<p>I posted this on another board:</p>
<p>"From what I'm hearing...it seems "curves" kinda change your grade. Like...these examples:</p>
<p>1 - I read about a lab that is "curved" so that only the top 20% get A's. Does that mean if I get a 92% and everyone else gets a 95%....even though 92 should be an A, I won't get an A because I'm not in the top 20%? </p>
<p>2 - The opposite...what if I get a 77 and everyone else gets a 75. Does that mean I get an A...even though a 77 should be a C?"</p>
<p>So...since I am going to Cornell...can someone tell me about Cornell's grading system? Do most profs use some type of curve...and if so..is it like the above examples? Or...do most of Cornell's curves help more than hinder? </p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Curves are generally used to help your grade. Courses in which you can attain 90%+ grades are generally easy enough to be uncurved. It's usually the courses where the mean is a 60% that are curved. You can see how without the curve, most people would have a D. With the curve, the mean would be a B+ or B or whatever. So, you will rarely see a course curved down where a 90%+ won't be a A.</p>
<h1>2 is the common scenario. #1, I have never heard of happening.</h1>
<p>Curves are prevelant in most science courses (because the means on tests tend to be too embarrassing otherwise) and certain non-science courses. I took around 10 humanities/social science courses. I don't think any of them were curved.</p>
<p>Oh, ok, thanks. Makes me feel better!</p>
<p>I'm sure it's rare as norcalguy has said, but if you're doing anything science related you may experience #1. My friend took Chem last semester, had a 90 average and received a C in the course.</p>
<p>i highly doubt that.</p>
<p>@ above:</p>
<p>Your friend got a 90 average and received a 'C' grade?!?!?!? I think he was pulling your leg.</p>
<p>Any class with so many students receiving such high grades would not be curved.</p>
<p>if that is true, it would really suck</p>
<h1>1 is rare, but it happens. It really depends on the prof. In my four years at Cornell I can think of two instances where I scored above 90% on a final or prelim and did not receive and A ore even A-. In BIO 101 I answered 56 out of 60 questions correctly on the final and received a B+. However, on that particular test there were also five bonus questions which I failed to complete. Turns out that those bonus questions pushed the mean up to about 54 out of 60. In MATH 294 the mean grade on our first prelim was 95%. I scored 91% and received a B-. The next prelim the professor over compensated and made the test ridiculously difficult. The mean was somewhere around 40%. I score 60% and got an A.</h1>
<p>Science and engineering courses below the 300 level (junior level) are almost always curved. While this sounds like a good thing, it really not. It just means that the professors make the tests extremely difficult. The mean grade is normally a B, but some professors make it as low as a C+. Only when you hit your upper division courses does the curve start to go away. </p>
<p>If you major in any type of engineering expect your class' mean GPA to hover around 2.9-3.1 for the first two years. Once you hit the upper division courses the class' mean GPA rebounds to about 3.2-3.3 in most engineering majors. The sciences are a little easier grade wise, unless your pre-med. Humanities classes generally aren't curved and you see much higher mean GPAs.</p>