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This is probably a stupid question, but how do cross-section grades work? Ie -- if I am ranked 33 of 100 in my section, will I be ranked in the same percentile when all sections' grades are combined? Or are cross-sectional grades calculated with raw test scores, even though each professor's test is different?

Either way seems to have unfair qualities. Ie -- sections might benefit from an abnormally easy/difficult test or have higher/lower performing students.

Anyone know how this usually works?

edit - i suck at math

I hear that my section has a harder curve....which really sucks because they people in my section seem much smarter than the other section. I think some section stacking went on, unfortunately.

So in other words a stacked section will probably end up hurting you when all sections' grades are combined? If raw test scores are used, this wouldn't necessarily be the case, but I don't know how they do it.

nickwar wrote:This is probably a stupid question, but how do cross-section grades work? Ie -- if I am ranked 33 of 100 in my section, will I be ranked in the same percentile when all sections' grades are combined? Or are cross-sectional grades calculated with raw test scores, even though each professor's test is different?

Either way seems to have unfair qualities. Ie -- sections might benefit from an abnormally easy/difficult test or have higher/lower performing students.

Anyone know how this usually works?

Obviously, I can only speak to the experiences at my school, but some classes varied quite a bit between sections. For example, my con law prof graded around a 2.5 curve while the other two sections graded around a 3.0-3.1. A lot of us complained, but there really wasn't much we could do about it in the end. Just the way things go. I busted my ass in that class hoping that I would at least reach the median of the other sections so I wouldn't be at a disadvantage.....and hoped that my other classes would even everything out. No way around it, if your school isn't good about keeping similar curves between sections, you may get screwed.

orangeswarm wrote:

nickwar wrote:This is probably a stupid question, but how do cross-section grades work? Ie -- if I am ranked 33 of 100 in my section, will I be ranked in the same percentile when all sections' grades are combined? Or are cross-sectional grades calculated with raw test scores, even though each professor's test is different?

Either way seems to have unfair qualities. Ie -- sections might benefit from an abnormally easy/difficult test or have higher/lower performing students.

Anyone know how this usually works?

Obviously, I can only speak to the experiences at my school, but some classes varied quite a bit between sections. For example, my con law prof graded around a 2.5 curve while the other two sections graded around a 3.0-3.1. A lot of us complained, but there really wasn't much we could do about it in the end. Just the way things go. I busted my ass in that class hoping that I would at least reach the median of the other sections so I wouldn't be at a disadvantage.....and hoped that my other classes would even everything out. No way around it, if your school isn't good about keeping similar curves between sections, you may get screwed.

That is such b.s. crap, how can they get away with this? I think this is even worse than shady self-reported employment statistics.

This doesn't apply to my school, but another interesting thing to consider is scholarships that require you to maintain X GPA./class ranking. When you get placed in the same section with the other scholarship recipients under similar guidelines, some people can't finish in a certain percentage/GPA range.

Bye-bye scholarship.

This is more a warning to keep things in mind for the newbies coming in. Be certain to consider this.

Hope everyone is well.

Yea, those are the people that I feel sorry for. A lot of people have no idea that a school would stack sections with scholarship recipients until long after they begin school. I still can't believe some schools would stoop that low. Talk about being shady.

This makes me really glad we don't have sections

aguyingeorgia wrote:This doesn't apply to my school, but another interesting thing to consider is scholarships that require you to maintain X GPA./class ranking. When you get placed in the same section with the other scholarship recipients under similar guidelines, some people can't finish in a certain percentage/GPA range.

Bye-bye scholarship.

This is more a warning to keep things in mind for the newbies coming in. Be certain to consider this.

Hope everyone is well.

This is exactly my concern. I may be playing conspiracy theory here, but pretty much every single person in my section has a scholarship and seems like an overly-hard worker. Now that our first grades have come out, our teacher says our class has been the best he's ever seen -- not exactly comforting at a school with a 2.9-3.1 curve.

I've done fairly well so far, but I can't help but recognize the implications stacking a section with scholarship students might have.

nickwar wrote:

aguyingeorgia wrote:This doesn't apply to my school, but another interesting thing to consider is scholarships that require you to maintain X GPA./class ranking. When you get placed in the same section with the other scholarship recipients under similar guidelines, some people can't finish in a certain percentage/GPA range.

Bye-bye scholarship.

This is more a warning to keep things in mind for the newbies coming in. Be certain to consider this.

Hope everyone is well.

This is exactly my concern. I may be playing conspiracy theory here, but pretty much every single person in my section has a scholarship and seems like an overly-hard worker. Now that our first grades have come out, our teacher says our class has been the best he's ever seen -- not exactly comforting at a school with a 2.9-3.1 curve.

I've done fairly well so far, but I can't help but recognize the implications stacking a section with scholarship students might have.

You're playing conspiracy theory. Schools give out tons of scholarships, and I think the 'stacked section myth' is just a pervasive urban legend. Of course, if a school gives ~40% of their students scholarship money, every section will look 'stacked' because mathematically 40% of each section will have a scholarship they may lose... but I don't think there's any evidence that schools disproportionately stack.