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<p>Meaning the grading was done on an absolute scale, not a “curve” as the term is commonly used in describing how a class is graded (although the distribution may be a bell curve).</p>
<p>An absolute scale means that you are not competing with other students. But it requires the instructors to finely calibrate the difficulty of the tests – too hard or too easy a test may result in grades higher or lower than one would otherwise expect.</p>