<p>I am taking this intro/pre-req science class (all pre-health students must take it!) in which the grading was done unfairly. Out of this ~200 student class, no one received a 4.0 (highest was a 3.8)!!</p>
<p>The test averages for this class were ~50% with a standard deviation of ~15%. At the end of the quarter, the professor "adjusted" the grades to create a specific mean, but the grades of those students at the top of the curve were barely adjusted at all. It turns out that if I used the professor's method, even scoring a 95% on his/her tests (the top 0.62% of the class!), still nets the student a 3.9 rather than a 4.0. In the end, no one in the class was even remotely close to the 95% mark and no one in this ~200 student class received a grade above a 3.8!</p>
<p>I understand students are supposed to "earn" their grades, but in hard science classes where most students are competing for grades to gain acceptances into graduate school, I feel that this professor's methods are grossly arbitrary, unfair, and unjust. How does the professor expect students to consistently score above a 95% when the average is a 50%???</p>
<p>I plan to appeal this to the department, but if I could hear your opinions and suggestions about this dilemma that would be fantastic. Has anyone else encountered a situation like this before? If so, how did you deal with it?</p>
<p>Thank you for your feedback and input. They will undoubtedly help improve the quality of science courses (let's improve it together!!!)!</p>
<p>You should stop whining. Getting a 4.0 at UW pretty much means you need a 98% or higher average (for any class, unless it’s curved). It just sounds like you had a really hard curve; it happens. If no one received a grade over a 3.8, it means you were in a class with 200 students who couldn’t earn higher than a 3.8. Deal with it. Although I really doubt you spent the time going through every person in that class to find out if they got over a 3.8 (actually, maybe I wouldn’t be that surprised). There were probably a few that got a >3.8. You were likely in a weed-out class, which is designed to make sure that the people who can’t make it, don’t. If you appeal to the department, they will probably lol at you for being such a grade grubber.</p>
<p>To avoid situations like these, look up your professors online before signing up for their class. You should know what you’re getting yourself into based off of RMP or CEC reviews. Or better yet, beat the teacher at his own game and master the material.</p>
<p>And just to reiterate, college is about learning, not getting a 4.0. You sound like such a whiny pre-med right now it’s hilarious. I think maybe if you spend more time studying and less time calculating your GPA based on a specific class percentile you would have done better than you wanted to.</p>
<p>i noticed you cross posted this with another forum. I agree w/all that have posted:
Unread Today, 03:09 AM #2
ChemFreak</p>
<p>Ahh dear freshman well come to the club. I too as a freshman begged to no avail and have since given up. Perhaps others on this forum have had some success but at my school there’s no hope, the professor can do whatever (s)he likes and the department won’t care the least.</p>
<p>Unread Today, 07:25 AM #3</p>
<p>Get used to it! If you get so hyped up about every single class, you’ll have a heart attack soon. Not worth it. It sounds fair, BTW. Unfair is when prof makes mistake marking as incorrect something that was actually correct. Then you need to point out to prof about his error. If nothing like this happened, then prof’s curving grades should be thought as courtesy, not any kind of must. He could have graded it straignt w/o curving. Be thankful. Best wishes!</p>