›
To take part in discussions on talkSFU, please apply for membership (SFU email id required).

Upper Division Business Course Difficulty

bbanic
edited June 2014 in General

Out of curiosity, how do you find upper division business courses vs. lower division courses in terms of workload and difficulty?

In lower division courses, 10%+ received an A, does this increase or decrease for upper division classes?

 

Are there any courses that you highly suggest not taking at the same time?

Comments

  • ryan
    I have heard that the upper division business curve gives out more A's than the lower division curve. This document from a couple years ago supports this suggesting the 10 year average % of A grades (presumable A-, A, and A+ combined) for lower division is 13.4% where as it is 26.8% for upper division. in 2012/2013 30.5% received A's.

  • bbanic
    edited June 2014

    Thanks! Does anyone have any course selection tips?

  • defenderofawesome
    Roughly speaking
    In 200-level, the average is set at a C+
    In 300-level, the average is around a B-/B
    in 400-level, the average is at least a B

    Now remember than in upper div courses there are less people, so while it might be easier to get the mean grade, you are competing with less people. (300 level - approx 60-100 students & 400 level - 35 students)

    That said, 200 levels are harder to get good grades; they are known as weeder courses for people who think that they can transfer in, but realize the course work is too much for them. 

    The workload is a lot more participation and group work in upper div courses, which is a only good for some people. Generally in the UD courses, the faculty wants you to succeed because you're about to to graduate so that's part of the reason they set the average higher. 

    The faculty does not recommend taking 254 + 207...although they weren't hard for me. 
    237, 272 are the "easiest" but high averages
    251 can be challenging for some, but I love that class. Econ 103 averages are terribly low. Math 157 and Buec 232 just take a lot of practice, but they're pretty easy

    for 300 level: 343, 393, 303 & 374/381 are the "easy" ones, but once again, high averages
    312, 336 were easy for me... as long as you practice the questions. They're hard for my friends who don't like calculations. 
    360 is not on a bell curve and the group work is so time consuming. You have to work your ass off to produce an A in that course 


    Anyways,
    I would just take a balance. If you're not good at math, then space out Econ 103, Math 157 & Buec 232 for 200-level and 312 & 336 for 300-level.
    don't take more than 12 credit with 360

    PM me if you want to know more; happy to help since I did the transfer and I'm done almost all my courses

  • ryan
    Good post. People should get directed to this when there are business related questions in the future.

Leave a Comment