RoryDuhMan

One question I have been wanting to ask is:

Do all the courses at Duke grade on a curve?

Do all the science classes grade on a curve?

If so, what is the curve to?

DukeEgr93

Not all; and those that do curve differently and to different places :-D

bluedog

^^What DukeEgr93 said.

For example, the physics I took curved to an 80%, so to the C+/B- border. Most professors curve a bit more generously than that, though, I'd say. Humanities don't curve at the same frequency as sciences, but don't need to.

llabesab16

yeah math classes (at least 31,32,41, and 103) as far as I know curve to like a B-. I've taken chem 21, and I am in chem 22. I think chem 21 was curved to B-, and my prof for chem 22 is curving to B-/B.

house80

What do you mean curved to B-? Does that mean B- is the average grade? What's the % students can curved to B-? What's % can to A?

incollege88

Curving means using the average and standard deviation from a class's scores to assign letter grades. Here it is usually done to a C+/B- curve, which is lower than the B+/B curves I have heard about from friends who go to HYS. In a normal distribution, ~68.2% of the population lies within one standard deviation from the mean. If the mean is set to the C+/B- boundary, this means that roughly 68% of the class gets between a C- and a B+. If the curve is symmetric (as it should be if parametric stats are applied, though I don't think a lot of professors actually care about the assumptions because a lot of the distributions at Duke end up being bimodal), then this means that only ~16% of the class will get A-level grades, and ~16% will get D/F's. Considering the uproar when Princeton cut back its portion of A's to 35%, you can understand why Dukies sometimes complain about grade "deflation" here.

A-/A/A+: 13.6+2.1+0.1 = 15.8%
B-/B/B+: 34.1%
C-/C/C+: 34.1%
D-/D/D+: 13.6%
F: 2.1+0.1 = 2.2%

Mondo

^This seems accurate, at least for my Math 103 class.

Nineteen

Keep in mind that the above percentages are often more for hard intro/lower level courses like Econ 51, Math 32/103, etc. So a history course, for example, could have a lot more than 2.1% of students getting an A/A+. So don't worry, more than 2% of total grades given out are A's.

incollege88

and by 2% nineteen means ~16%...

twinkletoes23

in the weeder courses, duke does not have grade inflation.

some econ classes are cuved to a C.

C+ in some classes

Why is duke so ridiculously hard????

bsbllallstr8

its because every ****** bag wants to be an econ major because it leads to riches as an investment banker (hehe). too many people means large demand, its funny how econ works against econ majors.

it's also important to note that upper level classes sometimes curve to B+ or... better.

overall the way to scam the system is to take easy stuff for 2 years, claim a legitimate major you havent done much in, and then apply for investment banking jobs with your 3.8 in rocks for jocks classes. deustche bank here i come!!

CNI

bsbllallstr8, would it be advisable to take econ 51 D as a first semester freshman? I plan on stacking the rest of my schedule with really easy courses, but I've still heard horror stories about that class. Would recruiters cut me some slack if i had a low grade my first semester in college?

Mondo

Econ 51D is a nightmare right now!!

I think the average right now is a C/C-
People are going to be studying a lot for the final.

evil_asian_dictator

Duke is ridiculously hard!! It's a good thing I can still get just as good of a job as a History major though. Suck it math/econ majors!