How is a grade curved
The Reality Behind The Curved Grading System
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the bell curve or the curve grading
system is one of the most interesting
yet controversial systems of grading
nearly all major universities use a
system including both UBC and SFU but
it's usually just not distributed evenly
over all departments we turn to us a few
students to learn more about what the
curving system is curving system how it
works is in a class of say a hundred
only a certain percentage of people can
get in certain mark so for example the
first ten percent will get an a range
and then the next 30 or 40 percent will
get a B so if you are in that top
percent of your class then you'll get an
A so say your class even if your whole
class fails and you guys are doing like
around forty percent if you are doing
like a 50 percent you would be at a
range because you're at the top 10
percent of your class a grade is not
just a grade this may sound
inconspicuous but there are multiple
layers faucets and factors to a final
grade as a few students we attempt to
uncover the complexity of grading in
order to understand how it works how we
can make it work for us and make
transparent the seemingly fairness or
unfairness of the system we work hard
and pay big money to be a part of four
really high-performing classes it can
affect students because everyone's doing
really well so you're really fighting to
be in that top ten percentage so if
everyone's marks are within ninety to a
hundred percent even if you did really
well but you're at ninety and someone
else is at ninety five you could be
below average so you could be at a C
mark even though you're quite a good
student yeah so when I'm marking
assignments I just say it's out of a
hundred I just I just mark per
assignment and give them whatever mark
they deserve and then I guess at the end
of the class depending on like
everyone's grades there'll be an average
and then they'll also be like Oh
everyone's like at this rate they'll get
an a little gotta be it's not like I'm
marking it and I'm like okay there's ten
people in this class so only some people
can get an A so
get whatever like when I'm marking
assignments every single person in my
class could get a good grade like I
could all mark them like eighty or
eighty out of eighty or whatever but
then it depends how it plays out and
like the entire class I think people
that do just okay benefit the most the
reality is whether an individual cares
about their grades or not they're still
working towards a certain grade a high
performance student may be looking for
that a to a plus while a student just
looking to pass and earn their degree is
still looking for a C or C - I don't
think it's fair I don't think it's
unfair because in science we have
courses that are really really hard and
you end up getting a D because you have
a C but if they were to curve it you
would probably have a better grade right
but then also again B D do you get a
ninety percent and then you still have a
C so I don't think there's a fair system
and it's pretty difficult for the school
to kind of come with something that
suits both everyone right I feel like if
someone is doing well well enough to get
an A if you're getting eighty percent
why should you end up getting a C
because they're people doing better
right you're good at something you
should get an A in my opinion like put
the power in the students hands don't
take the power right instead of you know
making the exam easy and then they take
the power and just decide okay I deserve
a C maybe make the exams more
competitive that way like it's very
clear like who is an A student and who's
a B student actually just a week ago I
met a friend she's taking business 3:12
right now and she said she had 89
percent and she was told that it was a C
and she was very frustrated was she when
she got her grade she was very happy
just like oh my god I have a CA like I
have 89 percent given when she told us I
did eight nine percent well Dan just
goes no it's C so like that kind of like
unhappy how I was like on that said but
in my head I was also like I thought
about it I'm like mmm like when I it
makes sense that
maybe to see because maybe other
students are doing well and then I even
asked him like you should ask your
professor to make the exam harder than
that way if you get a 70% e-2c and you
accept it you don't get an 89 and you
told it this he doesn't make sense my
opinion is that it it looks like it's it
will kill you but sometimes it will
actually save you cos like for some 300
courses it's really hard like I'm taking
the MIS course this semester and what
happens is there are only four problems
which you're not able to do them you're
not able to finish them exam time so if
it is not curved it is marked by the you
know the distribution thing then
probably half of the course wolf will
fail because like the average was around
50% I remember it was so with the curve
system it will save you like you'll just
have to do a little bit better than the
average like you would just have to
finish that question then you can get
something like a b-minus or likes B or
even like a branch something another
thing is like if it's the course it's
really easy for example there is of
course does that is required by the
economics and business students which is
a statistic one so that course has a
really high average which is around 80
percent which means that even if you
study very hard and you know you know
how to do the problems you're not going
to get the expected marks and I think
another reason that is affecting the
average is like there are some problems
involving such as the test Bank thing
and the tutor off campus because like
everybody is focusing on that average on
that mark too much in my opinion
honestly like I would sometimes rather
have a conversation you solve my courses
for example I write a paper and you know
it's not good enough to get an A out of
ten but it's not too bad I'm not going
to get me a seven out of ten but I put a
lot of effort in that and eventually
just get it just gave me an eight or ten
and it out of it is fine looks like good
grades for how various like every
eight out of ten like there's no
distinction between me and my peers but
sometimes I feel like if being better
than other people in my grades really
reflected the amount of effort that I
put in to my schoolwork and academic
career so I really wish sometimes if we
could have a chrome assist and then even
if my work it's not good enough to get
an out of time but it's like relatively
higher than average I think in
convocation is just really difficult to
find a way to improve your score and
mark because everything that you do it's
sort of subjective and there's no
correct answer to it the journey through
post-secondary education presents many
obstacles and learning curves self-paced
work late nights heavy workloads and
balancing school with work a social life
and the newly found responsibilities of
being a young adult whether a student is
pursuing higher education to further
their skills work towards a certain
degree or because of external pressures
and expectations there is one common
stress the stress of getting the grade
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