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My school publishes grade distributions for every class/section. In other words, there is a big table with exactly how many students get an A/A-/B+/B/etc. in each class.

The school does not have any kind of forced or recommended curve.

Does your school do this? If you are comfortable with it, please identify your school.

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Won't tell you school, except to say T2.

But... yes, they publish them. They are invaluable for choosing classes. We do have a curve though, for most classes. But, despite the curve the number of A's can be changed. So a class with multiple As is better for you than one with only 1 or 2. You are still going to be curved, but if you are above median your chance of an A (and therefore an above median cumulative GPA) goes up slightly. Of course, the prof's going to have to hand out correspondingly more C's, I would guess. So there is that pitfall.

Also, some classes are not curved- seminars or whatever. I have heard taking seminars with profs who give out a lot of As can allow you to keep up your GPA without putting in as much effort, which is something.

No. SMU is ghetto when it comes to providing relevant information to students.

I believe my school does. Hell if I know where to find it

bns_77 wrote:I believe my school does. Hell if I know where to find it

Ours is online or in the library.

Vandy does. We have a curve, not sure if it's forced or recommended, but every teacher follows it.

Hastings publishes the distribution of every class. It says exactly how many A+,A,A-,B+,etc... were given in each class. They even give the % distribution of A's/B's/C's for your convenience.

The school says professors are supposed to curve classes of 30+ with 15-25% A's -- with most classes expected to be 20%. In reality, almost every professor gives out ~24% A's. Some professors even game the curve by giving out all A's and no A-'s. They also give almost everyone else B+'s because the curve is all about medians -- not averages. So, the median GPA will be 3.3 but the average GPA will be ~3.4-3.5.

Seminars with fewer than 30 students have up to 60-70% A's. It can get kind of crazy.

kapital98 wrote:Hastings publishes the distribution of every class. It says exactly how many A+,A,A-,B+,etc... were given in each class. They even give the % distribution of A's/B's/C's for your convenience.

The school says professors are supposed to curve classes of 30+ with 15-25% A's -- with most classes expected to be 20%. In reality, almost every professor gives out ~24% A's. Some professors even game the curve by giving out all A's and no A-'s. They also give almost everyone else B+'s because the curve is all about medians -- not averages. So, the median GPA will be 3.3 but the average GPA will be ~3.4-3.5.

Seminars with fewer than 30 students have up to 60-70% A's. It can get kind of crazy.

i'm pretty sure median gpa has been under 3.2 at hastings the past three years...?

Lasers wrote:

kapital98 wrote:Hastings publishes the distribution of every class. It says exactly how many A+,A,A-,B+,etc... were given in each class. They even give the % distribution of A's/B's/C's for your convenience.

The school says professors are supposed to curve classes of 30+ with 15-25% A's -- with most classes expected to be 20%. In reality, almost every professor gives out ~24% A's. Some professors even game the curve by giving out all A's and no A-'s. They also give almost everyone else B+'s because the curve is all about medians -- not averages. So, the median GPA will be 3.3 but the average GPA will be ~3.4-3.5.

Seminars with fewer than 30 students have up to 60-70% A's. It can get kind of crazy.

i'm pretty sure median gpa has been under 3.2 at hastings the past three years...?

You're right about that. The median GPA has been just under 3.2.

However, teachers like Diamond and Depoorter intentionally give out essentially no A-'s and almost everyone who doesn't get an "A" gets a B+. Their average GPA for last semester was 3.27 and 3.32, respectively. That's significantly higher than teachers who follow a "traditional" curve (ex: Takacs; 3.13 average.)

See: --LinkRemoved--

(Now that I've done the math: Some teachers have "B" medians even though they gave out 22-23% A's. That's brutal.)

Edit: Lee, Crawford, and Hillman also inflate their average class GPA.

The above analysis is all the more reason you should look at:

1) Class size;

2) A teacher's grading tendency

when picking out classes.

Hastings provides 6 years worth of class grades so there is plenty of information to figure out who is an easy grader and who is tough.

Unless you really love a teacher, or the class fits your schedule, some teachers are a better pick than others.

kapital98 wrote:

Lasers wrote:

kapital98 wrote:Hastings publishes the distribution of every class. It says exactly how many A+,A,A-,B+,etc... were given in each class. They even give the % distribution of A's/B's/C's for your convenience.

The school says professors are supposed to curve classes of 30+ with 15-25% A's -- with most classes expected to be 20%. In reality, almost every professor gives out ~24% A's. Some professors even game the curve by giving out all A's and no A-'s. They also give almost everyone else B+'s because the curve is all about medians -- not averages. So, the median GPA will be 3.3 but the average GPA will be ~3.4-3.5.

Seminars with fewer than 30 students have up to 60-70% A's. It can get kind of crazy.

i'm pretty sure median gpa has been under 3.2 at hastings the past three years...?

You're right about that. The median GPA has been just under 3.2.

However, teachers like Diamond and Depoorter intentionally give out essentially no A-'s and almost everyone who doesn't get an "A" gets a B+. Their average GPA for last semester was 3.27 and 3.32, respectively. That's significantly higher than teachers who follow a "traditional" curve (ex: Takacs; 3.13 average.)

See: --LinkRemoved--

(Now that I've done the math: Some teachers have "B" medians even though they gave out 22-23% A's. That's brutal.)

Edit: Lee, Crawford, and Hillman also inflate their average class GPA.

lefstin's contracts looked really bad from a quick look; low amount of A's and a ton of B-'s.

and i have lefstin. nooo.

Lasers wrote: lefstin's contracts looked really bad from a quick look; low amount of A's and a ton of B-'s.

and i have lefstin. nooo.

I two classes with really hard graders (Contracts + Con Law) and two with really easy graders (Crim + Immigration.)

I'm really afraid I could receive a B or (*GASP*) B- in one class. This just provides more incentive to outline and take/analyze old practice tests.

FSU does per class

wustl

enforced, 86-87 average, and published for every class I believe. Not particularly valuable, since the range is virtually identical. Only time i use it is after i'm done with the class to find out how bad I did relative to my classmates.