Guest Ibraheem Posted February 10, 2004 Report Share Posted February 10, 2004 Have you ever seen a trend with high school marks and university marks? How were your marks like? In high school and University? did the marks go up or down? what if you took advanced courses, was your mark higher in 1st year university? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest codloghorn Posted February 10, 2004 Report Share Posted February 10, 2004 during orientation at university, they informed us that a grade of C was good.. and that marks likely go down 10-15% but then usually go back up in 2nd year.. as we get used to the atmosphere of university... IMO advanced courses don't mean a lot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ibraheem Posted February 10, 2004 Report Share Posted February 10, 2004 but i have been told that AP courses cover everything for 1st year university... :eek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest codloghorn Posted February 10, 2004 Report Share Posted February 10, 2004 yes, so do regular courses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted February 10, 2004 Report Share Posted February 10, 2004 AP courses will not make your life 'smooth sailing' in first year necessarily...I saw plenty of people that had done AP courses FAIL miserably the first year equivalent course...why? Because they thought that they knew it all...they didn't bother getting out of bed to go to classes...partied every Wed, Thurs, Fri and Sat night and went skiing on every possible weekend. They didn't work, they didn't study...and they didn't do well. Meanwhile, I saw some people that got a 70 in high school chemistry pull out an 85 in first year...because they really worked hard at it. That said, there is usually somewhat of a correlation between high school and university marks. If you did well in high school, you will likely do well in university...provided that you don't screw it up! Likewise, if you scraped by in high school (ie worked hard but didn't do so well) you will probably not become Einstein the moment you start university....you will continue to need to work hard. My high school average was ~5-10% higher than my average in most semesters of my four year degree. I did not notice a big drop in first year...but there was also no 'return' to my high school average in second year either. As an aside, I think that second year is a much harder year than first! Bottom line: if you have always done well and you continue to work hard, you will be fine in university. If you have always struggled, you probably will continue to struggle at university. If you party rather than working, it doesn't matter what you have seen/done before or how smart you are - it isn't going to work out well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 007 Posted February 10, 2004 Report Share Posted February 10, 2004 I've found my experience to be much like aneliz'. My average has dropped about 5% from highschool. However, my marks have dropped a little more this year, which I believe is because I've decided that there is more to life than my desk. I didn't do AP courses and there was only maybe one or two things in each of my first year courses that I hadn't seen before. 007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mitchie41 Posted February 10, 2004 Report Share Posted February 10, 2004 I don't think you really encounter anything really difficult in your first year(regardless of whether or not you did AP\IB), but I found second year to be a lot tougher. AND YES, there are lots of people who did IB\AP in high school who don't do so hot in first year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest grandmellon Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 I agree with all that has been said and just want to encourage you to find a good level of balance in university so that you will obtain the marks you want and the social life you need. My marks were good in highschool but went up even higher in university :rollin but I had to put the work in! Balance is the key but it might take a year to get balanced so don't fret if your marks go down a little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Elliott Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 I have seen trends in my grades - good ones coincide with me putting in effort - bad seem to be indicative of my brain being elsewhere. My marks in HS were varied. I was generally an honor roll student (the one below the really smart kids), but I maintained a pretty steady B throughout with a few above and a few below. That said, I only did about 25 hours of homework in four year of HS, no kidding here. So, my lousy performance was definitely my own fault. In uni, to quote someone above (who made me laugh really loud this morning) stated that regular courses cover everything in 1st year (i.e.: Eng 12, Lit 12, Geo 12, Math 12... etc.) is so RIGHT. I am taking this first year Eng. course right now that I waited to take and MAN is it boring... Actually, I think it's like Eng.9! Anyway, my point is, 1st = mostly stuff you have seen before with a bit of variation and a prof who swears in class. He/She might be drunk too. As far AP courses, if I were you and you felt you needed the extra challenge, you absolutely should. One thing is, although AP might push you into the 1st year material a bit further and help you obtain some great scholarships, overall it really doesn't mean a lot. In my first year of Uni, I hadn't taken any AP courses, my bf had taken like Math 12 AP and Calc 12 AP in grade 11! He was super smart and had never received a B in his life. Well, he failed 3 courses first year, went back in second to a community college and did a diploma. It really depends on you as a person a lot more than AP this and AP that. When you get there, HS is history. If you were the smartest, nobody knows, nor do they care. Just do what is best for the time right now. Hope this helps All the best, Ellliott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Steve U of T Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 "but i have been told that AP courses cover everything for 1st year university..." "yes, so do regular courses." These statements are both essentially true. I can't comment on AP courses, but I have a bunch of friends who went to high schools that offered the IB program. U of T actually gives them transfer credits for IB courses, so they are not required to take the first year equivalents. I know of somebody who decided to use this to essentially jump right into 2nd year when he started university, but he didn't do particularly well. Most people take it slow, and may take a few 1st year and a few 2nd year courses, because university is a major adjustment. My school did not offer AP or IB courses, so I took OAC courses. During 1st year university calculus, I did not learn a single new detail until March (the course ran from September-April). In OAC calculus, we went through both differentiation and integration rather thoroughly. Although integration by parts, trigonometric substitution and partial fractions weren't part of the formal high school curriculum, we finished everything else early and had lots of extra time. A lot of chemistry and physics repeated the high school material as well. However, I was in a gifted program during high school, so my experience doesn't necessarily reflect the 'average' university experience. It is inevitable that many people's grades will drop going from high school to university. In high school, using qualitative terms to describe percentage grades, I would say that a grade above 90 is considered excellent, 80-89 is good, 70-79 is fair (i.e. average), etc. I don't know about other schools, but U of T's official policy on grades is that "excellent" is >80%, good is 70-79%, adequate is 60-69%, and the average grade in most 1st and 2nd year courses is in the mid to high 60's. The standards are a lot higher, and you truly have to demonstrate excellence to earn an A in university. Also, just about everybody in a university such as U of T had a high school average above 75 (possibly higher now). The class averages in the first few years of university generally range from C to B- (i.e. 63-72), so some grades must drop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MDSMelissa Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 My marks dropped about 4% (92% to 88%) I have seen people's marks stay the same, and a lot of people who went down significantly (i.e. >10%). I think that for the most part, what determines how your marks will be relative to high school are the standards that you set for yourself. I consistently aimed to be at the top of my class, whereas others got used to settling for mid-way marks because they felt that the effort required for better wasn't worth it. University, like high school, usually begins with an adjustment period and my average went up each year. It takes some time to learn how to be a "university student". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 0T6 Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 Just adding t what Melissa said, there are people who's marks go UP by 5-10% and like I've said, it's all about attitude and what you're willing to put in. I personally saw my average go up by about 4% from high school, with some courses (chem) being 15% higher than high school. So I don't think there's a "trend" that you can easily see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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