@gapyearapplicant : I think Singleton at VU curved because he used to give more “applied” exams than the other sections, but I don’t even know if he teaches 1510 anymore and the most recent times he did, it appears he went more towards the more memorization oriented style of others. It may depend at VU. Like it seems the memorization oriented instructors will maybe have a low scoring (maybe low 70 or high 60) exam and then several high (let us say high 70s or low 80s) scoring exams so there may be some scaling to compensate for the lower scoring exam at the end. A challenging instructor (usually the tops) on Emory main (not sure any exist for intro. biology there anymore, but at least all try to focus on experimental biology and applications when possible so despite the relative ease of grades, you learn the right things. Emory has a lot of super bio inclined folks too so that may be why averages are high. You’re talking a school with like twice the amount of pre-healths or more that tends to draw more “pointed” students in terms of EC qualifications aligned with majors typically associated with pre-med track Much of those probably have AP 4/5. Apparently as early as the 90s, like 30% of bio 141 would have AP credit and then a solid chunk of those have serious research experience in biology…so despite the focus on application, especially in 142, the averages stay high) will usually give more than one low scoring exam unless they are “up to something”.
Again, these low scores come from not the content but the problems they put on the exam being a bit advanced versus covered material. At some places, chemistry and bio exams with low scores seem like they result from a time crunch or “trickiness” (as in wording of close-ended items such as multiple choice, true/false, fill in blank). At Emory if the score is low, it is because items went on there that the instructor did not intend for many people to get. In former case, A’s will go to the hardest workers/those who keep up and can test fast enough, but in the Emory cases I refer to, you are often in competition and hard work may gain you some headway (say a B/B+), but the toughest problems are reserved to be done by some very talented or experienced folks or those who go a bit of an extra mile in studying. Like McGill last year put on a gen. chem exam what I thought was a cool problem that got students to analyze something usually reserved for the second exam in organic chemistry sections. Soria this year apparently put a problem asking students to derive a concept on his exam that is discussed in WELL-DONE organometallic courses (so like an upper division organic chemistry course-and some organometallic instructors mainly just do counting electrons of metals and basic shape considerations, but they may not deeply delve into mechanisms or how molecular orbitals contribute to some phenomenon). Mulford likes to put involved mathematical logic (or regular logic) problems that mess many up. Think about the fact that many students in general chemistry expect basic concepts and plug and chug.
The question is for folks in such sections, is one the type of person who is a) very talented in chemistry, b) has so much exposure to chemistry that they can reach these concepts with much less work than even an AP/IB student (and believe me, Emory main gets these folks. Chemistry is more popular there than most comparably sized schools. There are actually a decent amount of folks taking 150 with the IB organic course or even research in chemistry or physics under their belt), or c) will find additional resources to get themselves to the level where they can anticipate those curveballs. Most people do not fall in any of those 3 categories. However, many do fall in the category of: “I’ll do the work you give me and find the time to practice and prep for a somewhat challenging exam with no real curveballs”. It appears that schools like WUSTL and Emory (as well as many other elite research universities) go the route of having several instructors (some easier folks who won’t find time in their day to do that exist, but if one takes them for the first part of a sequence and then only tough instructor(s) shows up for second half, students who went the easy route have a clear disadvantage) who try to also challenge the AP/IB credit granted students in intro. courses beyond just giving them new content to memorize. And then other places (including some elites) pitch more to the middle and may reserve an honors for AP/IB who do not want to take organic (or name any advanced/intermediate course in a STEM subject). The only time the AP/IBs do not do as hot in the latter paradigm is when they get bored or far over-confident (technically the two attitudes are really the same).
Oxford was a commuter school? That sounds impossible. I believe it has a residential requirement. And very few of them come from Georgia (demographics nearly identical to main). Where would the freshmen live other than campus? I imagine it would be hard for them to find housing, but either way, I am pretty sure it is (or was) nowhere near a commuter school. That doesn’t make much sense.