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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Well that's stupid for quantitative courses, where more than 20% of the students can get everything numerically correct on their exams.

But I'm sure they'll figure it out.[/quote]

I do not think you understand how quantitative exams work at ivy/elites: the problems are complex, sometimes a few will be unsolveable just to put them out there in case. Most professors enjoy putting a few problems or even half the exam that are esoteric, phd and post doc level research problems. They do it on p-sets too. This applies to calc, O-chem, physics, quantum, thermo, etc. At the highest levels there are not clear cut answers, that is why there are professors who spend their lives studying these fields. The unknowns are past the edges of current knowledge. 
That is what makes attending this level of school so exciting for the brightest college students (yet also frustrating as such students were used to getting easy A+ in high school, 800 on the math SAT no big deal).
They do not expect some problems to be solved. The medians on exams for these courses are 60-75% correct out of 100, and the professors will admit readily that there is no way to get them all right. Occasionally some professors are hell bent on making the median in the 40s or 50s but they still curve it to an A- or B+ in the end. 
Even on tests with median around 70, the high-scorer often gets an 85, 87, or maybe 92 out of 100. Once these students understand how college courses work, they are thrilled if they occasionally get the highest or even second or third highest score, their peers then want to be in their study groups. Others are thrilled to merely be around the median score. 
Then the results are placed on a curve with a median of A or A- or B+ depending on the school. 30 years ago the medians would be B or B-. Harvard is now saying that a max of 20% or so can get a straight A(4.0), whereas in many upper levels especially, even quantitative classes, have been giving 30-40% flat A. [/quote]

This is how the top UCs do it. They go farther in limiting much further down than a straight A. It has advantages and disadvantages.

The disadvantage is that your performance is really dependent on whether your classmates do better or worse than you. It creates as stress for students because they can’t always predict where they will fall. My DS freaked out when he got a 69 on a midterm, almost dropped the class but ended up with an A. He did every practice problem, lived in his TAs office and ended up near the top. His friend just wanted to pass, thought she failed, wouldn’t look at her final grades and was so convinced that she failed she tried to register/add the course the following semester.  She was shocked when she couldn’t register for the course because she had earned a B- in the course. The flip side can occur with deflationary curves. It’s not uncommon for a kid going into a final with an A or B and fail the course or see their final grade drop one or two letters due to a deflationary curves.

At some schools, the curve incentivizes and rewards intense cheating. Curve killers are a well known term and some groups take it to a professional level. Sabotaging occurs in labs, kids can’t trust members of their study groups and it creates a toxic environment. Kids who could have succeeded in their chosen field see their pathway to that career close as they get kicked out of their major. Suicides occur.

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