<p>I would like to know.. how are Grades given out by profs? In my country (Singapore), the university operates on a "bell-curve" and for example, only the top 10% of the class receive an A, the next 20% a B and so on... This absolutely makes the universities here extremely competitive and cut-throat. No matter how good are you, so long as there are better classmates, you are not going to score well. So, are the grading at US colleges based on that? If not, what are the different factors that contributes to your grades? Thanks!</p>
<p>Some schools are, such as the business school at UPenn, Wharton.</p>
<p>grades are usually given on a percentage basis, and many classes at a lot of schools will give half the class an A if half the class scores a 94%+ on the test.</p>
<p>Right, they're usually based on test/essay scores - so if your test average is 97 or 98-100 (for example, depends on the school) you will get an A+, 94-97 is an A, etc (again depends on the school some schools may not even give A+'s - it also depends on other factors such as if teachers grade for attendance, participation, homework, etc)</p>
<p>It also depends on the major. Virtually all science, math, and engineering courses are graded on a curve. The percentages vary, but the standard bell with 10% at an a, 20% at a b and so on is quite prevelant.</p>
<p>In "easier" lower division classes, this leads to intense competition and high changeout rates where people decide that engineering and science aren't for them. Later on, it allows for insanely hard tests to not completely ruin a student's career (in many engineering classes, a 60% is a quite respectable grade!).</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Soccerguy: is wm as difficult as it is rumored to be?</p>
<p>Thank! So which means US universities are as competitive and cut-throat as the one I have in Singapore?</p>
<p>SwatTeam, are you sure Wharton is grading on a pure bell curve(with the distribution as suggested by the original poster)? If that's the case, shouldn't the average gpa of Wharton students be around 2.0? However, this link shows that the average Wharton gpa for 2001 academic year is 3.34. Has it changed that much by now?</p>
<p>Anyway, to answer the thread starter's question, the competition among students depends on the school. In my school, most engineering classes curve the average to around B / B- (3.0 / 2.7). From what I've heard, the curve in Ivy schools is even more generous. 50% of the students in Harvard get the grades of A's and A-'s. In some classes at Stanford, 90% of the students get A's and B's. Grade inflation is definitely a current trend among US universities. </p>
<p><a href="http://gradeinflation.com/%5B/url%5D">http://gradeinflation.com/</a></p>
<p>According to the link that I posted, most (if not all) schools have an average GPA of 2.7 or above. That is to say, the average GPA for students at US universities is at the very least a B-. If Singaporean institutions grade on a pure bell curve, and the median / mean is set to a C (the equivalent of 2.0 in US), I would say that the competition here is not nearly as cut-throat as what you have there. I'm not saying that the quality of education here is lower than there or vice versa though, at which case I can't comment much.</p>
<p>A heard this from two different people (one went to my school last year and now attends UPenn [Pre-Med], the other is one of my acquaintances at school currently who will be Attending UPenn [Wharton] next Fall). I don't attend Wharton however, and have never researched its grading policies, so I'm just relaying Word-of-Mouth.</p>
<p>Maybe it isnt a standard bell curve?</p>
<p>(Or maybe I just have bad sources :))</p>
<p>uvajoe</p>
<p>well ummm.... you know those rules about at least 2 hours outside of class for every hour in class? Yea I don't follow those. Basically, I work when I have something due, and I'm very bad at starting things early. I think my HS work prepared me very well. Often times, you can work hard at something, and get a C (like papers). And I will say that I experienced a lecture class (chem) where the class average was too high for the professors liking, so he curved everyone's grade DOWN to set the median at ~79 (C+, 2.3). And, one of my friends experienced a lecture class (intro psych) where the class average was around a 70 (C-, 1.7) and there was no curve.</p>
<p>I wouldn't say the workload is that bad (for me, other people definitely think differently), but sometimes the grading is rough (like 2nd semester when I studied for a Roman Civ test for 25+ hours and got a 50%... but that's b/c the teacher gave retarded tests where you were supposed to memorize random facts (like, which part of plant X is bad for you? instead of "explain how laws were passed in ancient rome")). I think the prof might've been visiting. I withdrew from that class, with my 'W'.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Thank! So which means US universities are as competitive and cut-throat as the one I have in Singapore?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Depends on the school. However, I would say competitive...but not usually cut throat. I've heard from cousins in Sg that competition starts in grade schools - possibly this leads to more intense competition in colleges over there.</p>
<p>For example, MIT is certainly as competitive;).</p>
<p>kenyon, im from singapore too i hear that usually singaporean students have no problems with their grades in US unis. </p>
<p>karthikkito, yups you are correct. its really competitive here.</p>