<p>There are classes at U-M where the professors want VERY LOW AVERAGES on exams. </p>
<p>For instance, a Physics 240 professor was happy the average on an exam was about 69% (Winter 2012). How is a 69% good?
When I took Calculus 2, the median for the final exam was a 51% (Fall 2011).
I never took EECS 203, but I have heard how averages in that class are very low as well.
A friend of mine who took an ME class (either ME 211 or the Thermodynamics class) told me that the professor even told the class he TAUGHT in such a way so that the average was a 50%. </p>
<p>Fortunately, there are grade adjustments. For instance, you only need something in 80s to get an A- in Physics 240 and a 76% was an A on the Calc 2 final I mentioned.</p>
<p>Instead of designing classes where the average is 60% or below and making that a B- or B, why not design the class so that the average is about 80% (but still a B- or B)?</p>
<p>Shouldnt exams test to see how well you know the material? If half the class or more gets a 60% or lower, does that mean they dont understand the material? Shouldnt a B- or above demonstrate competency in the material? How is a 51% on a math exam showing competency?</p>
<p>Im not saying that classes shouldnt be challenging. Classes can still be challenging with an average of an 80%. All you need to do is make that 80% average a B- or B instead of an A- or A.</p>
<p>I’ve always seen it as, the less challenging you make the exam, the better someone’s ability to do well who didn’t study or learn the material. I like to look at it like this. If you have a calculus exam where the median is around an 80%, this means that the material is probably easy enough so that someone who didn’t study could probably pass. If you have an exam on the same material, but the actual content is more challenging to the point that the median is 50-60%, someone who didn’t study would probably be completely lost and bomb it entirely. It’s a lot more difficult to B.S. tougher questions than easier ones involving the same subject matter.</p>
<p>Also, it encourages students to study more. If they constantly hear “OMG the average on the final was <em>insert low number here</em>” then they will be more “motivated” to study, and by motivated I mean scared. It’s probably unintentional but it is a side effect.</p>
<p>I’ve also heard that it also helps to “de-skew” grade distributions to create a more normal bell curve. Not sure if thats true, but it seems plausible to me.</p>
<p>It certainly also allows room to differentiate between the student who knows the material well enough to earn an A, and the occasional student who is truly talented, and manages close to 100% on the exams.</p>
<p>If the average is 80%, how do you differentiate between the high B and low A?</p>
<p>To prevent everyone from getting 100% on the test. It does happen more often than you think. How could you distinguish A and A-?</p>
<p>The way I see it, hard tests are opportunities for eager students as well. If you have been A- all term long, but can score extremely high score on just on test, you can get A just from that.</p>
<p>It could be worse, my mom told me the other day that she once took a class at college where the average was in the 30’s. It was the first class she ever failed and she complained about him and I think she said he was fired after that. Sadly nothing happened to the failing grade. I think all the students should have been refunded for textbooks or have had the f removed from their record. They were paying for a class where the teacher sat on his ass all day and they worked hard for nothing.</p>