Grade B student

I've discovered that university is not harder than high school. That's not why an A-average high school student comes to university to discover she's a pretty consistent B. No, no. It's because in high school, you have crummy little mark-boosting assignments. Your mark can be based on over 30 different assignments, papers, quizzes, tests, etc. That's if you do one thing every week.

In university, your mark is based on like, five things. Or less. I had an essay this term that was worth 35% of my mark. High school essays are worth what, ten? Fifteen? Not 35. Statistics exams are worth fifty percent. That's half. High school exams are worth thirty percent. Because there's more of that little work for you to do as a grade buffer.

In my Statistics courses, you get five assignments that are each worth 3% of your overall mark, a midterm that's worth 35% and a final that's worth 50. So even though I'm getting A's on the course work, I still come out of the class with a B+ because 85% of my mark is exams. Sigh.

Also, I find they mark harder. In religion courses, to get an A, you need an 86%. Ninety-five for an A+. Some departments and faculties are a bit easier, but in comparison to high school, where an A is anything over 80%, it's tough.

So at the end of first term when I got my final grades and they were two B+'s (I only had two courses that were 3 cr.hrs., two classes went all year and I had a spare), I was SO disappointed. I got A+'s in high school.

Now I don't care so much about those letter grades. B is a pretty good mark when you think about it. Plus, I can't change my grades so why waste time worrying about them? And in four years when I'm trying to get a job as a graphic designer, no one's gonna care about my letter grades if I can produce quality work. As long as I get my degree, I will be happy with a B.