<p>In an animal physiology class of 90 students, only 1 student got an A, 9 (which includes me) got an A-, and the rest got a B+ or lower. The cutoff for an A was an overall of 86% or above. Between 80% and 85% was an A-. 75%-79% a B+, and so on. He made so many aspects of the course really unfair, but he still didn't curve at the end. This is the first time in my 3-year university career that I had a prof like this. :( I had a friend who took the same course at my school but with a different prof and from what he said, the course, though it was exactly the same course designation and number, was entirely different from my prof's course, and the grade distribution was more generous (out of 90, about 8 got an A and 5 A-). The system is really messed up. I hope every university comes up with a way to standardize every course so that the course difficulty and marking don't vary too much across different profs. (though it will be impossible for the course to be exactly the same with different profs)</p>
<p>Some students have unrealistic expectations.</p>
<p>Be grateful that he made a BUILT-IN curve with an A being only an 86%.</p>
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I don’t.</p>
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Don’t say “only an 86%”. The prof made it extremely difficult, almost impossible, to get an 86%. I hope I can enroll you in his course so that you can experience it yourself what it’s like.</p>
<p>sorry dude about being unhappy with your grade</p>
<p>A- is pretty good man</p>
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I’m not saying that A- is bad. It’s just that I collected too many A-'s in my freshman year and I don’t want any more of it.</p>
<p>I had a class one time where a 95% was a B- [Calculus III]. His tests were too darn easy so around 35 people got a 100% raw score in his class, around 20 got a taw score of 98-99% and around 25 got between 97-98%. Hmmmm…so guess what he gave people with a 95%?! B MINUS!!!</p>
<p>This is an extreme case, and the class was distributed in a very stupid way, but just saying, life isn’t always fair, but it tends to balance out eventually :)</p>
<p>^ Exactly. You only are upset right now because you already accumulated other A-'s. Did you feel bad about the other A-'s that you truly earned? Not saying A- is a bad grade by any means. But I doubt if you got all A’s and this one A- you would be complaining, regardless of the unfair grading scale. It will balance out eventually because there are few professors you will encounter that grade unfairly, or at least I hope.</p>
<p>If you truly feel like it was unfair you can go to the Deans and file a complaint, but ask yourself is that really worth it?</p>
<p>This is why all classes should be based on simple childhood philosophy of, “You get what you get, and you don’t get upset.”</p>
<p>If you’re getting upset about this, I wonder what you’re going to think about grading in the third year of medical school. Generally speaking, at least 50% of your grade is going to come from a subjective evaluation of your performance by the residents and attendings who supervise you. Your overall grade may also be derived in part from your performance on an oral exam or skills demonstration. Very little of your grade will come from an objectively administered and graded shelf exam.</p>
<p>You have things pretty easy right now. A- grades are pretty good - as any of us can tell you, a 3.7 GPA come application time is strong. Best learn to deal with very high expectations now 'cause it ain’t getting any better.</p>
<p>take your grade grubbing BS to SDN where it belongs. it’s an A- …shut up</p>
<p>As if SDN is going to give him a hug over an A- ;)</p>
<p>More likely to rip him a new hole. An A- is really nothing to complain about.</p>