<p>I'm not sure if this is true but I (slightly) remember reading on college confidential that a Chemistry exam was curved to a 60 at Cornell. If this is true then does this indicate that the tests are extremely difficult? With so many bright people at Cornell how can the curve be around 60? If one were to follow along with the readings and homework how difficult would it be to receive a B or an A in a science course such as Chemistry?</p>
<p>It's not that bad. You just do everything the professor tells you to do, and if you don't understand something, go to office hours right away. It also makes things easier to start lab reports and problem sets early, so you have time to ask questions from you TA.</p>
<p>I think a low mean score is good. Stupid mistakes don't hurt you much, and if you need to raise your course grade, you can study hard, and there are plenty of points to rack up above the mean score.</p>
<p>So, yeah, the tests are very difficult. But they're difficult for everyone, therefore the 60% becomes a B-....The first round of prelims are a shock, because everyone thinks they did poorly until the test statistics come out.</p>
<p>well, because it's on a bell curve, B's aren't that hard to get...but getting an A is competitive, but manageable if you try nat it.</p>
<p>The tests are made far harder than they should be. It's not a big deal. The curve takes care of you.</p>
<p>In Chem 207 I don't remember the curve being quite that extreme.</p>
<p>On each exam I scored a bit above 1 standard deviation, but the percentage (without a curve) was usually in the B to A- range. </p>
<p>If I had to guess, from my scores and fit in the group, I'd say they are curved more to a C+ or B- rather than a 60. But, that's just one class.</p>
<p>Edit: By "curved to" I mean made the average upon which letter grades are based.</p>
<p>What mercury said. The curve will compensate for whatever difficulty. I actually prefer that the tests be really hard (meaning that the class avg. is in the 50's). Those are the types of tests where you separate the people who really know their stuff from the people who kinda know their stuff from the people who don't know jack. I believe someone scored a 3% on one of the 2nd semester orgo prelims when I took it.</p>