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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’m the OP. My kid is a sophomore. It’s not faux outrage. My kid just left home this afternoon to go back.

I’m Worried given my kid is stressed about a class.

Median grade in a stem bio prelim was a 69. Just fyi. The median for some of the stem classes is just crazy. Has As in 2 Econ classes so it’s not that.[/quote]

Yes engineering/STEM classes are brutal, always have been.  I can recall (at a T10 school) having a calculus course (calc 4 so not freshman) where the average was 18% (yes you read that right).  Top score on a midterm (30 students) was 36, someone else had a 32 and then it dropped to 25 and on the way down.  I had a 31 and got an A in the course.  But it was frustrating to attend class, study and do the work and sit in a midterm and literally have no clue what you were doing and wheterh you were goign to pass or fail.  And I was "at the top of the class", so I have to imagine the stressors for those with 12/15% in the course felt like.  
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Are these holistic admits that don't understand simple scaling? Why does it matter what the score is if there's a curve? Does a 55 F feel better than a 12 F? Anyone failing a class probably shouldn't be at that school to begin with. [/quote]

Umm...in the above example the 36 became the "100%" and the curve/grading went from there.  the 18% ended up being a B or B- range.  So sure you know it will be curved, but it's beyond frustrating to take exams where you have no clue how you did, despite being very prepared.  
When the average is an 18%, that shows the prof either didn't teach the material or has created an exam that is not testing anything related to what was taught in the course. 
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The philosophy of some professors is to make the test extremely hard so that: 1) There is no perfect score; 2) They can see which kids actually understand the material and how they go about solving complex problems that have multiple methods; and 3) Make people earn their grades so that they know the material. There is a fourth thing, which is you can't expect a teacher to dumb down a class because a certain crop of kids aren't as smart as usual. And every once in a while there'll come along that kid(s) who will score that 90%+ and I'm sure the professor wants to identify him/her from the crowd.

Bottom line, suck it up and study. An A is an A. Each 1% gain in test score is extremely significant.[/quote]

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