3 ms·
If you have 10 people who score: 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% 99%, 100% and scale the grades from 0-100, those students' curved grades are:
by sgk284 12y ago
If you have 10 people who score:
91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% 99%, 100%
and scale the grades from 0-100, those students' curved grades are:
0%, 11%, 22%, 33%, 44%, 55%, 66%, 77%, 88%, 100%
In other words, they turn the students' grades into their ranked percentile within their cohort. It's an absolutely brain-dead decision.
- baddox 12y agoOh, I see. Essentially curving from both ends, to fit a desired distribution. That idea has never made sense to me, at least if the class is using a system where having a score less than some specific percent implies failure.
- cma 12y agoStack ranking does the same to employees in elite teams in real-world companies.
- StudyAnimal 12y agoNo it means the exam was way too easy. 90% of the questions were giveaways. If its ok to fail 400 out of 1000 students doing English, then its ok to fail 4 out of 10 doing Latin. Once you adjust for the easiness of the exam, he actually did not do too well.
- ptaipale 12y agoAre you trolling? With a subject like Latin, the actual situation is that all the students are really good by the time you have only 20 students left in the whole country. The exam is probably not easy at all, and someone who didn't prepare well would get a much worse score. You are assuming that it makes sense to make grading to a curve with a sample that is highly selective. It does not. (I did not study Latin. Just as an item of curiosity, my country's public radio service YLE broadcasts regular radio news in Latin. You can listen and also read some of the stuff here: http://ohjelmaopas.yle.fi/1-1931339 http://ohjelmaopas.yle.fi/1-1931339 )
- mhartl 12y agoIn related news, the fifth-best player on an NBA team is a failing basketball player, because 80% of the starting players are better than he is.