percentage of plebes who got D in Calc

swgarland

5-Year Member
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Apr 16, 2010
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I have heard that 65% of the class received a D in Calc.
Is this correct?
 
D in calc.

My son got a C, had an A in calc. in high school in 11th grade. He seems happy with the C. Go figure.
 
Low Grades

I read this post yesterday and wondered how so many mids could be getting such low grades. I was looking at The Princeton Review's "The Best 371 Colleges 2010 Edition" and in the front of the book they rate "academics, student satisfaction, campus life, dorms, etc...". They also rate professors either high or low. Under the heading, "Professors Get Low Marks", USMMA was rated #1 of 371 by the students. I know nothing about all of this, but it makes you wonder what the problem is.
 
low grades/rating teachers

I think the whole "low rated" teachers, food etc in various surveys comes down to the lack of choice. ie eat whats in front of you , no choice of picking from 5 different cafes each with many items on the menu, like they do at a"typical college" Also when I went to school (way back when :) )you got to pick the proof you wanted AND the day you wanted to take the class. No such luck at KP. But after 4 years, they end up employed. So does the lack of choices (and low ratings..) really matter?
 
I think the whole "low rated" teachers, food etc in various surveys comes down to the lack of choice. ie eat whats in front of you , no choice of picking from 5 different cafes each with many items on the menu, like they do at a"typical college" Also when I went to school (way back when :) )you got to pick the proof you wanted AND the day you wanted to take the class. No such luck at KP. But after 4 years, they end up employed. So does the lack of choices (and low ratings..) really matter?

in a way, yes, youre right. eating what is essentially the same menu every 2 weeks gets HORRIBLY old. but that doesnt make up for the fact that the food itself is, in essence, BAD. i would say that the quality does in fact play more of a part in the "low rating" of the food than the lack of variety.

as for the teachers, i disagree completely. most of the mids at the academy understand that, due to the choice they (we) have made, we're not entitled to the same sort of flexibility in curriculum as our counterparts at "normal" college. but, for a Service Academy, i really dont think that its too much of a stretch to get professors that we can UNDERSTAND when they speak, or that spend more time teaching rather than finding "creative", 5-minute long ways to wake up plebes, or going ballistic because someone whispered something to their neighbor, or threatening to take points off of a students grade if they dont know the verbatim definition of 'production possibility curve' off the top of their head. another issue is that, while alot of our professors are absolutely BRILLIANT in their respective fields from a knowledge standpoint, they are terrible at teaching it. You can actually sit and watch certain instructors struggle to find the words to describe even the basics of a subject that they obviously know inside and out themselves. so, in conclusion, yes the lack of variety may play a part in the low ratings of both of these fields, but a greater variety of poor options would not happier midshipmen make:wink:
 
I read this post yesterday and wondered how so many mids could be getting such low grades. I was looking at The Princeton Review's "The Best 371 Colleges 2010 Edition" and in the front of the book they rate "academics, student satisfaction, campus life, dorms, etc...". They also rate professors either high or low. Under the heading, "Professors Get Low Marks", USMMA was rated #1 of 371 by the students. I know nothing about all of this, but it makes you wonder what the problem is.


I think most of the mids setback or disenrolled were taking calculus. What will happen to the mids that take calculus next term? I think some forget they are there to teach......
 
in a way, yes, youre right. eating what is essentially the same menu every 2 weeks gets HORRIBLY old. but that doesnt make up for the fact that the food itself is, in essence, BAD. i would say that the quality does in fact play more of a part in the "low rating" of the food than the lack of variety.

as for the teachers, i disagree completely. most of the mids at the academy understand that, due to the choice they (we) have made, we're not entitled to the same sort of flexibility in curriculum as our counterparts at "normal" college. but, for a Service Academy, i really dont think that its too much of a stretch to get professors that we can UNDERSTAND when they speak, or that spend more time teaching rather than finding "creative", 5-minute long ways to wake up plebes, or going ballistic because someone whispered something to their neighbor, or threatening to take points off of a students grade if they dont know the verbatim definition of 'production possibility curve' off the top of their head. another issue is that, while alot of our professors are absolutely BRILLIANT in their respective fields from a knowledge standpoint, they are terrible at teaching it. You can actually sit and watch certain instructors struggle to find the words to describe even the basics of a subject that they obviously know inside and out themselves. so, in conclusion, yes the lack of variety may play a part in the low ratings of both of these fields, but a greater variety of poor options would not happier midshipmen make:wink:

Food is a great motivator.
 
I think most of the mids setback or disenrolled were taking calculus. What will happen to the mids that take calculus next term? I think some forget they are there to teach......

NAILED it:thumb:

Food is a great motivator.

see above:thumb: a powerful DEmotivator, as well.
 
Rate Instructors

Does anyone know if Mids get to rate instructors at the end of a tri. ? If so, who sees the ratings? :confused:
 
Last edited:
Don't know if the mids rate the teachers or see the results, but they can go to

Rate My Professor.com and see what past students have said about some teachers. If enough similar comments have been made about a professor, there must be a grain of truth. Conversely, some of it must be taken with the grain of salt, especially if there is only a few comments or one comment not in line with the others.

Most mids hear from one another concerning the teachers and what certain professors expect.

My mid's reaction to his teachers this tri, "Yeah, I got pretty good teachers this tri! At least they all speak English clearly". My response, "OK, now get good grades!!".
 
As a general rule, SAs are tough. And, IMO, that's a good thing. In my day at USNA, going into our final EE exams, ~80% of the class had a D or below. I must admit that the final was quite easy if you'd studied. I think they feared having 800 rising firsties in summer school.:eek:

It IS a shock for most plebes/doolies first semester at SAs. Almost all have been tops in their class and suddenly they're getting Cs and Ds. I was no exception and my mother (a former teacher) was almost in complete shock. Trust me, 99% of them will get through it and their grades will improve as they become more efficient at studying and juggling all of the things a SA throws at them.
 
As a general rule, SAs are tough. And, IMO, that's a good thing. In my day at USNA, going into our final EE exams, ~80% of the class had a D or below. I must admit that the final was quite easy if you'd studied. I think they feared having 800 rising firsties in summer school.:eek:

It IS a shock for most plebes/doolies first semester at SAs. Almost all have been tops in their class and suddenly they're getting Cs and Ds. I was no exception and my mother (a former teacher) was almost in complete shock. Trust me, 99% of them will get through it and their grades will improve as they become more efficient at studying and juggling all of the things a SA throws at them.
As a "VETERAN" AC PRO ranger...I can fully concur with this!

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
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