grading curve, effect of class size on.

[DieselPetrolGrl]

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hi ya?ll i have a question ..it may seem trivial but its something i argued about with a few classmates this morning...ok here is the scenarios: 2 organic part B/II courses..one at 8 am with 60 students another at 12 (noon) with 220 students - both taught by the same professor and each course section with have a independent curve - i.e. : the 8 am sections curve will not effect the noon section?s curve. which class would hypothetically be easier to ride the curve on , and why? (The exams are similar though not identical and graded by the same set of TAs.)

I heard all sorts of strange theories i.e.: 8 am ppl would be ..what do u call it on here...?gunners?(?), 12 noon people would have more of a opportunity of find a curve breaker/spoiler student ..its crazy ..what's your opinion?

thanks 🙂!

 

[mpp]

The better question is 'would you like to get up for an 8 a.m. class or take organic later in the day'?

Better question might be 'why the heck am I wondering about silly things like this when there are plenty of better things to wonder about?'

 

[Rendar5]

Unless you're a sports person and are normally up that early in the morning, why are you even considering an 8am class? That's torture.

 

[vixenell]

what is a grading curve

 

[WatchingWaiting]

This isn't really worth analyzing. If you had different instructors at the 8 am and 12 am sections, you would definitely want to consider who was more generous (there is great variability on this in most undergrad weed-out classes). As it is, whether you're going to have some unmotivated, but early rising and afternoon-occupied-by-sports-practice jocks in the morning, hardcore gunners, or just people who like to wake up early or have class conflicts with the 12 o'clock is not really predictable or worth worrying about. Most of your fellow pre-meds will probably also wonder, and some may even change their plans based on whatever they decide, such that it really is impossible to predict who you'll draw in each class.

Also, curves generally aren't set based on the highest score, but at least on the average of the top few or based on setting the average to a certain grade and then drawing a bell-curve resembling thing around it.