<p>I recently read in a post that the Freeman School of Business curves grades to a B average. Does this mean that your grade could potentially be curved down? Could someone further explain the grading curve to me?</p>
<p>Actually, as I understand this (but maybe it has changed since I was in school) that is a pretty generous policy. In the long ago past, grades were curved to a C average, since C means average. So for simplicity, let’s say 5 people took a (very hard) test and the scores were 82, 70, 62, 52, and 44. Now there are different ways of doing this, but the simplest is just take the average (310/5=62) and that would be a C. Most profs would say that since 82 (about 80) was the top score then anything within 8 points of 62 is also a C, 9-16 a B or D, and 17+ an A or F. So the 82 would be an A, the 70 borderline but most likely a B, the 62 a C, the 52 a D, and the 44 an F. If the prof is grading to a B average, then the 70 becomes an A- or B+, the 62 a B, the 52 a C, and the 44 a D. So he is curving up, not down.</p>