Largest curve you've seen on a test

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well last semester the first physics (for physical science majors) test had an abysmal average (which i dont remember). what i do remember was that an 18/100 was in the C range
 
I had an Org Chem II test that was 70+ for an A (A- was a lower designation).

I'm sure there are better out there, but that was pretty sweet for me. 😀
 
I had an organic chemistry test where the average was a 35/150. The test was actually dropped from most people's grades because the professor thought it tested people's emotional stability more than it tested organic chemistry.
 
Third quarter o-chem, A- started at 50 or 55
 
I had a friend whose organic class had a test with a 43 being curved to an A.
 
Gotta love professors who want to prove that they are smarter than you are by giving the hardest exam ever. 🙄

These kind of averages = FAIL on professor's part IMO.
 
greg1184 said:
Gotta love professors who want to prove that they are smarter than you are by giving the hardest exam ever. 🙄

These kind of averages = FAIL on professor's part IMO.
Click to expand...

I had heard that the reason for the difficult exam was that the professors were looking for super-geniuses that they could then groom for a career in chemistry academia.
 
lord_jeebus said:
I had heard that the reason for the difficult exam was that the professors were looking for super-geniuses that they could then groom for a career in chemistry academia.
Click to expand...
my professor said the same thing (ochem). he also said, if you didnt get a 90% in the class, no LOR. average in the class was mid 30's
 
This goes way back in high school, but I got a 35 on a AP calculus AB test. Turns out I still made an A for the quarter and the year. He kept the grade, but I knew the average was in the low 50s. Boy did I tank, lol. Oh btw, the high for this impossible test was in the 80s, unbelievable.
 
On the flip-side, the last exam I got back had a mean score of 52%, which the professor said is higher than usual.

Unfortunately, she always counts the high score as 100% and some a-hole got everything right and found an error in the exam.

This has been going on all semester.

I don't mind though.
 
Wow, what schools do you guys go to and how the hell do I transfer??

I've had tests curved so 85% somehow equated to a 2.8
Apparently the chem dept. is exempt from University policy...
 
In one of my upper division physics classes, the mean was around 30/100. Someone got like a 99/100 though. My professor said "If you're the one who got 99/100 you probably don't need to worry about your grade for the rest of the semester".

It wasn't me, unfortunately.

Edit: I think the "curve" turned the mean into a B.
 
One calc class had around a 40/200 as average on our final, then had a physics II class with a 18/50 as average.
 
I always find the professors that demean entire classes for doing poorly. If the class is getting 30% on an exam then obviously the professor can't teach or it is a horrible test. Its not like there is not at least 20 people that study for these tests a week in advance. Sometimes these guys are so involved in their stuff they don't realize that the students are just now seeing it for the first time.
 
Super hard calc test...40 points on a 120 point test was an A-, about 80 was perfect.

Orgo test..160/200 was about 100%
 
20-30's / 150 (mean) on ochem tests were usual for this one prof. Then, there's always the guy that gets 145+/150, but my prof always used to knock off the outliers. It was pretty hilarious getting tests back with more visible red than paper.
 
This is ludicrous. All of our exams are written so that they have a 72-75 average, usually with a little (2-5 pts) or no curve at all. Some professors need to get their heads out of the clouds and learn to be humble. You're teaching students, not tearing them apart. Pathetic.
 
Physics II at my school had averages sitting a little bit below 50% with a standard deviation of about 10%.

I had a teacher back in high school who gave impossibly hard tests (one test per quarter). He said that one time he gave a test where an F was below 0. Everyone loved him though, so it was cool.
 
amwatts0322 said:
85+ =a
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This was true for my organic class. Now that I think about it, that was the only class truly fit on a curve. However, this is nowhere near as atrocious as some of these grades.

I admire anyone that did well in some of these situations. I would have felt the possibility of doing welll as abysmal and it would have scuttled my ship quickly.
 
The curve in my Orgo class is the same way a 55 is a B. a 45 is a C....On every test. 🙁 It really depresses me.
 
I think the largest curve has been something like f(x)=x^5 on a calc test.

Oh wait, you mean like grades?
 
differnetial equations class final.

it was 45%+ for an A. there were 4 problems total. If you wanted a C in the class you have to answer partially correct on one of the 4 problems.
 
in my macromolecular chemistry class final, if you broke double digits you passed. he purposely made a test that even his grad students would fail because the grade distribution was too clumped together. i almost died when i saw i got a 28. couldn't believe that was a B. i think the high grade was 45ish (and this kid was a freak of nature).
 
EpiPEN said:
differnetial equations class final.

it was 45%+ for an A. there were 4 problems total. If you wanted a C in the class you have to answer partially correct on one of the 4 problems.
Click to expand...

I loved my DiffEq prof, who had refused to curve or give partial credit (thankfully the TA did the grading and was much nicer about this). Gave a final so hard that he made it where anyone who scored an 80 or above got an automatic A in the class, regardless of any of their previous grades. Note that this was not a stated nor originally intended policy. The final killed so many grades he gave a few people A's for doing well. Me? I scored a 52 when a 54 would have given me an A in the class.
 
Almost all of the rest of my classes 90+ or 93+ is an A.
 
thoffen said:
I loved my DiffEq prof, who had refused to curve or give partial credit (thankfully the TA did the grading and was much nicer about this). Gave a final so hard that he made it where anyone who scored an 80 or above got an automatic A in the class, regardless of any of their previous grades. Note that this was not a stated nor originally intended policy. The final killed so many grades he gave a few people A's for doing well. Me? I scored a 52 when a 54 would have given me an A in the class.
Click to expand...

lol, well I liked the my professor and all but he just gave insanly hard tests. If I recall correctly, out of a class of some 150+ students, some 10 people got A's (I was luckily included with my borderline A-). Then he told the class if you got A's in his class then he had a position for you to work with him in the Math department if you wanted to. After his class, I decided that I'm not cut out for the life of a math major, lol.
 
Well my Chem I professor had a strictly curve for every test...

The curve was:

100-95 A
94-89 B
88-83 C
82-77 D
76-0 F

You guys can imagine how well this class did..... I almost study everyday 2 hours or so to get a B. By the way there were no As on the class and half the class withdrew after the first test. I hope to find a professor who really curves to benefit student NOT to to Fu..... them.
 
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