Whats the curve in your class?

[lukatmyshu]

I just found out that the curve in one of my classes is such that 10% will get As, 30% will get Bs, and the rest will get Cs or lower. This is in an upper division CS class, at UC Berkeley. It seems really harsh.

 

[minendo]

The curve in Purdue math courses sucks. For the calculus classes I took (300+ per lecture/2 lectures) the curve was based off of each recitations final exam grade. The lectures were broken up into recitations of about 40 students each who were then in competition with each other. The final course grades were decided based on the final exam scores of your recitation. If 1 person got an A on the final then that means one person from your recitation got an A in the course. The person who got the A was the one with the most points accumulated in the class. So basically getting an A on the final meant you could be giving someone else an A in the course.

The whole idea would have been nice if the finals were easy, but they were hard as hell.

 

[Spac3d]

Originally posted by: lukatmyshu
I just found out that the curve in one of my classes is such that 10% will get As, 30% will get Bs, and the rest will get Cs or lower. This is in an upper division CS class, at UC Berkeley. It seems really harsh.

That seems like a typical curve of a lecture class at GAtech, maybe even more generous than we had.

At least you have a decent chance to get an A ... it is obtainable, stop complaining and start studying.

 

[Ryan]

I don't have a curve

 

[Quixfire]

The girl that likes to sit next to me.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

curves at UW are rare for upper level classes. The are common for frosh and soph level lectures.

10-30-40-20 is pretty common distribution goal

 

[Electric Amish]

I've never been in a class with a curve. Grading curves are stupid.

amish

 

[Vadatajs]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
I've never been in a class with a curve. Grading curves are stupid.

amish

Yes they are, I still don't understand why I deserve an A for mastering only 75% of the material covered. It is ridiculous. My linear algebra class just dropped a standard bell curve over the class's test scores. Most of the time the A|B border was between 75-80%. This was the same situation with my Pysch101 class.

Other classes I've taken (I can't remember which ones, I think my music theory classes) have added x number of points to the highest grade to make it 100% and adding the same X points to all others in the class.

Curving grades does nothing more than help the lazy out of doing their work.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: Vadatajs
Curving grades does nothing more than help the lazy out of doing their work.

Curving grades ensures that the top students in the class get an A. Not every professor expects people to learn 90% of the stuff he teaches.

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: Tyler

Originally posted by: Vadatajs
Curving grades does nothing more than help the lazy out of doing their work.

Curving grades ensures that the top students in the class get an A. Not every professor expects people to learn 90% of the stuff he teaches.

Word

if you can make even a 70% in my signals and systems course, you are an EE God.

Furthermore, our physics (mechanics and E/M) tests were DESIGNED so the average grade was pegged at around a 60%. A 70 or higher was an A, a 61-70 was a B, a 52ish-60 was a C, and below was D/F.

They DESIGN the tests so that the students do so poorly.

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
I've never been in a class with a curve. Grading curves are stupid.

amish

it seems that with each subsequent post you make, your common sense seems to burrow itself deeper into the dirt and farther from your brain.

EDIT: rereading..wth kind of school and major do you have if you've never had a curve? Are you studying Philosophy of Religion or Elementary Education or something?

 

[jagr10]

Rarely any curves in my university. They don't need to use curves. The averages are always around low 60's anyways and only a handful get A's. Basically, you get what you deserve.

 

[dullard]

Most college classes I've had never had curves. If you showed basic knowledge of the important material you got a C. If you showed you knew everything the professor wanted the students to learn you got a B. If you showed that you went above and beyond what the professor wanted, you got an A.

Curves are useful for lazy professors who accidently made a test too difficult or too even too easy. The good professors will find out exactly what you know and grade like I mentioned above.

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: Elemental007

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
I've never been in a class with a curve. Grading curves are stupid.

amish

it seems that with each subsequent post you make, your common sense seems to burrow itself deeper into the dirt and farther from your brain.

EDIT: rereading..wth kind of school and major do you have if you've never had a curve? Are you studying Philosophy of Religion or Elementary Education or something?

Computer Science.

I received A's in all my classes because my scores added to 92%+.

amish

EDIT: and WTF do grading curves have to do with common sense? They are completely non-intuitive, IMO. You get 75% of the questions on a test right you get a C...period.

 

[beer]

So, by your logic, 90% of freshman engineering students should fail horribly and never pass engineering physics I? That's how common sense is involved here.

EDIT: Do you understand why the physics department does this?

It's designed to teach arrogant engineering freshman that they do not know everything. If you made it into UT engineering, chances are in high school you made A+s in every calculus and physics class. I had a 98 avg in calc and a 95 avg in physics throughout high school. By making tests like they do, they are basically beating you down and showing you that college isn't going to be HS over again.

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: Elemental007
So, by your logic, 90% of freshman engineering students should fail horribly and never pass engineering physics I? That's how common sense is involved here.

Then the curriculum is totally fscked up and should be fixed. Don't just "make' people pass by adding a curve.

Then again, we are talking about professors that probably have PHd's, so common sense has no bearing here anyway. In my experience, outside of their subject matter, most PHd's are utter morons.

amish

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish


Then again, we are talking about professors that probably have PHd's, so common sense has no bearing here anyway. In my experience, outside of their subject matter, most PHd's are utter morons.

amish

I would say that is true in about half the cases. OTOH if they made engineering physics so 20% of the class could answer 19 out of 20 right, there wouldn't be as much incentive to study. You can get by with the 'good enough' mindset.

Alternatively, when you make physics problems that easy, you are limited on the number of combinations you can make to your basic equations. You'd probably end up testing redundant points if you made it so students could make As without curves. By making problems insanely hard, the professor allows himself more complex problems.

 

[monk3y]

Originally posted by: rbloedow
I don't have a curve

 

[igowerf]

EDIT: and WTF do grading curves have to do with common sense? They are completely non-intuitive, IMO. You get 75% of the questions on a test right you get a C...period.

That would be really unfair then. Some professors are much harder than others. Other linear algebra professors at my school recognize my linear algebra professor as the most difficult professor. They suggest using his practice midterms if you want some challenging review.

For my linear algebra homework curve (we have a big homework assignment each week), anything below 90% is barely passing or failing. People do so well on the homework that the curve for A's and B's are well above 90%. For the tests though, the curve goes down to about 75% is a B.

 

[beer]

Looking at the grade distribution in the physics class with 140 sudents.

1: 95+
1: 90-95
5: 85-90
9: 80-85

(notice that by the uncurved scores, only 10% of the class would have made an A or B)

11: 75-80
21: 70-75
16: 65-70
19: 60-65
18: 55-60
14: 50-55
7: 45-50

and it trails off sharpy below that.

EDIT: keep in mind this factors in a 20% homework grade that is basically a free 90. The average homework grade is 92; the average midterm grades are right around 54. The average final grade was 49.

 

[igowerf]

Then the curriculum is totally fscked up and should be fixed. Don't just "make' people pass by adding a curve.

Then again, we are talking about professors that probably have PHd's, so common sense has no bearing here anyway. In my experience, outside of their subject matter, most PHd's are utter morons.

amish

If the course was easy enough to get an A without a curve, then it's not really challenging the students. The difficulty works to filter out the people who can't cut it too.

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: igowerf

EDIT: and WTF do grading curves have to do with common sense? They are completely non-intuitive, IMO. You get 75% of the questions on a test right you get a C...period.

That would be really unfair then. Some professors are much harder than others. Other linear algebra professors at my school recognize my linear algebra professor as the most difficult professor. They suggest using his practice midterms if you want some challenging review.

For my linear algebra homework curve (we have a big homework assignment each week), anything below 90% is barely passing or failing. People do so well on the homework that the curve for A's and B's are well above 90%. For the tests though, the curve goes down to about 75% is a B.

So, it's unfair for you to receive the grade you earn?

The math department should get together and standardize their tests so no professor is that much different from the other.

God, people, this isn't fskcing rocket science (well, I guess in some cases it is. )

amish

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: igowerf

Then the curriculum is totally fscked up and should be fixed. Don't just "make' people pass by adding a curve.

Then again, we are talking about professors that probably have PHd's, so common sense has no bearing here anyway. In my experience, outside of their subject matter, most PHd's are utter morons.

amish

If the course was easy enough to get an A without a curve, then it's not really challenging the students. The difficulty works to filter out the people who can't cut it too.

that's exactly my point. I wonder why Amish can't understand that.

 

[Dedpuhl]

I had a Geology for Civil Engineers course a few years back. The professor made the class so tough that 40% was a "C" and 80% was an "A." It was crazy. There were some incredibly smart people in my class, and they walked out with a "B."

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish

Originally posted by: igowerf

EDIT: and WTF do grading curves have to do with common sense? They are completely non-intuitive, IMO. You get 75% of the questions on a test right you get a C...period.

That would be really unfair then. Some professors are much harder than others. Other linear algebra professors at my school recognize my linear algebra professor as the most difficult professor. They suggest using his practice midterms if you want some challenging review.

For my linear algebra homework curve (we have a big homework assignment each week), anything below 90% is barely passing or failing. People do so well on the homework that the curve for A's and B's are well above 90%. For the tests though, the curve goes down to about 75% is a B.

So, it's unfair for you to receive the grade you earn?

The math department should get together and standardize their tests so no professor is that much different from the other.

God, people, this isn't fskcing rocket science (well, I guess in some cases it is. )

amish

omfg.

Do you really expect an entire department to standardize tests? How big is your school? Maybe that will explain a lot.