<p>Is it made so that only a certain amount of people can get As, Bs, etc?</p>
<p>Different professors have different curving policies. In engineering most of them do curve, but it isn’t like “10 As, 30 Bs,” etc.</p>
<p>Some of them curve it so the class average is an 80 or something like that, but they don’t curve down if the ‘real’ class average is over whatever they were going to curve to.</p>
<p>A couple professors curve using the T score, but I don’t understand how it works at all. All I know about the T score is one test I got about 4 out of 10 right and got a B, and on the next test I got 8 out of 10 right and got another B.</p>
<p>Chuy, how much do you know about Chemical Engineering at VT? Could you give me a thorough description beyond tautology? Is it accurate to say the average graduating ChE class size slims down from ~300 to 30? How hard is it to maintain 3.7+ GPA, if you’re a consistent top 5-10% student in high school AP classes and have a very blessed aptitude as well as love for engineering/physics/chemistry?</p>
<p>I don’t know a lot about ChemE, but I really don’t think that graduating ChemE classes are EVER at 300. It’s smaller than MSE the last I heard, and we start around 40.</p>
<p>It’ll be very hard to keep a 3.7+ GPA in any field of engineering. Possible, and people do it, but hard.</p>
<p>Would you describe students who can maintain a 3.7+ GPA as students who simply have the knack & aptitude for the material, or students who are hard and determined workers?</p>
<p>No offense EngineerHead, but I’d really say the best thing to do is just to go and work as much as you’re willing and find out how well that pays off.</p>
<p>Generally has to be a balance of both, with emphasis on being a hard and determined worker.</p>
<p>Why do you say no offense? I don’t find that offensive at all.</p>
<p>For classes that curve, generally what percentile do you want to be in for an A? Specifically upper level courses, not weed-out classes.</p>
<p>Some people not as calm as you might interpret my comment as saying you should stop asking questions, that’s all.</p>
<p>Don’t worry so much about grades. If you focus on grades, you’re just going to be stressed out. If you focus on learning the material, understanding it, preparing properly for exams, etc. then the grades will follow.</p>
<p>What concerns me, though, are the classes that just give out bad grades in general. Does VT have any? For example, I have heard of a math class at UCB, where the student with the HIGHEST grade in the class was something in the 60%. The professor didn’t curve, everyone got an F, but I bet that kid who got the 60% was a genius.</p>
<p>It all depends on what professor you have and your relationship with them. The harder classes are obviously going to be curved more, and their grad edistribution will sitll be lower than your average course. It just depends on the department and on your professor. They also do hvae weed out classes, but if you are committed they cannot weed you out of what you want to do. Some professors just curve overall, while some do so on invidual assignments, usually just tests. It all depends.</p>
<p>Correction in my post:
…are there* classes that just give out bad grades in general.</p>
<p>Is VT notorious for grade deflation? Do a lot of teachers practice grade deflation?</p>
<p>nope, certainly not. there are actually classes that are alot easier to get A’s in … for example a class called Wines and Vines taught my Boyer, where you taste wine (obvioulsy you must be 21 to enroll) I hear has a pretty high grade average. if you go the newspaper’s wepsite (The Collegiate Times) they have a database of average grades for alot of professors…I alwyas use that when trying to pick out my classes and make sure that i don’t get the few professors that exist that just hate to give students A’s.</p>
<p>What about engineering specific? That’s my primary concern. Thanks for the site tip btw, this will definitely help me a lot!</p>
<p>From what I’ve heard from several friends who are engineering majors, professors are pretty relaxed in that field, however they do expect you to do the work. For example, one professor who teaches the C++ class, holds his course in an auditorium that holds about 200 students. On average, about 15-20 show up. He apparently has a pretty good class reputation though, as he posts everything online and doesn’t need sutdents to be there. He would be one of the more relaxed professors. And when it comes to grading, he is very fair too, realizing that students don’t feel the need to arrive every single day. It’s up to you though, how you prefer to put effort in. if you don’t put in effort, you won’t get a good grade but as long as you to go class and try … your professor, no matter what department, will be fair.</p>
<p>To the OP…</p>
<p>Curving is left to the discretion of the professors… but more often the curves help you rather than hurt you.</p>
<p>In my major (Accounting) we tend to have fairly low test averages (try a 46% on the Intermediate Accounting final). Without the curve, about 90% of the class would fail. Curves help to even things out.</p>