How's the grading system at your dental schools?

[GrumpyDDS]

Guys and gal DDS/DMD colleagues.

I'm wondering how your dental schools do grading?

Do you guys have a grading curve?

I'm a current student at Indiana's dental school, and there are no grading curves for my classes. Well, with the exception of one class, since the professor makes his exam questions very very tough where nobody can get an A in that class.

So for the majority of my class, a 4 out of 5 is an 80%, 3 out of 5 is a failing 60%, etc.

Same thing for exam questions. 22 out of 25 is an 88% which is a B. So yeah, three wrong on an exam, and you're already getting a B. Sucks.

How about your dental schools?

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[utahdentist2be]

At Case we have a Pass/Fail grading system, usually 70% or higher passes. They will curve tests if needed, but our class averages are generally in the low to mid 80's so there's no need. Also, no class ranking (allegedly).

 

[in her drawer]

We have pass/no pass at UCSF. Some classes take a 75% to pass, while others only need a 70%. I'm not sure about grading curves, but word on the street is that we don't have them.

 

[kuzichan]

@GrumpyDDS
Hey I think I know which prof you're talking about... something about 5ft as the distance right? lol.

Gosh that class is a killer

 

[gryffindor]

How common is being graded on a curve? Every course I ever took in college and dental school was graded exactly how grumpy8 described it. There were classes where over 50% of the students got As and others where 3/90 scored high enough for an A. It was almost always a "50 question multiple choice test, count how many you got right and double it and that is your grade, unless someone challenges a question and the professor decides to give away some points."

 

[1992Corolla]

no curve, just raw scores. 70% and above to pass. 74% and above in general path...

Tests are anywhere from 33 to 60 questions long. Averages are in the low 80's to mid 80's usually.

class rank is available on a semester basis most of the time.

 

[GrumpyDDS]

@GrumpyDDS
Hey I think I know which prof you're talking about... something about 5ft as the distance right? lol.

Gosh that class is a killer

No, I don't know what you're talking about sir. I'm working in clinic right now, ready to graduate in May, so I'm all done with all those useless BS didactic courses. I just didn't really like my experience at IUSD.

I am guessing that you're either a 1st or 2nd year student?

 

[toothfairy85]

Most of our classes have the standard 90+ is an A, 80-89 is a B, and 70-79 is a C. There are a few exceptions... Dental Anatomy is 91+ is an A 81-90 is a B, and 71-80 is a C. Gross Anatomy is the only course we have that has a 65 (which is a D) as passing. If you can avoid it, you definitely don't want a D in a 7.5 credit class. In histology, 70 is passing, but you have to pass 2 of the 3 exams with a 70 or higher. So, you could make a high A on one exam, but if you made a 68 on the other two exams, you have to remediate the course, even though your final average is passing. And then we have a pass/fail course, Intro to Patient Care.

 

[GrumpyDDS]

At Case we have a Pass/Fail grading system, usually 70% or higher passes. They will curve tests if needed, but our class averages are generally in the low to mid 80's so there's no need. Also, no class ranking (allegedly).

Lucky you. I know UConn and UCSF have a pass/fail system. That doesn't garner much competition and "whining" from fellow classmates when it comes to grades.

Passing here at IUSD is 70% and above for many courses.

then there is the ******ed triple jump exams that you take throughout your entire dental school career here at IUSD. First year, second year, third year, it never ends.

 

[GrumpyDDS]

Most of our classes have the standard 90+ is an A, 80-89 is a B, and 70-79 is a C. There are a few exceptions... Dental Anatomy is 91+ is an A 81-90 is a B, and 71-80 is a C. Gross Anatomy is the only course we have that has a 65 (which is a D) as passing. If you can avoid it, you definitely don't want a D in a 7.5 credit class. In histology, 70 is passing, but you have to pass 2 of the 3 exams with a 70 or higher. So, you could make a high A on one exam, but if you made a 68 on the other two exams, you have to remediate the course, even though your final average is passing. And then we have a pass/fail course, Intro to Patient Care.

I think the lower classes here at IUSD are pass/fail such as dental ethics. I never had to take that course. Only the new students this year must take it due to the cheating scandal. Way to mold you into a tree-hugging weenie dentist.

 

[SuperC]

I had to chime in...
No curve, however, bad questions, or questions that 50% or more of the class missed are tossed (average about 2 per exam)

Most classes have a "normal" grading scale 90=A, 80=B, 70=C. D's are not considered passing in any course.

All pre-clinic courses, proths, operative, ect have 93=A 79=B

Pluses are given (Thank God!)
-C

 

[kuzichan]

yeah, you guessed right. I guess I'm trying to keep an open mind about everything, but it's hard sometimes when you're flooded with anything and everything.. we'll see how I feel by the end of 4th yr lol.

 

[armorshell]

Everything here is straight A, B, C, fail, no +/-. Some classes (anatomy, biochem ) are 85% A, while others (Perio) are 93% A, because they're so ridiculously easy they had to make it nigh impossible to get an A to get people to show up to lecture.

All the lab classes are multiple layers of subjective, and I think they rank the class in some way or another when they distribute grades.

 

[shamrock2006]

Basically every class here is 94+ to get an A. Doesnt matter if its biochem, dental anatomy, gross anatomy, histo, etc. Tbe grading scale is ridiculous. Good luck finding someone who gets a 4.0 in this place.

 

[GrumpyDDS]

Basically every class here is 94+ to get an A. Doesnt matter if its biochem, dental anatomy, gross anatomy, histo, etc. Tbe grading scale is ridiculous. Good luck finding someone who gets a 4.0 in this place.

Which dental school is this? Harvard? 94% and above for an A sounds very ridiculous. Otherwise, the curriculum must be very easy enough, so that the administrators had to change the curve a little.

 

[GrumpyDDS]

Everything here is straight A, B, C, fail, no +/-. Some classes (anatomy, biochem ) are 85% A, while others (Perio) are 93% A, because they're so ridiculously easy they had to make it nigh impossible to get an A to get people to show up to lecture.

All the lab classes are multiple layers of subjective, and I think they rank the class in some way or another when they distribute grades.

Lucky you. Indiana has +/- and they make a huge difference in your GPA. I would rather get a 91% and get an A rather than an A-minus.
Which dental school are you currently attending?

 

[gryffindor]

Lucky you. Indiana has +/- and they make a huge difference in your GPA. I would rather get a 91% and get an A rather than an A-minus.
Which dental school are you currently attending?

LOL, how about when you get an 89 and get a B? Happened to me countless times in dental school.

 

[armorshell]

I wish plusses were given here. I was one point short of an A in a bs operative lecture course, and it dropped me 10 positions in rank over a big pile of people who scraped by with 85% A's in anatomy.

I'm not sour about it or anything if you can't tell

 

[SugarNaCl]

At VCU, our classes aren't curved either. A = 90-100%, B=80-89%, C=70-79% or you fail and have to repeat the class or certain aspects of it. Average I would say is generally in the 80s. VCU does not give +/-. Some (but few) classes are pass/fail. So far, it seems you have to work pretty hard to get an A and moderate study to get a B.

 

[shamrock2006]

Which dental school is this? Harvard? 94% and above for an A sounds very ridiculous. Otherwise, the curriculum must be very easy enough, so that the administrators had to change the curve a little.

Nope..not harvard. Detroit-Mercy.

 

[GrumpyDDS]

^^ LOL!!!

 

[shamrock2006]

And..the curriculum is anything but easy....just as difficult as anywhere else.

 

[shortset]

At my school, A= 93-100, B+= 90-92.9, B= 84-89.9, C+= 80-83.9, C= 74-80.9, D= 70-73.9, F= 69.9 -0. It is really hard to get A's here and they recently changed the testing system this fall which makes it difficult to make those A's you so dearly want.

 

[Dukie]

UNC is on a 7-point scale (ie- 93 is the cutoff for an A)

 

[jackbauer!]

Maryland 90-100 A, 80-89 B, etc. no pluses, no minuses. anything below 70 is failing. no curves; however, each course as an exam correction committee which meets after each exam and lobbies with the profs to get questions tossed. average on each of our exams usually fall between 80 and 90.

jb!

 

[Tstarfish]

Baylor:
Our grading scale is
93-100 A, 4.0
90-92 B+ 3.5
84-90 B 3.0
75-84 C 2.0
70-74 D 1.0
below 70 is F 0
(might be some more +/- in there, but dont remember)

Rank is based on GPA

"Passing" a class most of the time is 70, but sometimes 75-must have 2.0 to move on to 2nd year.

All tests (except for a few classes-and quizzes ect are not curved) are curved to an 83- and some (only a few) teachers will throw out questions if more than 50% of the class missed it.

Basically STUDY STUDY STUDY and hope you do well!