Hacker News Reader

So you actually took the 75% A classes? Did you learn a lot from those profs, or were they just giving the As away? I would figure that, knowing nothing else about the prof, the one with grades in the middle would be the most effective teacher.

View on HN

In my experience, the median grades are higher for smaller classes, and those smaller classes are often more advanced and populated by graduate students. It's not that the professor is easier, it's that everyone works really hard and learns a lot, because they're motivated by the work itself.

This does not hold true for large classes where the median grade is an A, however; those are usually genuinely easier.

Heck yes did I take them. At the time I had little interest in biology and I felt that it was interfering with my real education, which it was. Nothing against biology, but most of the things that I learned in college that I would call "valuable" (professionally and otherwise) I did not learn in class.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com