bell curve

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - San Diego
1

<p>do all profs grade on a bell curve at ucsd? ...where they can only have a certain amount of kids get a's etc. or is it pretty much if u study u get the grade u deserve?</p>

2

<p>It's up to individual professors, but most of the professors I've had grade on a bell curve. I've never encountered a case where there was rounding down (a raw A becoming a B on a curve), though. The averages are always around 50%-70% for my classes.</p>

3

<p>hs grading (90% = A type classes) are in humanities type classes...classes like music generally fall in this category.</p>

<p>bell curve are in science/engineering classes...math, chem, bio, etc. but the way the distribution goes has usually been 20-25% A, 30-35% B, 30-35% C, 10% D/F to get a distribution that is curved to a B-/C+ in most classes.</p>

4

<p>tht sux...so you think they actually count how many ppl get a's and bump someone down to a b..if they have to many a's</p>

5

<p>This is odd. So are some people forced to get F's?</p>

6

<p>ya. basically competition is forced upon us by the school.</p>

7

<p>
[QUOTE]

tht sux...so you think they actually count how many ppl get a's and bump someone down to a b..if they have to many a's

[/QUOTE]
</p>

<p>They don't count. They calculate the average, and then the standard deviation. If you want to set the average at a B-, then anyone that received a grade that's one or more standard deviations away from the average receives an A- or above. Someone between the average and one standard deviation away from the average would receive a grade between B- and A-. Anyone receiving between one and two standard deviation less than the average receives a grade between a C- and a B-. And so on. You then get a bell curve of grades. Like this:
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empirical_rule%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empirical_rule&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Now, let me say this again. Since most of the averages on (science) exams are around 50%-70%, it is very rare to be in a situation where your A is rounded down to a B because of the curve. </p>

<p>People are not forced to get F's. With averages around 50%-70%, the people getting F's on the curve would've also gotten F's without any sort of curve. </p>

<p>Competition is not forced upon anyone by the school.</p>

8

<p>Plus, if you get the lowest grade in the class and you have a 92 the prof will most likely not give you an F, and if he does then just challenge the grade.</p>