Annoucing vague grading scale two weeks before finals

Student Lounge College Life
1

Is it acceptable, in general, for a professor to announce that he curves the points necessary for an A, B, C, etc. two weeks before finals? (Previously, he indicated that anything above 90 is an A, anything above 80 a B, etc.) Now, he says he doesn’t know, but 94+, for example would be an A (curved).

He has never provided any sort of grading policies (merely assignments’ percentages within the overall grade) - nothing to indicate what exactly is required for an A, B, or C.

2

Bump? Was hoping to get some opinions on this before it’s irrelevant.

3

My orgo class doesn’t announce exact percentages for gradelines until all final grades are in. We’re told that in past years, an A was x%, but no guarantee that it’ll be the same this year.

And many of my classes give the cutoff for an A- as “what you need to get for an A”… Except to get a real A you have to guess several percent higher and hope that’s accurate.

So. Clear grading policies may not be as common as we’d like. Unless there is a rule in your student handbook that says professors must give a concrete grading scale in the syllabus, I’d just go to town on whatever teacher evaluations you have.

4

Thanks @bodangles. Can’t find anything from a quick skim through of the student and faculty handbooks (and I’m definitely bringing this up in the evaluations :slight_smile: )

5

Is this a science class? I have seen that a lot in physics classes where it’s hard to know how the marks are going to run- and for many students the curve is something that they are very grateful for! Saying categorically that an 80 is a B is pretty tough if the average is a 50, and only one person gets an 80+ (which I have seen).

6

@collegemom3717 It’s math. Sure, I understand the pull for curving, but making the cutoffs higher, while possibly statistically correct in some areas (NOT tests), isn’t comforting.

Especially when the average on tests is probably lower than a 70.

7

Was the original grading scale in the syllabus?
If so, go talk to the Department Head about this issue.
Say that you had thought you were doing well with a 91 average and all of a sudden you are being told that is a B.
Also something is wrong with his tests if he has to get to a 94 to be an A

8

@bopper No grading scale was ever provided.

Homework may be curved like that - tests have been curved normally (lower cutoff necessary, not higher), although the final may be curved differently :frowning: