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I feel like and old man saying this but I remember the pass rate for the C++ exam at my uni (in Eastern Europe) was 42%. There was no petition, we learned to co

I feel like and old man saying this but I remember the pass rate for the C++ exam at my uni (in Eastern Europe) was 42%. There was no petition, we learned to code.

ryandrake 4y ago
For me, first year Physics was the weed-out. I vaguely remember the professor's speech on the first day: "I know you all want to be engineers, but in order to do that, you need to pass PHYS101 and this is a difficult class. There are over 1,000 people in this auditorium. By the end of the semester, it will be closer to half of that. There will be no retakes. There will be no curve. There will be no appealing of grades after the fact. If you are struggling with the subject matter, my office is open, but not after your grade is issued. [And so on and so forth]" I think a few people just walked out after the speech in fear rather than even try. It looks like none of that would even remotely fly today.
- Balgair 4y ago
  I had professors that would very literally cackle in glee at how hard their classes were. The best/worst was the 'Choose your Grade' exam. The professor has written up four exams for the final. One was a D grade, one a C, one a B, and the last was an A. Each exam being progressively harder. You got to choose your grade by choosing your exam. If you passed, you got that grade, if not, you got an F. All were open book, no time limit, but you had to stick with your choice. I remember talking with the TA grad students about grading the exams and even they were stumped by the difficulty of the A exams. Looking back, it was marvelous. I was so proud of passing that B level exam.
  - rcxdude 4y ago
    ugh, that seems like basically the opposite of a good exam. More like setting up a psychological experiment than a useful way of gauging the ability of your students.
    - Balgair 4y ago
      Oh the exams were 'good'. The levels were appropriate. It's the psychological factor that really got to you. To be fair, it was a 'weeder' class, and it did sort the students out.

I feel like and old man saying this but I remember the pass rate for the C++ exam at my uni (in Eastern Europe) was 42%. There was no petition, we learned to code.

ryandrake 4y ago

For me, first year Physics was the weed-out. I vaguely remember the professor's speech on the first day: "I know you all want to be engineers, but in order to do that, you need to pass PHYS101 and this is a difficult class. There are over 1,000 people in this auditorium. By the end of the semester, it will be closer to half of that. There will be no retakes. There will be no curve. There will be no appealing of grades after the fact. If you are struggling with the subject matter, my office is open, but not after your grade is issued. [And so on and so forth]" I think a few people just walked out after the speech in fear rather than even try. It looks like none of that would even remotely fly today.

Balgair 4y ago
I had professors that would very literally cackle in glee at how hard their classes were. The best/worst was the 'Choose your Grade' exam. The professor has written up four exams for the final. One was a D grade, one a C, one a B, and the last was an A. Each exam being progressively harder. You got to choose your grade by choosing your exam. If you passed, you got that grade, if not, you got an F. All were open book, no time limit, but you had to stick with your choice. I remember talking with the TA grad students about grading the exams and even they were stumped by the difficulty of the A exams. Looking back, it was marvelous. I was so proud of passing that B level exam.
- rcxdude 4y ago
  ugh, that seems like basically the opposite of a good exam. More like setting up a psychological experiment than a useful way of gauging the ability of your students.
  - Balgair 4y ago
    Oh the exams were 'good'. The levels were appropriate. It's the psychological factor that really got to you. To be fair, it was a 'weeder' class, and it did sort the students out.