I got an A- for a 98?

[Hitmann]

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I took a curriculum class this semester and apparently every person's average was above a 90. But because of that, the grade cutoffs were very high and I received an A- with a 98/100. A friend I know that got a 90 got a B. Now isn't that kind of ****ed up that not everyone receives an A or A- for doing well and students are punished because the course was easy? I emailed my professor first with no response so I tried disputing with administration but they always side with the professor. Anyone ever had a situation or took a class like this?

 

[Biochemistry2014]

What class was it?

Did they give extra credit?

What was the class average?


Maybe you should visit the prof during office hours to discuss. Email is too passive in this case.

 

[ski89]

Well what did the syllabus say in terms of grade determination?

 

[Hitmann]

Its an intro philosophy class. no extra credit, almost everyone has above a 90. I can't talk to the prof in person since he left campus before grades were posted.

Well what did the syllabus say in terms of grade determination?

15% hw, 25% each midterm, 35% final. Does not mention anything about letter grade cutoffs

 

[Womb Raider]

Bell curves suck.

 

[Lawpy]

I took a curriculum class this semester and apparently every person's average was above a 90. But because of that, the grade cutoffs were very high and I received an A- with a 98/100. A friend I know that got a 90 got a B. Now isn't that kind of ****ed up that not everyone receives an A or A- for doing well and students are punished because the course was easy? I emailed my professor first with no response so I tried disputing with administration but they always side with the professor. Anyone ever had a situation or took a class like this?

Your prof just made the class way too easy and tried to standardize the class grades. So here, the 90 was set as a B, which is a bit generous since an average is usually set a C.

It's unfortunate since your prof just wants to look tough in a very easy class but oh well

 

[Pagan FutureDoc]

This is one of the many reasons I oppose curving grades

 

[ski89]

Well two things I guess.
1. Typically the school (or specific collage) has defined grade cutoffs, if so I think one should reasonably be able to assume that those grade cutoffs should have been used to determine your grade.

2. Unless you had a 4.0 before this class (cumulative), there is really no reason to worry about it because the effect on your career will be essentially 0. Now if I had a 4.0 and this ruined it, I would be pissed and would actively try and get it fixed.

I suggest you email your professor. Be professional, polite, and site both what the syllabus says and what the standard collage grade cutoff policy is. Thats all you can do I think.

 

[chcash]

Try to contest it, politely. Bell curves are awful, but they are fair game if they're talked about beforehand. Randomly curving the grades down at the end is pretty rough, I don't think that's fair.

Worse comes to worst, though.... it's still an A-.

 

[ZedsDed]

Yup, it's called curving.

 

[Goro]

It's one class...let it go.

 

[cloudmurder1]

Next time choose the professor that is not known for this malignant bell curving.

 

[thatwouldbeanarchy]

This is, like, the third post I've seen today where someone's complaining about getting an A- instead of A. Absolutely ridiculous. You've already emailed your prof and approached the administration. What else is there to do?! Move on. All you're doing is making yourself look foolish.

 

[getdown]

It's part of life. This happens in med schools that aren't P/F so get used to it if you want to be a doctor.

 

[clippers50fan]

This is, like, the third post I've seen today where someone's complaining about getting an A- instead of A. Absolutely ridiculous. You've already emailed your prof and approached the administration. What else is there to do?! Move on. All you're doing is making yourself look foolish.

To be fair, getting a 98% in a class and receiving an A- would annoy the **** out of me too. It's one thing to complain about a grade because you thought it was too hard or you didn't study enough or whatever, but legitimately earning a grade and not receiving said grade is very annoying. It happened to me with a B+ versus an A- and I was only upset because I had earned the A- but the professor would not change my grade. I've gotten one B before and I didn't complain because I 100% earned that B lol. It's ok to be peeved about things that are unfair no matter how trivial they seem to you.

 

[efle]

I for one am a big fan of curves, raw scores really shouldn't matter. You'd be in the same position with a 78 as an A-, 88 as A- etc. All that matters is how you did relative to your peers!

 

[El-Rami]

I for one am a big fan of curves, raw scores really shouldn't matter. You'd be in the same position with a 78 as an A-, 88 as A- etc. All that matters is how you did relative to your peers!

I am of the opposite inclination -- you get what you earn. If the entire class doesn't make above a C, then so be it. I've been in classes like that. You work your butt off getting >90%. No extra credit. No makeups. No multiple choice. At least you know your standing in the class, whereas you wouldn't know if the class was curved at the end.

 

[efle]

I am of the opposite inclination -- you get what you earn. If the entire class doesn't make above a C, then so be it. I've been in classes like that. You work your butt off getting >90%. No extra credit. No makeups. No multiple choice. At least you know your standing in the class, whereas you wouldn't know if the class was curved at the end.

You can still be told where you stand after every test, eg top 15% will get A's and you find out your score as a percentile. A truly challenging class that wants to give room for standouts will keep a typical smart, hardworking student well below the 90s range. This is how most prereqs are handled.

 

[whatever5]

I had a similar situation - got a 97% in Calc II which turned out to be an A-. I didn't really care then, I still don't care now.

 

[Stagg737]

I took a curriculum class this semester and apparently every person's average was above a 90. But because of that, the grade cutoffs were very high and I received an A- with a 98/100. A friend I know that got a 90 got a B. Now isn't that kind of ****ed up that not everyone receives an A or A- for doing well and students are punished because the course was easy? I emailed my professor first with no response so I tried disputing with administration but they always side with the professor. Anyone ever had a situation or took a class like this?

I actually had a worse class in my undergrad. Physics 101 I got a 97% and ended up with a B+. If you got below a 92 or 93%, you ended up with a solid C. Below mid-80s was failing, and he did fail more than a few people out of about 80-90. We were also originally told in class and in the syllabus that the class wouldn't be graded on a curve, but that the prof might "adjust the scale" if he felt it was necessary. Worst part was none of us knew what the actual scale was until after grades were submitted and our semester grades came out. I think it's the only time at my school that admin actually stepped in and re-adjusted some of the grades (people that failed got bumped up to D's or C's), and the prof got canned before the year even ended.

 

[Satire5Texul]

My physics II class was T-score

I got a 100% on one of the exams and it was a B

Ended up needing 120% in the class to get a clean A. Never did so many problems

Welcome to the curve

 

[ZedsDed]

I for one am a big fan of curves, raw scores really shouldn't matter. You'd be in the same position with a 78 as an A-, 88 as A- etc. All that matters is how you did relative to your peers!

Aren't you also a fan of inflation for top schools?

 

[Lannister]

What kind of schools do you people go to!? Are all the students super smart or are the classes just ridiculously easy??

 

[efle]

Aren't you also a fan of inflation for top schools?

Yeah but only out of necessity. Ideally all schools would control for inflation so that the best students can be identified - being a straight A student distinguishes someone a lot less when that describes half the graduating class.

But this would require everyone to recognize that being average is not the same everywhere. As it is now, I do think places like Chicago, Cal, Hopkins, MIT should make their median students a lot more competitive.

 

[Pusheen]

I had one ochem test where the average was pretty high (like 80s I think), and the teacher jacked up the difficulty for the subsequent tests so that the distribution looked more normal.
I'd much rather have that than get an A- or B for >95%. It's the responsibility of the teacher to adjust the difficulty of the class to get the distribution they want and make the top students stand out.

 

[Meeehai]

What kind of schools do you people go to!? Are all the students super smart or are the classes just ridiculously easy??

I was just about to say this. But seriously, there is something terribly wrong if the curve is so extreme that a 98% in the class doesn't secure a clean A. I have never witnessed this and I doubt it would fly at the school I went to.

 

[Lawpy]

What kind of schools do you people go to!? Are all the students super smart or are the classes just ridiculously easy??

I was just about to say this. But seriously, there is something terribly wrong if the curve is so extreme that a 98% in the class doesn't secure a clean A. I have never witnessed this and I doubt it would fly at the school I went to.

Severe grade inflation and really pathetic educational standards from the prof. I get it's an intro course but still

 

[Meeehai]

Severe grade inflation and really pathetic educational standards from the prof. I get it's an intro course but still

What I don't get is why the professor applies a curve if he knows his class is extremely easy/students are scoring really high.

 

[Lawpy]

What I don't get is why the professor applies a curve if he knows his class is extremely easy/students are scoring really high.

Because he wants to look good by showing his superiors that he can do stats as long as there's an average and standard deviation

 

[claduva94]

An A-? Welp there go your hopes of an MD (read as: Pick your battles (hint: this shouldn't be one of them)).

 

[docycle]

 

[dreamadream]

If your friend received a B for a 90 then must be your school's grading policy, reread your syllabus for that class.

 

[IAMURMautoadmit]

That's crazy. I hate the - symbol. At one point I would have rather have the lower + than the -. :/

 

[dreamadream]

That's crazy. I hate the - symbol. At one point I would have rather have the lower + than the -. :/

So happy my college goes off of the A, B, C, D, F system

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

But this would require everyone to recognize that being average is not the same everywhere. As it is now, I do think places like Chicago, Cal, Hopkins, MIT should make their median students a lot more competitive.

QFT

 

[GiveMeThatMD]

During undergrad, my school had a policy that professors could NOT curve a grade that wasn't in the favor of the students. Moral of the story? Classes were hard as balls.

Totally back on point, pulling a 98 and being slapped with an A- would be a little irritating. Go talk to the professor!

 

[ZedsDed]

Yeah but only out of necessity. Ideally all schools would control for inflation so that the best students can be identified - being a straight A student distinguishes someone a lot less when that describes half the graduating class.

But this would require everyone to recognize that being average is not the same everywhere. As it is now, I do think places like Chicago, Cal, Hopkins, MIT should make their median students a lot more competitive.

I mean I think it's consistent with what you value. You are primarily interested in identifying the top-tier of students. Reigning back inflation at top schools would do more harm than good vis-à-vis parsing out excellent students. And in my experience the truly amazing students will find other ways to stand out, like crushing the MCAT.

 

[WedgeDawg]

I've had friends take classes like this where they were curved down due to high medians. I would just suck it up and move on. If you're worried about a class doing this in the future, talk to people who have taken it in the past with that specific professor and see if they got curved down.