Grading in college

[mathlegend]

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Do most professors grade on curves, or by standard percentages? I'd think I'd die if most grades on curves and I go to a top, competitive school ><

 

[xnfs93hy]

The former of the two, usually.

It depends on the professor, some classes have harsher curves than others unfortunately.

 

[MilkmanAl]

For large or exceptionally difficult classes, it's usually curved. For smaller classes, it's a straight 10-point scale. That's how it was at UNC, anyway.

 

[scattun]

At the two universities where I have taken classes, I don't think I have ever had a class that was graded on a true curve. I have had classes where everyone's grade was brought up, but not one where some went up and some went down. All were graded on a scale that was given at the beginning of the semester.

 

[mathlegend]

Thanks. So it basically depends on the individual professor? I like the kind of curve that you got scattun. Those are good curves 🙂

 

[combatwombat]

you can expect the pre-medical courses to all be curved, I know all of mine were. Other into-level courses may be curved as well.

You are better off anticipating that it will be extremely brutal & being prepared for a high level of difficulty than just optimistically waltzing in assuming you'll be ahead of the curve. I knew a lot of kids who did the latter and then were surprised when they wound up getting C's or worse.

Edit: come to think of it, the one pre-med class I took at a less competitive university was actually not curved. It was still pretty tough though.

 

[mathlegend]

Heh...because of the curves, I'd probably have an easier time at a less competitive college, correct?

 

[NickNaylor]

I've noticed that it even varies widely between schools, and then widely between professors within a single school. My experience at Baylor has been that most grades are straight percentages. Curves are introduced only to help grades, not hurt (so, for example, the professor doesn't arbitrarily determine that only 10% of students will receive As and establishes a curve accordingly). Even in the larger classes (150-200 people intro science classes) this was the case.

There's no real way to predict what you're going to encounter. The only thing you can control grade-wise is to look for schools with favorable grading schemes (for example, the highest grade is an A rather than an A+, etc.).

 

[Druggernaut]

I've only had one course out of the 110-120 or so credits I've had that had a curve that gave the bottom people F's automatically. Usually, it's helpful, like the top grade on a test becomes 100% or something like that. Most, if not all, of the math courses I've taken have been straight percentages (93 = A, 92-90= A-, and so on) though.

Don't automatically assume that a less competitive school will be more favorable to your grading. I started at a community college to save some money, and I think I only had one or two courses that were curved. They all went based solely on your percentage. Partially as a result of this, my grades from there are lower than from the four year university I'm at now.

 

[Bacchus]

I had one class that was a true bell curve. The average was set to a B. In the words of the professor, "You will be happy when you pass. I will be happy when you pass. But, of course, you don't think of what that C or D did to your GPA." Most my other classes were straight percentages -- what you got is what went on the transcript. There were a few classes where everyone got a percentage increase.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Heh...because of the curves, I'd probably have an easier time at a less competitive college, correct?

For a little while, yes. Once you're further along in your education, the chaff gets separated pretty substantially. Not too many idiots take organic 2 or PChem or linear algebra no matter how easy you may think your school is.

 

[mathlegend]

Ack so more or less, its same everywhere I guess.

Linear algebra! I don't remember my matrices. I'm taking it in the fall @_@

 

[DrYoda]

I had one class that was graded on a true curve. A few had a curve where we would get bumped a few points up. Most didn't have any curving.

 

[Future Doc1]

Probably depends on the professor

 

[FuturaDocta]

Sometimes they curve, but it depends on the school. For example, at my school, a curve is a rarity and only occurs when everyone is failing (mostly ochem II). It is hardly normal for people to make an A in anything at my school, so it is considered very challenging. Every teacher has high expectation, so they never just curve. Some advice is to never compare yourself to anyone and just focus on doing your best. Always go to your teachers office hours if you have the slightest thought of missing a concept. Just try to avoid slacking and you will do fine. Good luck.

 

[mmmcdowe]

The bottom line OP, is that it depends of two things.

1) The University: Some universitities will be predominatly straight percentages (though some classes might lower the cut offs depending on the average), others will be on curves mostly. Each Uni has its own flavor, and it seems like they usually lean one way or another

2) The professor: Some professors might go against the general consensus. I know that at my school, Physics was curved. Everything else was uncurved, unless the class was doing so poorly that they dropped the grade cut offs.

 

[sumstorm]

I agree that grading standards, for the most part, are set by the professor, perhaps the department, and the university.

I have had classes with true curves (meaning that students may be graded down based on the curve, not exclusively up), positive curves (improved grades), percentages, and a variety of other grading schemes. Also, class size will often influence a grading scheme. Also, some schools that have multiple sections of a given class may have a specific grading scheme for that class (or use the same test across sections, etc.)

 

[bunnity]

Most of my classes were straight percentages.

I had a few where the tests were curved up (to set the average to a C or B-) but that was done with each individual test and not with the class as a whole.

I had one or two that were percentages but an 85 was an A-, a 70 was a B-, and so on. I don't think there was any curve besides that.

I never had a class that could curve you down. I wouldn't stress out about that kind of class because they are pretty rare.

The first day of class you should get a syllabus that will outline how the class is graded and tell you everything you need to know. Don't worry about it too much! I heard plenty of horror stories before I started college about professors that would fail the bottom half of the class automatically and that type of thing but I never experienced that in real life. The "harsh curves" jefgreen speaks of are that type of horror story but in reality, the average in hard classes will be so low that any curve is an upward one.

 

[sarahg]

I've only had 1 class in 3.5 years of college that was curved. And that was psych 101 and just going to class and doing the reading pretty much put you in the top 10% to get an A. That includes a university (UC) for my first two years and then a small liberal arts school that I transferred to.

I was in the humanities and social sciences though. I'm sure it's a lot different if you're a science major.

 

[sumstorm]

The first day of class you should get a syllabus that will outline how the class is graded and tell you everything you need to know.

This is probably the most important thing you can do to know what a class is about; read the syllabus, keep it somewhere that you can refer to it, and pay attention to the details. These tend to be the rule book you will be playing by for each class.

 

[RySerr21]

Went to small liberal arts school............never had a class that was curved in the traditional sense that X amount get A's, B's, etc. It was either straight percentage (ie everyone could get an A or no one could get an A) or a curve in the sense that 100% was the person with the highest score. So if the highest at the end of the semester was 900/1000 then now everything is scaled to 900 for the class.

 

[mathlegend]

a curve in the sense that 100% was the person with the highest score. So if the highest at the end of the semester was 900/1000 then now everything is scaled to 900 for the class.

I like this kind of curve!

 

[RySerr21]

I like this kind of curve!

There's always someone that ruins it. And if its you, dont tell anybody.

 

[mathlegend]

And if its you, dont tell anybody.

Hahaha 😉