Grading on a curve

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I've been reading the threads about relative difficulty between different schools and a recurring theme is that some schools grade on a curve. Are there particular schools known for grading on a curve? Is that the school's policy or is it just some departments?</p>

<p>Would you recommend attending a school that grades this way?</p>

2

<p>Nearly all schools have many profs that grade on a curve. It would be unusual to find one that did not.</p>

3

<p>Something I hadn’t been prepared for when I started college was the standard curve. A curve in high school was something that could only increase your grade, not decrease it. It usually meant that a certain number of points were added to everybody’s grade.</p>

<p>In college, in the common pre req courses eg. stats, biology, organic chem, physics etc most of my classes were graded on a standard curve. This meant that even if you had over 90% of the questions correct, you could still get a B or worse depending on how everybody else taking the exam did. On the flip side, I once scored a 5% on an analytical chemistry exam and got an A.</p>

<p>I am not sure I would take this into consideration when picking a college. It was inconvenient and frustrating, but it only lasted the first year or two.</p>

4

<p>

</p>

<p>If you have been reading those threads why didn’t you post to one of them?</p>

<p>MOD: how about locking this thread?</p>

5

<p>Someone please link those previous threads (that have been re-activated) before locking this one?</p>

<p>I have heard that LACs tend to avoid curves, standard or otherwise.</p>

6

<p>In engineering and physics, there is almost always a curve, otherwise almost everybody would flunk every course.</p>

7

<p>ctyankee - I started this thread because I didn’t see a recent discussion of this topic. Only occasional mention of the issue when discussing difficulty of different schools. Now that we are researching schools - I was curious to find out how prevalent this issue was. I’m not sure why you are so anxious to “lock” this thread. I’m not aware of a rule against asking for updated opinions on a topic.</p>