Grading Curve .. .just say yes or no for each!

hdotchar
Sat, 13 Aug 2005 14:36:07 +0000

thye were talking about a c.s. class that engineering majors have to take.

my friend recently took thermodynamics and statics over the summer (he’s co-oping) and although they didn’t have a ‘curve’ in the traditional sense, they did this: there were 4 tests throughout the session+ final exam. whichever test you did BEST on, it would account for 60% of your grade.

in some of my other classes, like my chem class they looked at the top percent and then made that (i’m guessing a perfect score) and then bumped up everyone’s grade by so much. this may seem harsh, but it actually worked out pretty good, because only a 78% was needed to attain an A.

in some of the lower division math classes, my friends tell me (i never took them) that the # of A’s on the final would be the total number of A’s in the class. their curve was inexplicably difficult to comprehend, (i still dont get it).

some of my other classes were generously curved, my vector calc class was curved to a B+. we were allowed graphing calcs on tests as well (the teacher made some of the questions difficult enough for this to almost be a requirement).

basically i would say just know more than your peers. my test for how well i know the material is that i feel like i would be able to actually teach the material to someone. sometimes i study without the actual intention of trying to ‘make that so and so percent’. just get the material and know it thoroughly and generally i dont think you’ll have probems.