The link between percentages and letter grades/GPAs can be a really tenuous one.
In the sciences and mathematics, which is my major area of experience, what usually happens is that the marks are scaled. So all the marks for all the stuff you have done over the semester goes into this magic black box of a program and it spits out a marks distribution.
It's kind of a rule of thumb that if the curve looks at all Gaussian (bell-shaped) then the peak of that Gaussian should correspond to a C+ or B-.
The PDF there should hold the most recent assignments for letter grades and their corresponding GPAs. Take note that not all professors assign A+ grades. I, however, have gotten two (that I recall, I may have gotten one more somewhere else). :) One was in the intro particle physics course (PHYS 380) which was all just drawing Feynman diagrams and conceptual stuff with a minimum of math.
Further on percentages and whatnot. Another time, I was taking MATH 232 (nasty linear algebra! BOOOOOOOOO). At the end of it I walked off with a B-. My percentage in that course was 57%.
on average, what is the % range of grades corresponding to a gpa of 2.0
I did some google searching and 2.0 = a C average
for arts classes, what percentage does this usually fall around... 60+?
what about a C+
thanks.
I think it really depends on the course. Some classes curve, others don't. The curve makes a huge difference. My Bisc 101 class was curved and I got an A+ with only 80-something percent. My Crim 103 class is not curved and depends entirely on pre-set criteria established by the department. They have exact ranges, like 96-100 = A+, 90-96 = A and so on (made up numbers there though). When I took English 105 I don't think it was curved. 80%s were only good enough for a B+. When I took Math 100, 60s were good enough for a B. Psyc 100 and 102 I got an A+ with around 94%. I think in general, sciences tend to be curved, arts tend not to be curved. If the exam is MC, more of a chance of being curved. If it's essays, less of a chance. With A+s, B+s and Bs my GPA hovers around 3.70. Most courses I've been in, science and arts, the avg is never higher than 60, and C+ is necessary to get into most other courses even if C is passing, so I think C+ is probably around 60-75, C is more likely to be between 50 and 60, and everything below 50 is probably fail.
the curve has only saved me once, in CMPT150. (A- with 63%)
in all the classes where we were told a grading scale, they were along the lines of A+ [100-95], A (95-90], A- (90-85], B+ (85-80], down to C- (60-55], and D (55-50) And GPAs starting at 4.33 for A+ and going down by 0.33 for each letter grade down.
^ what they said. Marks scaling destroys the link between percentage and letter grade so unless your department DOES have exact criteria the professor's discretion holds. As I said a 57% in MATH 232 became a B- for me...
You should've taken everyone's advice and dropped out earlier. Would've saved you a couple thousands in tuition.
Some people (evidently you) just aren't cut out for school. It's a futile effort.
Is it just me or do you have some sixth sense where you can tell when it's time to come here and cut people down?
Looking at your past posting history, you haven't been here since August, and before that not since last December when you were mocking this guy in the thread you linked to.
As far as I can tell both On Academic Probation and Required to Withdraw students can apply for the student success thingy regardless of whether they're in arts or some other faculty. But you were asking questions about failing courses the same time last year according to Myname. Here are my suggestions: - Change majors. Polsci is clearly not your thing. Try some other arts or social sci thing if that's what you're good at. Try journalism. Try English. Try anthropology. Try History. - Change departments. Do a total 180 and try some science courses or something. - Quit SFU, join some easy community college and come back to SFU when you're ready. - Quit SFU and get a short 2 year long associate's degree or technical certification in something. If I was totally failing at uni I would try and get some one or two year certification to be a veterinary assistant or something.
The way I see it, it's okay to have a bad semester, but not a bad year. It's also okay to fail a course and repeat it, but more than one course failed = rethink major time.
...Here are my suggestions: - Change majors. Polsci is clearly not your thing. Try some other arts or social sci thing if that's what you're good at. Try journalism. Try English. Try anthropology. Try History. ...
stay out of history. seriously, reading hundreds of pages a week and writing ridiculous term papers doesn't seem like your thing also. as much as people say history is an easy subject its not. sure lower div history is easy as pie considering most cases like 20th century western europe is a rehash of highschool history.
upper div 400 level history is no cake walk and you should probably avoid that too if you're not doing well in poli sci.
English is pretty easy even in the upper divs, maybe you should have a go at. :smile:
but yea, back to the op. if you wanna stay you should really look into that student sucess program.
if that doesn't work you can apply to langara, kwantlen or douglas to gain transfer credits that will bring your GPA back up.
p.s. if you're asian, be prepared to receive the beating of a life time for getting kicked out from uni. also, if you have a parent funded car, prepare to have that taken away and receive a serous scolding from the folks :P
^ what they said. Marks scaling destroys the link between percentage and letter grade so unless your department DOES have exact criteria the professor's discretion holds. As I said a 57% in MATH 232 became a B- for me...
man, if that's the case I better be getting an A right now.
Math 232 is a lot easier than when NukeChem would've taken it though, because they've split linear algebra into applied linear algebra (MATH 232) and Algebra I: Linear Algebra (MATH 240). They took out most proofs and whatnot and put them in 240. So I'd suspect that averages would be higher since the split.
If I had my druthers I'd purposely destroy every LinAlg textbook in the world and wipe out peoples' memories of it so we'd rediscover it from scratch with less idiotic terminology that means absolutely zip to anyone not already a math geek.
Math is a tool. A tool to get the job done. In quantum mechanics it's a tool for us to find out what goes on in a nucleus or an atom. The matrices are guaranteed to have mutually orthogonal eigenvectors, but the plain fact can be USED without needing to know or care about where that property comes from.
mm-hmm. Back when I took it it was so larded down with theorem, proof, theorem, proof, it just drove me nuts.
I have no use for proof of the spectral theorem. I just care that a symmetric matrix always has mutually orthogonal eigenvectors.
i had the chills when i read this.. the horrors of proofing.. and i don't wanna find out what symmetric matrix and orthogonal eigenvectors..:omg: feels like it can kill me in an instant..
i think im gonna apply to get into the student success program
is there any reason why I wouldnt be able to get in if I am RTW? I checked it out and apparently its an option available to all students on AP / RTW but it hasnt been updated since last semester
nope, i think its pretty straight forward. you apply to the program. they let you in. they charge an additional 500 bux ontop of your normal tuition and then you are given another chance to stay.
I think you're better off dropping out and going to Langara, get some credits and try to transfer back in. Or just get a degree at Langara.
The Student Succcess Program is like ESL class. They treat you like an idiot and teach you High School level stuff all over again (while holding your hand). If you pass it, they'll let you back in but it only works once (you can't take SSP more than once) and you'll have wasted a year plus a lot of money for something that won't apply towards... anything.
They ban you from SFU (as a student) if you fail the SSP. AP is level 1, RTW is level 2, and SSP is level 3. If you fail level 3, they won't let you back in anymore because they deem your intelligence to be unfit for SFU.
I don't know how you can manage to fail POL though. I've taken a few POL courses for WQB and they were pretty easy (It's just reading and memorizing facts, then writing an essay or short answer), and I'm in CS.
I don't know how you can manage to fail POL though. I've taken a few POL courses for WQB and they were pretty easy (It's just reading and memorizing facts, then writing an essay or short answer), and I'm in CS.
all lower div classes are quite easy. its only in the upper div that they actually start to hurt.
all lower div classes are quite easy. its only in the upper div that they actually start to hurt.
Of course, but if you look at this thread that was linked earlier: http://talksfu.ca/showthread.php?t=5248, he was in POL 100 last fall so I assume this is only his second year meaning he's taking lower division courses.
thats a good point about being banned if I were to fail step 3
except the SSP runs for three terms, meaning i have 3 terms to get my cgpa above 2.0
if It were to fall below 2.0 again upon completion of SSP, I would have an additional term on AP to get it above 2.0
the likelihood of that happening is pretty slim I'd say....
my cgpa is sitting at 1.9 right now... I haven't failed any POL courses since my first semester (referring to the old thread)
its a Q course I'm currently taking for WQB that I may not do so well in
you would think that being on AP would have made me study more, and although it has... its clear I need a bigger commitment towards school. but thanks again for all the replies and a big thumbs up to all of you who are academically sound! hopefully i will soon be in the same boat ^__^
Comments
In the sciences and mathematics, which is my major area of experience, what usually happens is that the marks are scaled. So all the marks for all the stuff you have done over the semester goes into this magic black box of a program and it spits out a marks distribution.
It's kind of a rule of thumb that if the curve looks at all Gaussian (bell-shaped) then the peak of that Gaussian should correspond to a C+ or B-.
http://students.sfu.ca/calendar/calendar09-10.pdf (See page 29)
The PDF there should hold the most recent assignments for letter grades and their corresponding GPAs. Take note that not all professors assign A+ grades. I, however, have gotten two (that I recall, I may have gotten one more somewhere else). :) One was in the intro particle physics course (PHYS 380) which was all just drawing Feynman diagrams and conceptual stuff with a minimum of math.
Further on percentages and whatnot. Another time, I was taking MATH 232 (nasty linear algebra! BOOOOOOOOO). At the end of it I walked off with a B-. My percentage in that course was 57%.
the link shows the gpa corresponding to the letter grade but do you know the percentile range for the letter grade? (for arts classes)
approximate
also if you are RTW is there ANY alternative method which would allow u to stay for another semester?
When I took English 105 I don't think it was curved. 80%s were only good enough for a B+. When I took Math 100, 60s were good enough for a B. Psyc 100 and 102 I got an A+ with around 94%.
I think in general, sciences tend to be curved, arts tend not to be curved. If the exam is MC, more of a chance of being curved. If it's essays, less of a chance.
With A+s, B+s and Bs my GPA hovers around 3.70.
Most courses I've been in, science and arts, the avg is never higher than 60, and C+ is necessary to get into most other courses even if C is passing, so I think C+ is probably around 60-75, C is more likely to be between 50 and 60, and everything below 50 is probably fail.
in all the classes where we were told a grading scale, they were along the lines of A+ [100-95], A (95-90], A- (90-85], B+ (85-80], down to C- (60-55], and D (55-50)
And GPAs starting at 4.33 for A+ and going down by 0.33 for each letter grade down.
what year and major are you? :|
Some people (evidently you) just aren't cut out for school. It's a futile effort.
Looking at your past posting history, you haven't been here since August, and before that not since last December when you were mocking this guy in the thread you linked to.
But you were asking questions about failing courses the same time last year according to Myname. Here are my suggestions:
- Change majors. Polsci is clearly not your thing. Try some other arts or social sci thing if that's what you're good at. Try journalism. Try English. Try anthropology. Try History.
- Change departments. Do a total 180 and try some science courses or something.
- Quit SFU, join some easy community college and come back to SFU when you're ready.
- Quit SFU and get a short 2 year long associate's degree or technical certification in something. If I was totally failing at uni I would try and get some one or two year certification to be a veterinary assistant or something.
The way I see it, it's okay to have a bad semester, but not a bad year. It's also okay to fail a course and repeat it, but more than one course failed = rethink major time.
upper div 400 level history is no cake walk and you should probably avoid that too if you're not doing well in poli sci.
English is pretty easy even in the upper divs, maybe you should have a go at. :smile:
if that doesn't work you can apply to langara, kwantlen or douglas to gain transfer credits that will bring your GPA back up.
p.s. if you're asian, be prepared to receive the beating of a life time for getting kicked out from uni. also, if you have a parent funded car, prepare to have that taken away and receive a serous scolding from the folks :P
I have no use for proof of the spectral theorem. I just care that a symmetric matrix always has mutually orthogonal eigenvectors.
Oh how I wanted to do 157 so I could do some business classes, but I refuse to enroll in a class I know I'll bomb.
Math is a tool. A tool to get the job done. In quantum mechanics it's a tool for us to find out what goes on in a nucleus or an atom. The matrices are guaranteed to have mutually orthogonal eigenvectors, but the plain fact can be USED without needing to know or care about where that property comes from.
i think im gonna apply to get into the student success program
is there any reason why I wouldnt be able to get in if I am RTW? I checked it out and apparently its an option available to all students on AP / RTW but it hasnt been updated since last semester
good luck
The Student Succcess Program is like ESL class. They treat you like an idiot and teach you High School level stuff all over again (while holding your hand). If you pass it, they'll let you back in but it only works once (you can't take SSP more than once) and you'll have wasted a year plus a lot of money for something that won't apply towards... anything.
They ban you from SFU (as a student) if you fail the SSP. AP is level 1, RTW is level 2, and SSP is level 3. If you fail level 3, they won't let you back in anymore because they deem your intelligence to be unfit for SFU.
I don't know how you can manage to fail POL though. I've taken a few POL courses for WQB and they were pretty easy (It's just reading and memorizing facts, then writing an essay or short answer), and I'm in CS.
except the SSP runs for three terms, meaning i have 3 terms to get my cgpa above 2.0
if It were to fall below 2.0 again upon completion of SSP, I would have an additional term on AP to get it above 2.0
the likelihood of that happening is pretty slim I'd say....
my cgpa is sitting at 1.9 right now... I haven't failed any POL courses since my first semester (referring to the old thread)
its a Q course I'm currently taking for WQB that I may not do so well in
you would think that being on AP would have made me study more, and although it has... its clear I need a bigger commitment towards school. but thanks again for all the replies and a big thumbs up to all of you who are academically sound! hopefully i will soon be in the same boat ^__^