Curve for Pharmacy?

<p>I was just wondering how difficult (or easy) it would be to get a 3.4-3.8 in the science courses we have to take for the first 2 years of pharmacy? (e.g. General Bio 1&2, Organic Chem..). I have been hearing stories that these classes are graded based on a curve. If the class average on a test was, let's say, 50% and you got a 50% on the test, would your GPA be 2.0?(sorry if I'm totally wrong,, I'm very new at all this)</p>

<p>I took Chem IB SL (still waiting for my IB mark, but, I'd say that my projected is a 5.0). I also took Biology Honors, which covers nearly the same material as Biology IB HL (without the label). I am doing decent in the class, but not outstanding.</p>

<p>Hey, just a heads up, unless you took AP Chem you won’t get credit for gen chem 1 and 2. You only get it if you take an IB class at HL and get a 5, 6 or 7. However if you also took AP chem and got a 4 or 5, you get the gen chem credit. Not sure if you were assuming you would, so I figured I’d mention it. Don’t have any idea about your actual question though, sorry.</p>

<p>Science classes are usually curved because the exam averages are usually pretty low. It really depends on the prof… the core classes (chem, organic, bio) tend to curve to about a C/C+, but again, just depends.</p>

<p>For example, my organic class had exam averages around 50-60%. My organic prof made the average a C+, so if you score around the average, you’d get a C+, and you’d have to do consistently better than average to get a higher grade.</p>

<p>So yes, if your prof made average=C, and you did average, then your grade in the class would be a C/2.0. </p>

<p>If you’re a good student and you put in the work, I don’t think it’ll be too difficult to fall into 3.4-3.8.</p>

<p>@neuchimie: I was made clear of the IB credits issue, but thanks anyway!</p>

<p>@Emily2007: Would you happen to know if the professional years of pharm are curved this way too? I believe we have to maintain a 2.70-3.00 average for the 1st 2 years (preprofessional) in order to stay in the pharm program, so does that mean that we would have to do significantly better than the average pharm student to stay in?</p>

<p>As far as I know, in core classes you’re curved against the entire class, not just against pharm students. You’ll need to do better than the average student, not the average pharm student.</p>

<p>I don’t know about the later years of pharm, only about classes I’ve taken with pharm majors like gen chem, organic, bio.</p>