Exam difficulty

[TalkingDonkey]

I had a Russian culture class where the test were much like this; however:

1. Exam was 6-7 essays to be done in a 1 hour 30 minute time period
2. We were given advance notice of the essays, but were not allowed to bring notes to class.
3. The grading was relatively easy - I managed a 95 on both exams.

It sounds like you've gotten unlucky (or stupid) and drawn a real [censored]. Guys, this is why they developed ratemyprofessor.com.

[Jeff_B]

Yeah i would Defiently try to find someone else who had him. THis seems rough but doable...

Like the guy before said he might curve at the end.. I once withdrew from a class with a 45% average...which I did not knw was a high B.

[I_teach_writing]

Not normal. Especially given the history of grade inflation at large schools. If there is no curve at the end of the semester, go to his office and ask him what type of writing he does where he doesn't get to revise. He doesn't. All the writing professors do is revised a bunch of times...why don't students get the same conditions? In-class essay exams drive me nuts.

[cgrohman]

No curve?

[SuperUberBob]

That's not too bad. I had econ courses that required essay exams that filled up that much space.

[kevin017]

5-7 pages isn't a problem, and I guarantee if you write a solid 4 page essay you'll do better than someone busting their ass to write 7 pages of garbage.

if this is an intro class he's gotta curve, no way they fail that much. If you know you were in the top 10 of 35 i wouldn't be worried.

[propaganda]

Thanks for all the replies.
He ended up giving us a chance to rewrite this as he did not want to fail most of the class.
Rate my professors was not an option--this is his first semester here, and I couldn't find anything about him from his past universities.

[propaganda]

There's a happy ending to the story.

We got our rewrite back and the grade only went up to a B-. Again, this was near the top of the class. He also left the impression that there would be no curve.

He let us worry for about a week, then handed back our midterm. This time the grades were more in line with what I would expect from my other classes that required papers. He also definitely confirmed that there was a curve, and the ranges he gave means that I am getting an A.

After this, his whole demeanor changed for the better. I think that he was bluffing to weed out the slackers. From what I've been hearing, he did the same in his other classes.