Studying really DOES pay off...

BeardofPants said:
What is this bell curve you speak of, and why didn't we get it at university? :hmm:
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Well, the grades would start with a distibution like the blue...but the average mark is very low there (mark on the x axis, number of students with said mark on the y)...so they would then "modify" the mark distribution to be either one of the other curves...depending how bad the average is, etc. Pretty much it's because if the majority of the people do shitty compared to past years then the prof knows he prolly did something wrong in teaching it this time around, adjusts the marks and usually does extra help sessions so the people know the stuff for the exam.
 
MrBishop said:
It's been a round a long LONG time.

Bellcurve - an assumption that based on any particular teacher or subect, a certain percentage of the class' student are expected to get with a range of marks (lets say 60% of the class will get between a c- and a b+; 30% will get either between d+ and d- or between a- and a; and the rest will either get superb or fail horribly).

If the actual results don't fit these results...the entire classes' marks are adjusted higher or lower until it does.

This is based on the assumption that if more people got on the higher end than was expected, then the teacher was too lenient and gave marks away too easily, and if too many people got lower, then the teacher was too strict.

It's usually followed up with a comparison of test questions/assignments and samples thereof from the class in question before any marks are adjusted.

Voila! A bell curve!
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The thrust of that being that the onus is placed upon the teacher to match the grade rather than upon the student to learn as taught. So now a mediocre teacher's class average will not be lower than that of an exceptional teacher, who's students were well motivated and learned more. Sure beats actually following the classes and finding the bad teachers, don't it?
 
MrBishop said:
If the actual results don't fit these results...the entire classes' marks are adjusted higher or lower until it does.
.....

Voila! A bell curve!
Click to expand...

Won't happen. People keep track of their marks on tests and assignments...if they get their final mark and it's dropped by a suspicious amount they will request to see their exam and then if their exam mark is good as well but their mark is low all hell will break loose. Once they give marks they don't take them away.
 
Unfortunately, the reasoning behind that has been eroded to the point of making laziness the norm. We had standard tests when I was in school...just not the dreaded curve. You earned what you studied...90%-100% was the range for an "A"...80%-89% was the range for a "B"...70%-79% was "C", 60%-69% was a "D", and anything below 60% was a failure. It was simple, and it worked. The tests were standard because they were made up by the teachers before they year started (note the plural), so leniency was treated the same as being too strict...with disdain. We studied because a failing grade was a ticket to a repeat of the subject matter, swift discipline by the parents, a possible trip to SPED classes, or a combination of all three.
 
Gato_Solo said:
Yep. When they lowered the standards...
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I don't know about that...I remember being bell-curved downwards twice and upwards only once. In the lattar case, the teacher had failed over 60% of the class outright.

He got himself corrected soon thereafter, when the student's papers were re-corrected by his co-workers and found to have been grossly misjudged.

As I recall...my mark was curved up a good 40% points. :eek:
 
Professur said:
The thrust of that being that the onus is placed upon the teacher to match the grade rather than upon the student to learn as taught. So now a mediocre teacher's class average will not be lower than that of an exceptional teacher, who's students were well motivated and learned more. Sure beats actually following the classes and finding the bad teachers, don't it?
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Around here they base it on past years. If for the past 10 years the average for a certain class, taught by a certain Prof has been 70 and now it's 55 he/she knows they probably did something wrong when teaching this year because really...you don't get a 15% drop in averages from one year to the next...a few either way but not 15. So they will then adjust the marks and as I said, hold extra help sessions to try to rectify the problem before exams. Some Profs ALWAYS have a low average in their classes..every year...they don't bring it up to the standards of other profs classes...they judge based on the past marks for that specific course...
 
Um, why don't they just cross-check the marks? That's what they do here, they get an outside marker in as well as the course marker. :shrug:
 
BeardofPants said:
Um, why don't they just cross-check the marks? That's what they do here, they get an outside marker in as well as the course marker. :shrug:
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And hurt someones feelings by judging their work on an individual basis? ;)
 
This the last day of finals for my Kid in his first semester
of freshman year,
his AIM away message reads:

"Oh finals, how I shall stab at thee!"

Good luck Kid.

wrathkahn-01.jpg
 
They close the dorms from Dec. 17th to Jan. eighth.

The lil' bugger is gonna be homeless.
 
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