Getting a good mark in an elective is an important factor in course selection for most students. This is even more relevant for AEO’s, who need an 80% average over their first two years at Western. When viewing student forums and Facebook groups, I constantly see questions like “What is a good first year bird course?” or “Is _________ a bird course?”
For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, a bird course is a class that is supposed to be easy. Students are always trying to bring up their average with these kinds of classes that are generally accepted as being easy. However, this strategy can often backfire.
Firstly, each individual has unique interests and strengths. If a friend or an anonymous poster online says that a class is easy, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be easy for you too. Choose classes that interest you and that you are keen on taking. Think about how much more willing you will be to listen to a lecture, sit down and study and actually focus on the material if it is for a class that you are passionate about; one you see the “the point” in taking. That is a much more effective way to do well.
Secondly, suppose a class is indeed very easy for most students and everyone does very well. The average from the evaluations (quizzes, assignments, exams, etc.) will be unusually high and the professor will likely have to change the marks to fit the grading guidelines for that course. For example, a syllabus for one of my classes explicitly states that the course average is to be “between 66 and 70%” and there are to be more Bs than As. This means that if my evaluation results indicate that I will finish with an 88%, but the class average itself is 88%, the mark that shows up in my transcript will end up being closer to 78%. I have seen statements like this for many other classes I have taken before. Even if this isn’t mentioned in the syllabus, most courses will have a similar policy.
Once you have a UWO email account, you can consult Western’s Instructor & Course Evaluation (https://www.ipb.uwo.ca/evaluation/search.php) to see what students in general felt about a particular course and teacher. As mentioned, each individual is unique and should choose courses based on his or her interests and goals.
Huntha Lwin