A girls talk with her dad..... - Page 4

DINANM3 · #1 02-14-2007, 04:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xnsf

well...there's a curve and then there's a bell curve...
you're right about the curve...it is specific to each professor though...

a bell curve is when there is an allotted number of each grade a professor is allowed to give...

"Viewed practically, curved grading is beneficial because it automatically factors in the difficulty a group of test-takers had with a test. If the majority of students have high (or low) scores then the middling grade will be adjusted there and higher or lower grades awarded based on this performance. In addition, the curve ameliorates the problem of deciding grades that fall very near a grade margin. Clustering of marks establish where the margin should be placed. However, grading in this way is essentially normative; scores are referenced to the performance of group members. There must always be at least one student who has a lower score than all others, even if that score is quite high when evaluated against specific performance criteria or standards. Conversely, if all students perform poorly relative to a larger population, even the highest graded students may be failing to meet standards. Thus, curved grading makes it difficult to compare groups of students to one another." from wikipedia

None of my professors have ever used a bell curve. Im not familiar with it.

xnsf · #2 02-14-2007, 04:13 AM

generally it's not used too often, because it creates competition and makes things "unfair"

DINANM3 · #3 02-14-2007, 04:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xnsf

generally it's not used too often, because it creates competition and makes things "unfair"

Im glad My profs never used it I would not have agreed with that method that is for sure. Definately unfair

BMW X5 · #4 02-14-2007, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DINANM3

Im glad My profs never used it I would not have agreed with that method that is for sure. Definately unfair

I like the idea of curving based on difficulty but there will always be the ones who ace the exam and make a point to the teacher that the exam was doable. regardless, I dont think its fair like earlier in my post that we work 100% and only get 60% or whatever that number is. Everyone is born equal, everyone has the same opportunities if they take them. Sure some are born and grow up in poor neighborhoods and some grow up swimming in money. Well guess what those swimming in money at one point were not, the chain had to start somewhere. Why should someone who says hmm i'll just sit on my ass and leech, take my money? I work for it its mine and no one is entitled to it, its like a forced charity but guess what you actually need to make sure you give to charity as well just so that you dont have to pay taxes at the end of the year. where is the justice in that? if i make 30k per year that equates to roughly 18k in take home pay, WTF? i want my 30k not 18k, i'm entitled to it. someone else has no say on MY money. I dont care who you are and what you do, if i want to give to charity it should be my choice. more on the topic, taxes pay for the senate and congress to sit on their fat old asses and talk about shit that no one cares about. then they go sleep with little boys and get slapped on the wrist. some choose to make the oval office a sex shop. and the city workers dont even get me started on those

Eric5273 · #5 02-14-2007, 03:33 PM

It looks like someone already explained the bell curve, but basically it is decided in advance how many students will receive A's, B's, C's, etc.

So theoretically, if everone in the class scored between 80% and 100%, then 80% would receive an "F".

Likewise, if everyone scored between 30% and 80%, then 80% would receive an "A". The thing about the bell curve is that approximately 68% of the students will receive a "C" regardless of the grade distribution. It will be the "middle" 68% that receive a "C".

That is the system that is used in many universities.