curve

[Maybo]

Am I using "curve" in the following sentences correctly?

1. I choose this course because the exam is not curved so it's less competitive.
2. I choose this course because the exam is not on a curve so it's less competitive.

 

[Maybo]

For example, when teachers grade students for an exam, there is a curve showing the numbers of students getting certain grade, like only 5 % students can get A, 10% students can get B.

 

[PeterCW]

The term is new to me as well although I am acquainted with the technique.

 

[Tarheel]

For example, when teachers grade students for an exam, there is a curve showing the numbers of students getting certain grade, like only 5 % students can get A, 10% students can get B.

Is that the way things naturally occur, or is it something else?

 

[SoothingDave]

Surely you've heard of "grading on a curve" before? Say you get an 75 on a test. On a straight scale (90-80-70-60), 75 would be a C.


If graded on a curve, it depends on class performance. A 75 is bad if the class average is 85. It's good if the class averaged 60.

 

[Maybo]

Is that the way things naturally occur, or is it something else?

It depends on the grading system of a school. Some schools may set a cut off, for example, students with 80 scores can get B, if all students get over 80 marks then all students can B. But if there is a curve set for the grading, then only certain % students can get grade B.

 

[Maybo]

Surely you've heard of "grading on a curve" before? Say you get an 75 on a test. On a straight scale (90-80-70-60), 75 would be a C.


If graded on a curve, it depends on class performance. A 75 is bad if the class average is 85. It's good if the class averaged 60.

Yes. I don't know how I should express it in my sentences.

 

[SoothingDave]

I chose this course because it's not graded on a curve.

 

[Tarheel]

It depends on the grading system of a school. Some schools may set a cut off, for example, students with 80 scores can get a B, if all students get over 80 [STRIKE]marks[/STRIKE] then all students can get a B. But if there is a curve set for the grading, then only a certain percentage of students can get a B.

You are talking about grading on the curve, as Soothing Dave suggests.

 

[GoesStation]

Surely you've heard of "grading on a curve" before? Say you get an 75 on a test. On a straight scale (90-80-70-60), 75 would be a C.


If graded on a curve, it depends on class performance. A 75 is bad if the class average is 85. It's good if the class averaged 60.

The phrase is always grading on the curve in my experience.

 

[Maybo]

The phrase is always grading on the curve in my experience.

What is the difference between "a" and "the"?

 

[GoesStation]

The expression we're talking about is always "grading on the curve", as far as I know. It's a fixed phrase.

 

[probus]

Is that the way things naturally occur, or is it something else?

It is very much the way things naturally occur. When the great mathematician Gauss first derived the equation for the standard normal distribution (the now-famous bell curve) he was studying the errors that occur in repeated meaurements of the same physical quantity.

 

[Tarheel]

Yes. In a random sample you can expect to get so many A's, so many B's, so many C's, so many D's, and so many F's. The biggest cluster will be in the C group. I don't think that's the same as grading on the curve. In that case, those who get the highest grades get A' s regardless of their test scores. (Correct me if I am wrong.) Any single class may have an unusual number of below average students or above average students (either by accident or design).