How can a particular class be "hard" if grading is curved? Forum

[RVP11]

I have yet to see any evidence supporting that the median mark is really that significant to employers, or that people with 3.32 are going to be treated substantially different from people with 3.27 at OGI.

[laborday]

When people say things like a particular class is hard (usually a 2L/3L class), do they mean that the class naturally attracts smart people/gunners and thus it is harder to get an A? Is the material itself difficult?

Eg: Classes that look good on clerkship applications, eg, tend to be popular with people with high GPA's who are in the running for clerkships.

What classes look good on clerkship (in addition to the ones already mentioned)? Also, is Tax classes generally hard?

[Wildcat]

At my school Tax and Business Associations are both regarded as very hard classes, as they tend to attract the smart people going for corporate jobs. All those smart kids piled in destroys the curve.

I think tax also screws some people up because it is a good deal of math. A lot of the top kids in the class got their because they reason in normal law school ways, which may not be as much help on a Tax exam.

[thesealocust]

edit: never mind

[Alexandria]

I have heard from 2Ls and such that class can be hard because of 1) the material and/or 2) the type of students who take the class (i.e. serious students/gunners).

I have unfortunately found out that many of the classes I want to take fit into one or both of those categories, based on the reaction from older students who hear what I want to take. Sigh.

Take them anyway. If you're engaged and work hard, you'll be fine (or hopefully better than fine). You may find that they're the kind of reasoning you have a knack for. That's how I feel about con law-ish classes (like Fed Cts, Conflicts, and various upper-level Con Law classes). I don't think I'd do as well in "normal" classes, like Corporations or Trusts and Estates (which I've never taken... woo!).

[Nazrix]

This is kind of a badly phrased question, I mean, some things, even if your grade is pitted against everyone else, can require more work. Often, the "scarier" classes make people study a lot more, forcing you to do the same, making it hard.

Also, not all school all curves are actually real curves, here, the ceiling is variable, some classes a prof gives A+s, some they don't, etc., so objective quality can matter. (at some places)

A class can be hard if it's closed book and you go into the test and it's MC and you just don't have the facts to answer.

A class can also be hard if its really easy and you end up with "curve-breaker" questions where 1 question worth virtually nothing (or one point on an essay) can start making ridiculous differences in a grade.

Etc.,

I guess this is more of an answer to how classes can be different and require different levels of work and how grades can be harder to get in some classes, but less so in others. Our curve is more of a light distribution guideline, so it makes a big difference.