How big are curves on ACS Gen Chem 1 Finals?

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rprasai

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Hey everyone. My last exam had a curve of around 12 points and the other 2 exams had curves around the same amount. How big are the curves for the ACS finals? Our professor did not finish our entire class in time either so she said that the questions that were not covered are not taking into consideration.
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rprasai said:
Hey everyone. My last exam had a curve of around 12 points and the other 2 exams had curves around the same amount. How big are the curves for the ACS finals? Our professor did not finish our entire class in time either so she said that the questions that were not covered are not taking into consideration.
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What's ACS?
 
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Our gen chem ones were curved about 10 points or so iirc. The orgo ones were not curved at all. Ugh.
 
Ours was curved ~15 points if I remember correctly. I just wonder why they continue to administer an exam with such a poor pass rate. It can literally ruin a good student's grade.
 
Both gen chem and orgo acs wasn't curved in my class. But other profs at my university curved the finals up to 15-20 points. It was mindblowing to me. We were all struggling to pass the final and these kids were getting high A's.
 
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Why would it be curved? Don't you just get a percentile score?
 
KitKat30 said:
Why would it be curved? Don't you just get a percentile score?
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I'd assume it's then up to the professor if he/she wants to curve the classes' grades to a certain percentile.
If I'm remembering correctly that's what my undergrad prof did.
 
EspressoDrip42 said:
Both gen chem and orgo acs wasn't curved in my class. But other profs at my university curved the finals up to 15-20 points. It was mindblowing to me. We were all struggling to pass the final and these kids were getting high A's.
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http://chemexams.chem.iastate.edu/sites/default/files/national-norms/OR12_Norm_Sheet.htm

This is from around the time I took it. I scored well above the 80th percentile of students who took the exam, but because my prof didn't curve it and just used the straight score as our final exam grade I got a D on the final which dropped my overall grade from a low A/high B to a C. In order to get an A on the final you had to score in the 100th percentile of students who took the test nationally. I wasn't bad at orgo, but I had to justify my C in several interviews and it was very difficult not to blame the professor.
 
I just had my orgo final yesterday. The score wasn't curved at all. Honestly, It was very hard. I studied the ASC study guide. It wasn't really helpful.
 
Hey, I know that my gen chem II ACS exam was not curved, but I just took my orgo II ACS exam and it was curved by ten points. It honestly depends on your professor.


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The average grade for my class (gen chem II) was 58 percent before the professors decided upon adding a 45 point curve, bringing it up to a 76 percent. I thought that was kinda ridiculous though, I hardly studied (all I needed was a 63% to get an A) and got a B. The exam was pretty fair in my opinion. No one did get an A on the exam without the curve though. The official study guide is pretty helpful, and if you're thrifty, you can find a digital copy online (I was not about spending 30 dollars to study a test that I hardly needed).
 
xc_stallion92 said:
http://chemexams.chem.iastate.edu/sites/default/files/national-norms/OR12_Norm_Sheet.htm

This is from around the time I took it. I scored well above the 80th percentile of students who took the exam, but because my prof didn't curve it and just used the straight score as our final exam grade I got a D on the final which dropped my overall grade from a low A/high B to a C. In order to get an A on the final you had to score in the 100th percentile of students who took the test nationally. I wasn't bad at orgo, but I had to justify my C in several interviews and it was very difficult not to blame the professor.
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Honesty for our class we had the ACS exam only for the final and it was a complete joke compared to the rest of our exams. Literally pulled everyone in our class's grades up significantly. It wasn't curved at all for us
 
kb1900 said:
Honesty for our class we had the ACS exam only for the final and it was a complete joke compared to the rest of our exams. Literally pulled everyone in our class's grades up significantly. It wasn't curved at all for us
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People always says this, but if that was really the case so often then the reported percentiles wouldn't make any sense.
 
xc_stallion92 said:
People always says this, but if that was really the case so often then the reported percentiles wouldn't make any sense.
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People who say this fail to realize how much of a curve their professor placed on the exam for all their students.
 
xc_stallion92 said:
People always says this, but if that was really the case so often then the reported percentiles wouldn't make any sense.
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The exam itself was not curved. The class was. But the exam was substantially easier than any midterm we had and the averages showed it.

I even ta Orgo 2 now and help grade final exams (for GCI). Don't know what else to say if you don't believe me other than i think you misunderstood
 
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