Day of reckoning

Today was 'semester marks' day at Polytechnic. It is the day that lecturers have to turn in semester marks for courses. It marks the end of the lecture portion of the semester. Yes, Spring Semester is over.

November is examination month, and a student has to have a 50% mark in the class thus far to sit for the final exam. So, today, students were running around to see which courses they were going to be able to write final exams.

It is not a common occurrence to fail the semester marks. One colleague had 10 students out of 26 fail his semester marks. Another had 6 students of 20 fail. One of my fellow lecturers told me that her first-year instructors 'curved' the semester marks so that 50% of the class members failed. Hmm...talk about artificial selection!

When a student takes the final exam, they have to achieve at least a 40% to pass the course. So, you can have a 90% on the semester marks, but if you don't get a 40% on the final exam, you don't pass. I think that is correct...it's very complicated, and I'm not sure I really do understand.

I'm not sure how to describe the mood of the students today. Failing a course is not the end of the world for them...they can take it again next year. So, there was this odd atmosphere of students running around to check lecturer's doors. No one acting really mad if they failed. Most probably expected it. It was kind of like learning you didn't win the lottery. Oh, well. Next time.

I'm happy to report that no one failed Ecology II. Yet. We'll see how the final exam goes.