. We're more than halfway finished with the semester at this point.

[ast3r3x]

Originally Posted by Messiahtosh We start early and end early. We're more than halfway finished with the semester at this point.

Yeeeeeeee Ha!

If it helps to rub it in anymore, I managed a class where I don't have any midterms.

Anatomy & Physiology
Math 22 (Idiot Algebra, Calc was too hard last semester, I think I over shot on going easier)
Public Speaking
Management Information Systems
Computer Science, Business Oriented Programming

I don't think I have finals either. Shizam!

[Maciej]

Yay for midterms. I got 2 hours of sleep last night writing a freaking take home midterm, and now I'm off to take a Chem exam.

[Wraven]

I feel for you guys. Tests can be difficult. I'm SO glad I'm finished with college.

[The Return of the 'nut]

Originally Posted by I Thrash Therefore I Am yes, its community college but its the best one in the state, and has a science department apparently better than Berkeley),

Can someone else find out what's wrong with this statement

[709]

Their English Department is apparently not as good as their Science Department?

[GSpotter]

Originally Posted by The Return of the 'nut damn, i remember when I used to get 95% on exams. damn berkeley and their making every test so hard that half the class fails and 40% becomes the average score

That reminds me of my first exams in university. University is (or better was) free in Germany. The downside is, there are (too) many students in the first semesters. So the first exams were used to sift the students: About the half of the class failed and most other just bareley made it. I had one professor who told his students in the first lesson: "Look at your neighbour, one of you won't be sitting here next year..." :/

[Windswept]

Originally Posted by InactionMan Zing! Seriously, multiple choice shouldn't exist in universities. It's wrong. My mid-terms in first year were evil. It was a combination of a three hour short answer/essay exam followed by a 45 minute verbal exam that involved 2 of the programs Profs grilling you on the course work. I had to get so shitfaced to recover from that one.

Good gods. Are you going to a small, private institution?

I can't imagine large universities, with tens of thousands of students, being able to follow the testing procedure mentioned above.

I'm afraid I have to disagree about multiple-choice questions. A carefully-written multiple-choice section can really zero in on specific knowledge the student should have learned. Ideally, of course, such a section should be accompanied by short-answer and essay questions.

The most comprehensive tests I remember taking as an undergraduate were those given by my Milton/Shakespearean Tragedies/Honors professor. She was amazing, and so were her tests. I had to start bringing earplugs into her exams to get my concentration focused quickly. Otherwise, I'd be distracted by the birds singing and other noises outside the windows.

Her multiple-choice sections were a bitch, let me tell you. Even though I'd covered all the material and studied thoroughly, I still felt lost in the sections where you'd have to identify the speaker of various quoted passages. (When I say 'lost', I mean maybe 5 of 50 quotations would seem 'completely' unfamiliar to me. I just felt, that after my exhaustive studying, 'none' of them should have seemed unfamiliar. )

[The Return of the 'nut]

Originally Posted by 709 Their English Department is apparently not as good as their Science Department?

true but not what i was looking for

Among Berkeley’s distinguished faculty are 8 Nobel laureates, 128 members of the National Academy of Sciences, and 87 members of the National Academy of Engineering. Over the past two decades, Berkeley faculty also have been the recipients of 156 Guggenheim Fellowships.

Berkeley's science, engineering and research departments are 2nd to none, nevermind a community college.

[billybobsky]

Originally Posted by Carol Longish long long post

You said it here yourself, multiple choice questions test how much information you have at the ready when you are in a test. That isn't learning. That is a memory exercise. As someone who has a decent memory, I only began to appreciate tests when they tested something other than memorization. Multiple choice tests are unlikely to test anything but memorization -- that is not to say that a fabulously intelligent test designer couldn't figure out a way to write a good test, but that there are few if any of these people in the world let alone in positions of test writing.
Multiple choice questions, more often than not, test speed and memory over knowledge and depth.
All it takes is for a large university to hire more TAs. That is all it takes. And that is something that they should be willing to do, if they are in fact institutes of higher learning.
There is a reason why people at my level of education laugh off multiple choice tests, but at the same time express apprehension (although this isn't consistent -- it really depends on where they did their undergrad) over short/long answer tests...

[billybobsky]

Originally Posted by The Return of the 'nut true but not what i was looking for Berkeley's science, engineering and research departments are 2nd to none, nevermind a community college.

I don't think you can base the quality of education derived from the "quality" of the faculty. As you move along through science you realize very quickly that most of what is looked at as signs of success is just luck and timing.

[Windswept]

Well, I agree with what you said, billybobsky.

But I mentioned multiple-choice as *one* section of a comprehensive test:

I'm afraid I have to disagree about multiple-choice questions. A carefully-written multiple-choice section can really zero in on specific knowledge the student should have learned. Ideally, of course, such a section should be accompanied by short-answer and essay questions.

[The Return of the 'nut]

Originally Posted by billybobsky I don't think you can base the quality of education derived from the "quality" of the faculty. As you move along through science you realize very quickly that most of what is looked at as signs of success is just luck and timing.

please share how you would like to base the judgment of having a better science department and I assure you Berkeley will fair extremely well. Is it resources? Facilities? Students? Money? Prestige? oppurtunities in the workplace?

You can certainly base a lot of the quality of the education on who is teaching you, who you are interning with, who you have had discussions with, etc.

I just found it odd he would say his school had a better science department. Not that it really effects me much as I'm only minoring in an engineering field, but still.....seemed odd.

[Windswept]

Originally Posted by The Return of the 'nut please share how you would like to base the judgment of having a better science department and I assure you Berkeley will fair extremely well. Is it resources? Facilities? Students? Money? Prestige? oppurtunities in the workplace? You can certainly base a lot of the quality of the education on who is teaching you, who you are interning with, who you have had discussions with, etc. I just found it odd he would say his school had a better science department. Not that it really effects me much as I'm only minoring in an engineering field, but still.....seemed odd.

I think 'Thrash' said somewhere that his instructor had been a professor at Berkeley. Or maybe I am remembering that incorrectly. *shrug*

Maybe that individual got sick of the whole 'publish or perish' pressure at such a prestigious university, and chose a good community college so he could get back to more actual 'teaching'.

Of course, I'm just dreaming up a possible scenario. Maybe it's not too likely, but ya never know.

[billybobsky]

Originally Posted by The Return of the 'nut please share how you would like to base the judgment of having a better science department and I assure you Berkeley will fair extremely well. Is it resources? Facilities? Students? Money? Prestige? oppurtunities in the workplace? You can certainly base a lot of the quality of the education on who is teaching you, who you are interning with, who you have had discussions with, etc. I just found it odd he would say his school had a better science department. Not that it really effects me much as I'm only minoring in an engineering field, but still.....seemed odd.

Never once have I claimed that Berkeley doesn't have a good science reputation or for that matter actual output in terms of both science and undergrads, but to take the blip from on high is to swallow a hook. It is fine to be proud of your school, but pride has to be based in what you observe and not what is told to you.
In any event, I know that there is one lecturer in chemistry out at berkeley who will likely never win a nobel prize or any higher order fellowship/membership, but who honestly cares about what he is teaching and whether his students get it -- he is the type of person that matters...

[Messiahtosh]

Well, I got all of my mid term grades back already...

85 in Spanish

95 in COMM 100

85 in COMM 386

100 in IST 220

[Maciej]

Blah Comm classes are so easy - you guys have it nothing compared to science majors.

I feel so tired of reading and working, I can't read your guys' long posts, I'm sorry. More than a sentence is too much this weekend...

[Messiahtosh]

Originally Posted by Maciej Blah Comm classes are so easy - you guys have it nothing compared to science majors. I feel so tired of reading and working, I can't read your guys' long posts, I'm sorry. More than a sentence is too much this weekend...

COMM is easy, compared to my IST classes. Information Sciences and Technology.

[Wrao]

Last semester I got an A+ on my ear training final, and I didn't even have to do anything. Which is good because I hadn't studied, and would have probably gotten a C-B otherwise. But Since I had straight As on all the other assignments, the teacher just said "there is no way you're not getting an A in this class, so, if you WANT to do a little test now you can, but I'm still giving you an A" We talked for a little bit about this and that, I shook his hand and left. Best final ever.

This semester, I dropped out

[Messiahtosh]

Originally Posted by Wrao Last semester I got an A+ on my ear training final, and I didn't even have to do anything. Which is good because I hadn't studied, and would have probably gotten a C-B otherwise. But Since I had straight As on all the other assignments, the teacher just said "there is no way you're not getting an A in this class, so, if you WANT to do a little test now you can, but I'm still giving you an A" We talked for a little bit about this and that, I shook his hand and left. Best final ever. This semester, I dropped out

Why'd you drop out?

[wuf]

Berkeley's science, engineering and research departments are 2nd to none, nevermind a community college.

Sorry, but I find that comment a bit insulting. I went to a community college for photography. Their program is ranked nationally. They have more room and equipment than I could have ever asked for, and studio space big enough to photograph school buses and tractor-trailers. Commercial photog's often rented out the space to use for shoots for Volvo and Nascar.

Please don't knock community colleges just because you went to a bigger school and paid more. Good instructors make the difference, not prestige.

[The Return of the 'nut]

Originally Posted by wuf Sorry, but I find that comment a bit insulting. I went to a community college for photography. Their program is ranked nationally. They have more room and equipment than I could have ever asked for, and studio space big enough to photograph school buses and tractor-trailers. Commercial photog's often rented out the space to use for shoots for Volvo and Nascar. Please don't knock community colleges just because you went to a bigger school and paid more. Good instructors make the difference, not prestige.

oh god. how'd I know this was going to happen. Interpret it so I'm "insulting" the little guy. I have no problem with community schools, there are many out there that offer a great deal and education. All I took issue with was his statement that his community college had a better science department. No matter what criteria you based your assessment on I doubt you could convince anyone that is true.

Congrats for your community college. I'm glad you got the most out of it. I'm getting the most out of my "prestigious university" that I'm paying more for. I find it funny that you suggest good instructors don't come with prestige and going to a school like Berkeley. At the same time you defend yourself you go on the attack. So, who makes you more righteous than I?