<p>Hello everyone,</p>
<p>I just had my first Biology 121 test, and found it to be extremely hard.</p>
<p>I am sure that I totally bombed it...</p>
<p>Does anyone know what the past curves have been like (last year, etc?) Generally what numerical % grade do we need to get a B? I just want a very general sense of what I should aim for to get a B. How high is the average and standard deviation, usually?</p>
<p>Or does anyone know what the grade distribution is like? Is it 1/5 A's, 1/3 B's, the rest C's, D's, etc?</p>
<p>thx for your responses in advance</p>
<p>the bio department curve (in the intro classes, meaning 121 101 122 and 102) generally works out to 20% A/A-, 40% B+/B/B-, 30% C range, and the rest below that. The bio professors have a little more leeway with that scheme than the professors of the other science departments, but that tends to be the general idea</p>
<p>the actual numerical percent is extremely variable from professor to professor, just gauge where you are relative to the class average.</p>
<p>So Philly, when you took it, what were the overall class averages for the tests in general? Were they around 60%, 70%, etc?</p>
<p>and as long as someone's above average (say a student scores 65% and the class average is only 60%), is it safe to say that he is in the B range?</p>
<p>well, grades are not tallied until the end in most cases, so you won't be in a range for a particular test per se</p>
<p>it's common sense though that if your above the average you're in the B range, just look at the percentages. </p>
<p>again, i reiterate that the averages vary widely from professor to professor, anything from a 55 to a 75 is a pretty normal average</p>
<p>in addition to the above, which i agree with,</p>
<p>standard deviations are often quite large, sometimes as much as 20 points (not %), so it's sometimes tricky to land in the a range, but yeah...</p>