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<p>In many weeder STEM classes, it is more common for As and Bs to be granted to students who may not demonstrate full mastery of the course material than the reverse to avoid flunking out the entire class. Then again, intro courses were often taught so full mastery of the material wasn’t possible for the vast majority or necessary to continue on. </p>
<p>Harsh curves were often used by STEM departments as a way to test and weed-out the weaker students who weren’t prepared academically and/or unwilling to put in the effort necessary to stay in the major. This was the reasoning my STEM major friends and I’ve heard cited for this practice from older STEM majors and Profs. </p>
<p>In one of the CS classes I took, more than half the class had midterm scores hovering between 0 and mid 20s/100. Recalled it ended up that if one scored in the 20s-30s…that range became Cs to Bs. </p>