ruin the curve

[blacknomi]

When most of the class is cheating on a difficult exam and they will ruin the curve, it influences you to cheat so your grade won't be affected.

A head of curve means higher scores or better performance, how about "ruin the curve?" Does it mean to affect average score?

[MW]

Are you familiar with a bell curve grading system?

10% f
20% d
40% c
20% b
10% a


Earning a "b" or "a" puts you ahead of the curve. You fit into the natural curve.
Cheating to get a "b" or "a" will change the percentages artificially and ruin the natural curve.

[blacknomi]

I like your succint illustration.

Susan: It's hard to believe that Sabrina ruined the curve.
Martin: Yeah, how did she do that? I never saw her sit down and study. She spent most of her time partying.

Here in my example, we wouldn't have any idea if Sabrina cheated in the test. I inferred from Martin that Sabrina seemd to play around all day and never had her nose in a book. And Sabrina must have passed the test with flying colors so that Susan said it's hard to believe. In the end, Sabrina's scores affected the curve.


Do I hit it right? :)

[Tdol]

Presumably, they feel she shouldn't have got an A and forced hard working studnts into a lower grade.