68 Gimme an A, But I’ll Settle for a B

College for me was always a means to an end, which meant I had to work hard at keeping my grades up. What made it even more challenging was working at least 20 to 30 hrs a week so the family could survive.

One course that I found interesting but particularly challenging was Biochemistry from Prof. Chambers. Prof. Chamber’s way of grading was to have three exams during the quarter, followed by a Final. I only got 67% on the first exam but resolved to study harder for the next one. I really started to panic when I only received 75% on the second exam and learned that the third exam was cancelled. It meant that the chances for getting a decent grade all hung on how well I did on the final. Based on my currant record I felt it was hopeless.

After class one day I asked one of the guys what to expect on the final exam and he said, the test would be on Kreb’s Cycle, the same as it is every year. Well, I took him at his word and studied Kreb’s Cycle, which is the metabolic pathway for all higher organisms.

When I say I studied Kreb’s Cycle, I mean I studied Kreb’s Cycle. Ask me about anything else and you might get a wrong answer, but not on Kreb’s Cycle. Sure enough on the black board test day, were five questions all on Kreb’s Cycle, and on Prof. Chamber’s desk a stack of blank sheets of paper. After grabbing a handful I sat down and wrote steadily for at least an hour. When finished with all of the questions answered in detail, I had twenty pages of formulas and equations and the metabolic pathway written out in detail. After placing the last dot on the last page, I walked to the front of the room, laid all twenty pages on Prof. Camber’s desk, smiled and walked out, I knew I had aced the test.

What surprised me even more was when the grades were posted and I received an overall grade for Biochemistry of 80%, this gave me a B. My curiosity got the best of me so one day I went to see Prof. Chambers and he told me that he had dropped the exam with the lowest score because of the one missed exam. Sometimes the “god of good grades” smiles on us poor mortals and even the most unworthy of us reap the benefits. I’ve heard of some students committing suicide over a B grade, but to Bob Betts it was just fine.