In the Dark

I just looked at the UNCC records system and noticed that my least favorite class this semester (because of instructor’s methods, not because of content), Western History and Culture: Masterpieces of Western Art, has been officially closed and that a grade as been posted for it. Unfortunately, the grade system itself is offline until December 21st, and it is after hours for the 49er Express Student Services system, so I am still left wondering on the grade. Deductive Logic, Abnormal Psychology and English Argumentation all went well in their exam periods, so I am thinking I did well in those courses and am not too concerned with those grades, but on my courses that are closer to life-and-death for me I am a bit worried. The disappointment that is Physics Lab was posted last week, that exam really screwed me over. I think Physics lecture tomorrow will be ok though, so I can redeem myself slightly there. As of the last day of all of the lectures I had the mathmatical possibility of an A in all of the courses except for Western History and Culture, and I kinda knew that one was a lost cause (but didn’t treat the final exam as that though). The first exam in the course I wasn’t sure of what to expect, the second was a little better but still not very clear, but I think I might have done ok on the final exam. The course itself caused me to be a little scared because of only having 3 exams for grades, but I guess its ok, especially with the possibily of 8 points extra credit on the final grade. I personally earned 6 points of the 8 availible for extra credit, I dont know if it will be enough to really save my grade, but it certainly cant hurt it. Abnormal Psychology is closer to this than my other courses, but it would never kill a students grade, for one the tests are muliple choice and not open ended. In addition there are some other assignments and extra credit opportunities availible, so the 4 tests dont have to stand alone. Dr. Presler makes the course seem like we are back in high school, there is homework, weekly quizing, and tests when she feels like it, then also a nice cumlative final. I am not truely sure how Betsy grades, or if she just pulls numbers/letters out of her head. We have turned in 2 papers, a few homework assignments and one group project. All of it graded by her, quite subjectively. I get the feeling that anyone who put forth some effort will get an A and those with more than 5 absences will have Fs. There is no one in the course who actually shows up that doesn’t try their best in her course. Its kind of funny now that I think about this, but Western History and Culture will be the one to kill my GPA, I thought that all along it would be a math course that would finish me off, oh well, there is still Calculus in the spring, im sure it will take its fair share of my mental resources. As long as I have a decent instructor and can enjoy the course I will be fine. In high school I had the same instructor over and over again for math courses, Mrs. Ward is a great person, but her math teaching skills just aren’t compatible with my ability to comprehend math.