Is it easier to raise your GPA in a quarter system?

[lukeocyte]

Hello,

I am aiming to keep a 3.9 gpa throughout college but I may receive a B in a lab class I'm taking right now, and have already received a B+ as well as 2 A- grades from my freshman year, all in chemistry/physics classes. But, I'm at a UC which uses quarter system, so I take more classes in a year than a semester student. Is it easier to raise your GPA when you're taking more classes in a year, since there are more opportunities to get A's? Or is this not really true? I heard this from a friend who is on semester system but I find it hard to believe.

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[Moko]

Iam aiming to keep a 3.9 gpa throughout college but I may receive a B in a lab class I'm taking right now, and have already received a B+ as well as 2 A- grades from my freshman year, all in chemistry/physics classes. But, I'm at a UC which uses quarter system, so I take more classes in a year than a semester student. Is it easier to raise your GPA when you're taking more classes in a year, since there are more opportunities to get A's? Or is this not really true? I heard this from a friend who is on semester system but I find it hard to believe.

An "A" in the quarter system will have a smaller effect on your overall GPA than an "A" in the semester system. Classes in the quarter system are worth fewer credit hours.

In addition, having "more opportunities to get A's" means that there are also more opportunities to get B's, C's, and F's. There should not be any meaningful difference between the quarter and semester system.

 

[LizzyM]

I do see where the OP is coming from with this question. If a year of chemistry, physics, biology, etc is 3 courses rather than 2, then a screw up in the first term is more easily overcome as it accounts for only 1/3 of the year's grade whereas in the semester system, a screw up in the fall term is half the of grade for the year.

On the other hand, screwing up for two quarters is harder to come back from than having a bad semester.

 

[deleted555445]

An "A" in the quarter system will have a smaller effect on your overall GPA than an "A" in the semester system. Classes in the quarter system are worth fewer credit hours.

In addition, having "more opportunities to get A's" means that there are also more opportunities to get B's, C's, and F's. There should not be any meaningful difference between the quarter and semester system.

To be fair it depends on what school the quarter system is coming from. The school I did my undergrad at had each class worth about 3.33 semester credits, which I believe is about average for a class at a semester school.

 

[LizzyM]

To be fair it depends on what school the quarter system is coming from. The school I did my undergrad at had each class worth about 3.33 semester credits, which I believe is about average for a class at a semester school.

But don't you take 1/3 of a year's credits each quarter? After the first quarter, don't you still have 2/3rd of the grade points for that year ahead of you?

 

[Doctoscope]

Some colleges, like some of the UC's like UCLA, will fit a semester's worth of material into 1 quarter. Meaning even if you took a 4-semester unit's worth of biochem (Chem 153A), you're only really given 4 quarter units worth, which is <3 semester units.

You also see this in UCLA's gen chem series. They have 2 lecture classes and 1 lab class that makes up the gen chem series (14A, 14B, 14BL), but the lab for some weird reason is only 3 quarter units. So, instead of it being 12-quarter units that translate to a "full year"/8 semester units, you only get 11-quarter units.

This can be a pain in the @55 for meeting unit requirements that are based on semester units. (e.g. a med school requires 4 units of biochem, but you only have 2.667 units in hand).

The quarter system can be "disadvantageous" in those regards, among many other things (like having to take 3 sets of finals instead of 2). I really wish quarters would be done away with across the country.

 

[deleted555445]

But don't you take 1/3 of a year's credits each quarter? After the first quarter, don't you still have 2/3rd of the grade points for that year ahead of you?

You do, but each class is worth the same as a semester class. So if you mess up and get a bad grade, its not any more forgiving than getting a bad grade in a semester class. However, you may be able to adjust better if you mess up in the first 4 classes in the fall and do better in the next 8 in the winter and spring, rather than messing up in 6 in the fall and only having 6 in the spring the fix yourself.

 

[LizzyM]

Precisely!