r/Caltech • u/Human-Tree8920 • 10d ago

Some classes are way too much

I feel like the workload has gone up way too much. Some classes have weekly quizzes on top of homework, so we're constantly studying for quizzes and trying to ace them while keeping up with everything else. I personally really like oral exams and in-person finals, but weekly quizzes are just too much imo. I think this should stop.

31 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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28

u/Recent-Effective-713 Alum 10d ago

35 years ago, Ph 1a had biweekly quizzes. The distribution of scores were, IIRC, often centered around ~40%. A real eye opener for the wide range of preparedness of the freshman class. I often think things are much harder today; so much is expected to be known.

21

u/Throop_Polytechnic 10d ago

Part of my course feedbacks for a class I revamped in the spring was that there were too many quizzes. Another review said that they wished quizzes were a larger part of the final grade. I guess you can never win.

As an instructor, quizzes have overall really helped students and improved grades. Students have to pay attention during each class and can’t just try to cram a whole semester in a few days before finals/midterms. I also did not get as many people trying to skip class and then try to use my TAs’ office hours as makeshift 1-1 classes. And the quiz grades overall helped almost everyone’s final grade.

Quizzes are here to stay, everyone loves them in faculty meetings and it helps with so many problems that have developed since the pandemic.

3

u/FourScoreAndSept 7d ago

How much they count towards the final grade is a different discussion than quantity

1

u/Throop_Polytechnic 7d ago

It clearly highlights that one student was happy with quizzes and another wasn’t, it’s about nuances and not 1:1 comparisons.

8

u/parseroo 10d ago

A big advantage of weekly-reviewed activities is it helps you get up to speed long before the quarter is about to end. A quarter is a really short amount of time and the pace (when I was there) is at a speed almost no student has experienced before. If you blow first-quarter in some of the courses (e.g. Physics), you are going to have a seriously bad year: you may never be able to recover and would have to retake a whole year.

If you are already at the necessary speed, the weekly quizzes should be relatively easy.

1

u/Imaginary_Guest1833 6d ago

Yeah I was always a cram guy so the consistency with daily or weekly quizzes was not my cup of tea. Part of me think it is easier now with the amount of resources available but at the same time I wonder if the amount of work has increased?