Grading on a curve - wikipedia Grading on a curve This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( October 2014 ) Some of this article 's listed sources may not be reliable. Please help this article by looking for better, more reliable sources. Unreliable citations may be challenged or deleted. ( October 2014 ) The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. ( September 2015 ) In education, marking on a curve ( BE ) or grading on a curve ( AE ) ( also referred to as curved grading, bell curving, or using grading curves ) is a method of assigning grades designed to yield a normal distribution ( also called the Gaussian distribution ) among the students in a class. The term `` curve '' refers to the bell curve, the graphical representation of the probability density of the normal distribution, but this method does not necessarily use any specific frequency distribution. One method of grading on a curve uses three steps : Numeric scores ( or possibly scores on a sufficiently fine - grained ordinal scale ) are assigned to the students. The absolute values are less relevant, provided that the order of the scores corresponds to the relative performance of each student within the course. These scores are converted to percentiles ( or some other system of quantiles ). The percentile values are transformed to grades according to a division of the percentile scale into intervals, where the interval width of each grade indicates the desired relative frequency for that grade. For example, if there are five grades in a particular university course, A, B, C, D, and F, where A is reserved for the top 20 % of students, B for the next 30 %, C for the next 30 % - 40 %, and D or F for the remaining 10 % - 20 %, then scores in the percentile interval from 0 % to 20 % will receive a grade of D or F, scores from 21 % to 50 % will receive a grade of C, scores from 51 % to 80 % receive a grade of B, and scores from 81 % to 100 % will achieve a grade of A. Consistent with the example illustrated above, a grading curve allows academic institutions to ensure the distribution of students across certain grade point average ( GPA ) thresholds. As many professors establish the curve to target a course average of a C, the corresponding grade point average equivalent would be a 2.0 on a standard 4.0 scale employed at most North American universities. Similarly, a grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale would indicate that the student is within the top 20 % of the class. Grading curves serve to attach additional significance to these figures, and the specific distribution employed may vary between academic institutions. The ultimate objective of grading curves is to minimize or eliminate the influence of variation between different instructors of the same course, ensuring that the students in any given class are assessed relative to their peers. This also circumvents problems associated with utilizing multiple versions of a particular examination, a method often employed where test administration dates vary between class sections. Regardless of any difference in the level of difficulty, real or perceived, the grading curve ensures a balanced distribution of academic results. However, curved grading can increase competitiveness between students and affect their sense of faculty fairness in a class. Students are generally most upset in the case that the curve lowered their grade compared to what they would have received if a curve was not used. To ensure that this does not happen, teachers usually put forth effort to ensure that the test itself is hard enough when they intend to use a grading curve, such that they would expect the average student to get a lower raw score that the score intended to be used at the average in the curve, thus ensuring that all students benefit from the curve. Thus, curved grades can not be blindly used and must be carefully considered and pondered compared to alternatives such as criterion - referenced grading. Furthermore, constant misuse of curved grading can adjust grades on poorly designed tests, whereas assessments should be designed to accurately reflect the learning objectives set by the instructor. See also Grading ( education ) Norm - referenced test List of law school GPA curves Normal distribution References Jump up ^ Roell, Kelly. `` What is Grading on a Curve ? ''. About.com. Retrieved November 13, 2013. Jump up ^ * Grading on a Curve About.com Jump up ^ Volokh, Eugene ( 9 February 2015 ). `` In praise of grading on a curve ''. Washington Post. Retrieved 18 May 2017. Like democracy, grading on a curve may be the worst possible system -- except for all the alternatives. Jump up ^ Reese, Michael. `` To Curve or Not to Curve ''. The Innovative Instructor Blog - Johns Hopkins University. Retrieved May 13, 2013. External links A Comprehensive Look at Types of Curves A Brief Note about Grade Statistics or How the Curve is Computed How to Create a Bell Curve in Excel Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grading_on_a_curve&oldid=790964691 '' Categories : Educational evaluation methods Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from October 2014 All articles needing additional references Articles lacking reliable references from October 2014 All articles lacking reliable references NPOV disputes from September 2015 All NPOV disputes Talk About Wikipedia 日本 語 Edit links This page was last edited on 17 July 2017, at 06 : 52. About Wikipedia

Question: what does it mean when a professor grades on a curve
Answer: assigning grades designed to yield a normal distribution (also called the Gaussian distribution) among the students in a class