It’s my second year at UofM but I’m still confused by how the curve works. I often hear people say “curved to B” or so, does that mean students who received a grader of B or higher on an exam will get added some points to their raw exam score, while student scoring lower than B on that exam will not have the curve benefit?
For intro EECS classes (280, 203, 281, etc.):
Final grades are assigned so that the average is around a B-/C+. If everyone does really well (so that average raw scores are above a B-/C+ on a standard 0-100 scale) they will almost certainly NOT curve you down. I have never heard of this happening, however. The curve is “up”, but in name only. At the end of the day, who cares about raw scores, it is your probability of getting a great final grade (which is lower in EECS and other engineering departments when compared to most LSA departments all of Ross).
Grade distributions are readily available for most classes - you should check them out to see how many students get As, Bs, etc.
Thanks for the response! Just for double check, so if the professors decide to have a curve, then all students, regardless of their raw scores, will have their grades curved UP. Is my understanding correct?
Grades curved “up” if you consider the prolific standard scale to represent grades (97-100 = A+, 93-96 = A, etc.).