grade 12 marks

[Guest hopefullubcmedstudent]

hey, i was just wondering how different my marks from university will be from my marks in high school. I will be attending UBC this fall, and i plan on entering sciences.

 

I'm not sure what i want to major in (any suggestions on majors that help get to med school is helpfull), but i was wondering how much my marks will drop, if at all, from my high school marks. In high school I got 97 in math 12, 94 in physics 12, 86 in english 12, and 93 in chemistry 12.

 

I did not take biology in grades 11 or 12, but got 97 in the biology section of science 10, and am going to take biology courses in first year university.

 

I always hear that you need a certain gpa to get into med school, and am wondering how much my marks will drop in university courses. If you have any tips as to how i can keep my gpa up, they are appreciated.

[Guest therealcrackers]

Going from high school to university my marks dropped from 94 to an 83. In my experience that was a fairly normal change from high school to 1st year; part of it had to do with writing final exams for the first time. I went to a high school where you could get exemptions if your average was above a certain level, and that's gone by the wayside.

 

Most students have found their marks dropped a bit; how much depends on your ability to focus for exams and assignments and labs, and on the sort of study and living environments you inhabit.

 

For making the jump, a few suggestions---still do the things you like to do. treat studying like a part-time job, and put in the hours. Learn as much as you can about a subject you would consider doing for a major. Find out about volunteer and research experiences you may find rewarding.

 

University is a life-expanding experience, and the change in my outlook from high school to first year was spectacular. I hope you have a positive experience, too. Good luck!

 

Crackers UWO MEDS 2 13 years out of high school

[Guest Biochem10]

My marks didn't drop significantly from high school to university, although my high school average was only around an 89%, my average now is in the low 80's (i couldn't tell you precisely because our school no longer gives percents). I think this question completely depends on the individual person, but there are other factors such as where you went to high school (some schools are in fact easier than others) and what your course of study is. In university, I no longer had to take the classes that were bringing down my high school average, in particular, English & French. I was always a good student in sciences, so once I was in an all-science curriculum, I actually found things better. I think the key is to be able to adapt to the university environment & independent learning, if you're used to being spoonfed by your teachers than you will be in for a big surprise in university.

[Guest moo]

I find your grades will drop by about 10%, of course there are exceptions. I went from a 96 avg in HS to about 87-88 at UBC. Going to ubc is a life changing experience but you shouldn't look at it as the be all end all. Just keep your avg in the 80 range (A-) and you should be fine.

 

moo

ubc 2002

northwestern feinberg med 2006

chicago, il, usa

[Guest hopefullubcmedstudent]

Thanks for all your help people! I'm definitely going to try my best to keep my marks at an A or so average. Also, do i have to take a certain number of english courses as a requirement for ubc med school? If i do, can anyone recommend an english course or courses that are easy so it wont affect my overall gpa? Thanks again.

[Guest Ian Wong]

The UBC Med website is located here:

 

www.admissions.med.ubc.ca/

 

There's a list of pre-requisite courses here, including which courses you need to take at UBC to fulfill UBC's English requirement. The UBC website is the final say on what courses you need to have taken in order to apply to UBC Med, so make sure to bookmark it, and not miss out.

 

www.admissions.med.ubc.ca/adreq.htm#prereqs

 

Finally, did you get my email yesterday regarding your account?

 

Ian

[Guest peachy]

Personally, my grades now are higher than they were in high school (they weren't in first-year, though)... so it CAN be done But you do need to choose to make it a priority!

 

Just don't get scared off! When I was in first year, I had all these people telling me that University is just sooooo hard. There is no way to get good marks, etc. And I believed them! Then in second year, I told myself that this was ridiculous, and that I could get great marks. And I believed me! It was as simple as that.

[Guest 0T6]

my marks here at the wonderful world of first year life sci at UT are either higher or equal to high school marks, but that's just because I didn't give a damn during high school and now I'm working my but off

[Guest Flux]

Yes, make sure you don't get scared by other people saying how much your mark will drop. When I came to UofT from high school, the profs themselves were saying how you should expect a drop of around 20-30% from your high school marks. That scared the frosh quite a bit. In first year I bet 80% of us wanted to go to med. I was rather cocky at the time and didn't pay much attention, but I came through alright. My mark did drop, but only by maybe 10% or so and I'm still on the 3.9/4.0 border. So my advice is not to pay so much attention to how much you will drop. Just do your best.

 

[Guest mitchie41]

I agree with the previous statements.

 

I'm in Science at UBC right now, and i've noticed that a lot of stuff that people said about my marks dropping drastically from HS didn't really come true in my first year.

 

so don't worry about what other people tell you. Just do all the homework/readings/problem sets/practice exams until you know them inside out and you should do very well.

[Guest ssup]

"Just do all the homework/readings/problem sets/practice exams until you know them inside out and you should do very well."- mitchie41

 

REMEMBER TO BREATHE EVERY SO OFTEN TOO...part of adjusting to university life is learning how to balance an insane amount of studying with a certain amount of self-care! :eek

[Guest OncologyMike]

How does one jump from 12 to unversity? What happened to OAC or what used to be called 13?

[Guest mying]

My marks weren't too stellar in high school and dropped a lot in first year university -- sometimes by as much as 20%.

 

But then, I didn't have the good advice everyone has give you here.

 

Study. Make a study plan and stick to it and modify it as you need to as you learn more about your new academic environment. The world of first year uni seems to involve a lot of "hey man, put the books down and let's go out" but you need to have the nerve to set your own schedule and stick to it. Nobody will be breathing down your neck or making helpful reminders about assignments being due or exams coming up. The idea of treating studying like a part-time job is a worthy one. You need to stay on top of your work -- and if you can make the adjustment, your marks may not change much at all.

 

 

OncologyMike: The original poster is in BC. (And grade 13 is gone as of this year in Ontario too)

[Guest OncologyMike]

Ahh..I just found this on the UofT requiement site:

 

Minimum Requirements

Applicants to all programs applying on the basis of Ontario secondary school studies must present six Grade 12 U or M courses or six OAC courses including ENG4U/EAE4U or OAC English 1/anglais. Appropriate combinations of OAC and Grade 12 courses will also be considered. Applicants from other educational jurisdictions must present equivalent qualifications.

 

So basically, they offer 12U as OAC now? Does this mean there's "general", "advanced" and "university" levels offered in highschool? I must be seriously out of the loop lol.

 

What does the M stand for?

[Guest not rex morgan]

I, personally, did better in the courses in which I got to know my profs. I was freaked about physics b/c I didn't take grade 11 physics. Although it was a prereq, they waived it for me. For the first week, I didn't know what a vector was. I went to my prof's office hours and asked questions. Same with English. Actually, that's the best tip I can give for English. Before you write your essays, make an appointment with your prof to talk about what you are thinking for the essay. These people are brilliant and offer you great tips. You also get a better sense of what they are looking for. Some people suggest you take the English course that teaches you to write essays first. Sorry I can't remember what it's called, but look at the descriptions. This will help you with your second English course in which you write essays. As for sciences at UBC, there are great resource centres, at least there were when I was there. There is one for Math, and one for Chem. They got to know me in the chem centre quite well. I had one prof that would just look at my face while I was sitting there working on something, and tell me I looked like I needed help. I guess I have the innate ability to look pathetically confused. Brock Hall, the administrative building, has old exams available for you to photocopy for quite a few of your courses. I believe these are in the counselling office. If you can, go on an AMS orientation tour. I used to work for them. When I was there, you got a tour of the campus, a pretty comprehensive overview of clubs, intramurals and other activites you could take part in, a study skills session, and a few UBC students that you can ask lots of questions of. There were also prizes, and free stuff. (in my first year, when I took my orientation, we got lots of coupons, pens, a clipboard, and a condom). It costs about 25 bucks, so even if you find it useless, it wasn't that costly, and you took a shot at it. Some people thought it was lame at the time, but I actually had someone come up to me (at the Pit...campas bar) and thank me for the info he got from the tour. He said we inspired him to get involved and his grades were great b/c he time-manages better when he has non-curricular activities. Most people seemed to get something useful out of it. Those that thought it was stupid seemed to be there b/c their moms made them go. Get to know people in your classes and get some study buddies, and/or friends. I know people are telling you to buckle down and study hard, but you have to remember that university is not a hiatus from life. Yes you do have to put in the hours. That was a fantastic tip. However, many people who socially isolate get depressed and that isn't good for your health or your grades. So I encourage you to get involved in something really interesting. The university has a wealth of experience just waiting to be had. You'll find that slotting some fun into your life not only makes you happier, and more willing to study, but it gives you more structure, and better time-management. Good luck.

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Hmm. . . my marks were actually quite similar to yours in High School. 99/99/99 for the core sciences, 95ish for the Maths (I think it was 94, 94 and 96 for calc, finite and al/geo,) 89 for English, and low to mid 90s for the other OACs I took (?Philosophy and Science in Society? Man that was a long time ago.)

 

To say how much those marks dropped by on average would be impossible. First, I took a much more balanced approach in University. . . realizing that I really had no aspirations for a Rhodes scholarship, that my resume from High School had lots of academic awards but was sparser on other things, and noticing that the highest distinction you could get in undergrad was "First class honours" or "graduated with distinction" which was a a 3.70 or roughly 80% in every course, I decided to not let my self stress-out if I didn't get a 90%, but did make sure I (almost) always got over 80% no matter how hard the class was or how unfair the prof was.

 

That last bit I mentioned is the main reason, though, that I think it's impossible to predict how your marks will react to University. . . profs and courses can be extremely erratic in their difficulty, fairness, and also teaching ability. On the one hand, the first course I ever got a final mark back in, Chemistry, I actually went up. . . to 100%. But admittedly, that particular prof gave a lot of bonus marks that I capitalized on. My calc mark that term was also over 90%, as I got an A+ in that as well. On the flip-side, I took a combined philosophy-history-english-lit course worth 3.0 full credits where I ended up with a B+ (between 75 and 79%,) so as it turned out that whole year ended up being my lowest for GPA purposes! That is a total exception. . . that course has only given out one mark above 90% in the 25+ years of the program, and they almost never gave out an A or A-. But the same phenomenon was true of a number of other courses I took. . . some I'd get 90+ with a reasonable amount of work, others I'd slave just to get that holy 80%.

 

Don't think you can talk to the upper-year students to figure out what's easy and hard, either. I took a microbial genetics course that I was told was ridiculously difficult and got an A. I was told the sequel to that course, taught by the husband of the first course's prof, was much easier as a friend of mine got an A- in the husband's course after a D in the wife's. No such luck. . . that course ended up being the lowest on my transcript! And it wasn't cause I slacked in it either. . . probably had something to do with the essay format on the exams, and the prof just plain not liking my essays.

 

So, to summarize:

1) Your marks may go down. Then again, they might not.

2) Work hard but also enjoy your time in University. . . as one pop culture movie put it, you'll never enjoy the company of so many beautiful young women/men in your life

3) Choose courses you will enjoy, not ones you think will be easy.

4) Don't expect consistency in your marks. . . don't worry if they aren't as high as they were in High School, but also try to make sure even the hardest courses you take end up with an A- (80%)