IamIDP Posted January 22, 2013 Report Share Posted January 22, 2013 Is yorku allowed to bellcurve grades down like 10-20% for final grades? Everyone in our class got curved down ~20% for Biol2050 (ecology). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrPhilster Posted January 22, 2013 Report Share Posted January 22, 2013 They can probably do whatever the guidelines allow them to do, but will they? Highly unlikely, unless the class average is like 80-90 (which is highly unlikely as well). Overall a very highly unlikely proposition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrPhilster Posted January 22, 2013 Report Share Posted January 22, 2013 I don't think the class average matters... its the number of As and A+'s that matter. True, I think each department is limited to about 30% of the class achieving an A or higher. But there are also class averages that professors should try to abide to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IamIDP Posted January 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 I'm soo pissed, everyone in my class got curved down in this class (Biol2050 ecology). Some of my friends ended up getting curved down from a 90% to a B+. The prof told me a few weeks ago that the marks might get curved down if average was too high, but ~20% is way too much ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleverusername Posted January 24, 2013 Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 Never heard of bellcurving in Ontario schools. :|. I'd check the school policy on grade adjustments to see if you have any grounds to argue your case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IamIDP Posted January 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 Never heard of bellcurving in Ontario schools. :|. I'd check the school policy on grade adjustments to see if you have any grounds to argue your case. The marks are on all of our transcripts. The entire class is furious.. And how would we do that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleverusername Posted January 24, 2013 Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 The marks are on all of our transcripts. The entire class is furious.. And how would we do that? From my understanding, schools are required to post procedures and policies. I know they do at U of T, and you can even call the registrar or similar office at your school to find out information on school policy. It's like their law of sorts. When they have to make a decision, it's based on school policy. Google is also a good resource. Goodluck. Edit: It may also be a departmental thing if the school doesn't have a general policy on it. In that case you appeal to the chair of the department. If you can get enouhg support, I'm sure something can be done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleverusername Posted January 24, 2013 Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 You may be out of luck. http://calendars.registrar.yorku.ca/2012-2013/academic/grades/index.htm That link for example says the following: "Final course grades may be adjusted to conform to program or Faculty grades distribution profiles." This means that they can adjust the grades how they want to meet criteria set out by the departments. Edit again lmao: You may not be out of luck. If you can argue that the biology department doesn't state what the grade distribution profile must be, then you can argue you wouldn't have enrolled in the course if you knew they could bell curve your grades down. It's their fault for not posting the policies . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleverusername Posted January 24, 2013 Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 And just for good measure, there's also this http://calendars.registrar.yorku.ca/2011-2012/faculty_rules/SC/academic_standards.htm Goodluck again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IamIDP Posted January 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 You may be out of luck. http://calendars.registrar.yorku.ca/2012-2013/academic/grades/index.htm That link for example says the following: "Final course grades may be adjusted to conform to program or Faculty grades distribution profiles." This means that they can adjust the grades how they want to meet criteria set out by the departments. Edit again lmao: You may not be out of luck. If you can argue that the biology department doesn't state what the grade distribution profile must be, then you can argue you wouldn't have enrolled in the course if you knew they could bell curve your grades down. It's their fault for not posting the policies . Wow, some of the ppl I know are so depressed its not even funny... But that policy is completely BS and unfair. They shouldnt be able to bellcurve us down without giving us a fair warning. And if the average was so high, the prof should have made the tests harder. This is awful the fact York can do this and get away with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleverusername Posted January 24, 2013 Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 Wow, some of the ppl I know are so depressed its not even funny... But that policy is completely BS and unfair. They shouldnt be able to bellcurve us down without giving us a fair warning. And if the average was so high, the prof should have made the tests harder. This is awful the fact York can do this and get away with this. I'd look into whether the science and engineering (which I believe is the faculty for your course) posts how they adjust grades. The reason being that if the general policy is "The department handles it" and the department doens't post what they will do, then you are not being informed of things and this lends itself to possible abuses (which you can argue this is an example of). It's their responsibility to make sure you're informed of what they will do otherwise chaos could ensure and no one wants that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjw Posted January 24, 2013 Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 Wow, some of the ppl I know are so depressed its not even funny... But that policy is completely BS and unfair. They shouldnt be able to bellcurve us down without giving us a fair warning. And if the average was so high, the prof should have made the tests harder. This is awful the fact York can do this and get away with this. Would you have had a problem if they bellcurved up 20%? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NutritionRunner Posted January 24, 2013 Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 Wow, some of the ppl I know are so depressed its not even funny... But that policy is completely BS and unfair. They shouldnt be able to bellcurve us down without giving us a fair warning. And if the average was so high, the prof should have made the tests harder. This is awful the fact York can do this and get away with this. *nod* That's what they did with my physiology course. The class average was ridiculously high going into the final exam, so they just made the final very difficult. I still came out with a very good mark in the course, but I know some people who dropped quick a bit due to the difficulty. Still, I'd rather have a tough final then have my grades arbitrarily adjusted down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exocytosis Posted January 24, 2013 Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 I'm curious - when he 'bellcurved' the marks down, did he actually bell them (i.e. change the shape/spread of the distribution) or just adjust the average? If he actually belled them (i.e. lowered the average but increased the standard deviation, so the spread is wider) then people at the top should still have high marks, which I suppose is fair. If he just adjusted the average though that seems ridiculous. I mean, there's a ceiling to how well you can do. If a 90 turns into a 70, then to keep a 90 you'd need 110. Definitely look into it more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IamIDP Posted January 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 I'm curious - when he 'bellcurved' the marks down, did he actually bell them (i.e. change the shape/spread of the distribution) or just adjust the average? If he actually belled them (i.e. lowered the average but increased the standard deviation, so the spread is wider) then people at the top should still have high marks, which I suppose is fair. If he just adjusted the average though that seems ridiculous. I mean, there's a ceiling to how well you can do. If a 90 turns into a 70, then to keep a 90 you'd need 110. Definitely look into it more. It was a real bellcurve down by the university i'm assuming since the prof said he had no control once he submit the marks. We didn't get shifted the same amount, the higher the % you had, the less you got curved down (I asked several of my friends) Would you have had a problem if they bellcurved up 20%? @ aaronjw Please, your NOT even funny. Suppose you finish a course with a 91% and you end up getting a B+ OR you end up getting a 82% and you have a D+ on your transcript. Obviously your going to get pissed because your getting a low mark when you earned 20% higher. My point is this can happen to anyone at York. If this happened to ecology, you might get bellcurved down without knowing it and theres nothing you can do about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lolelol Posted January 24, 2013 Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 Hahahaha when bird courses bite back (in the ass) I love how everyone was bragging about how easy ecology was 2 months ago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IamIDP Posted January 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 Hahahaha when bird courses bite back (in the ass)I love how everyone was bragging about how easy ecology was 2 months ago Yes, I feel like slapping everyone who says that. I'm sure everyone in my class will agree with me... Course too easy...marks go downCourse too hard...marks go up Easy Thats not how it works Course too easy...prof gives insane exam Course too hard...prof gives easier exam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjw Posted January 24, 2013 Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 [quote name=IamIDP;790832 @ aaronjw Please' date=' your NOT even funny. Suppose you finish a course with a 91% and you end up getting a B+ OR you end up getting a 82% and you have a D+ on your transcript. Obviously your going to get pissed because your getting a low mark when you earned 20% higher. [/quote] I asked a question on whether or not you'd be pissed/unhappy if your mark got increased 20%. If wouldn't be pissed with an increase but are with a decrease then you're a hypocrite. So would you be happy with an increase as unhappy as you are with a decrease? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lolelol Posted January 25, 2013 Report Share Posted January 25, 2013 Yes, I feel like slapping everyone who says that. I'm sure everyone in my class will agree with me... Hahah sorry I just thought it was funny at the moment, a bit cruel in retrospect but I'm sure he did an actual bellcurve and not a linear adjustment, there's no way in hell that nobody got above an 80. If your marks were already much higher than everybody else's you would've still ended up with an A+ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IamIDP Posted January 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2013 Hahah sorry I just thought it was funny at the moment, a bit cruel in retrospectbut I'm sure he did an actual bellcurve and not a linear adjustment, there's no way in hell that nobody got above an 80. If your marks were already much higher than everybody else's you would've still ended up with an A+ I know a mutual friend with 94% got an A. 90% got around B+. By those standards, this was easily the toughest course i've taken. The tests were fair but the lab report (30% of our final mark) was marked tough due to high avg. So I don't see anyone getting an A+ since it would mean you needed close a 100% and no one got 100% on the tests (he posted marks for some of them). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futureGP Posted January 25, 2013 Report Share Posted January 25, 2013 I know a mutual friend with 94% got an A. 90% got around B+.By those standards, this was easily the toughest course i've taken. The tests were fair but the lab report (30% of our final mark) was marked tough due to high avg. So I don't see anyone getting an A+ since it would mean you needed close a 100% and no one got 100% on the tests (he posted marks for some of them). so i guess the class average was 85~90%? ecology will be known not as a bird course but rather a tough one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edict Posted January 26, 2013 Report Share Posted January 26, 2013 Is yorku allowed to bellcurve grades down like 10-20% for final grades?Everyone in our class got curved down ~20% for Biol2050 (ecology). I don't understand at all why you bother to complain. My school bellcurves before they tell anyone their marks. The whole point of bellcurve is so that it eliminates the possibility of unfair tests. When they don't bellcurve, everyone who didn't study enough whines that the test was hard. When they do, everyone who didn't study enough whines that they bellcurve. Clearly, they bellcurved down because the test was too easy. They want York to have some standards, be happy about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mytime Posted January 26, 2013 Report Share Posted January 26, 2013 I don't think the course was bell curved down 20%, I got an A+ and I probably had close to 95 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lolelol Posted January 26, 2013 Report Share Posted January 26, 2013 Clearly, they bellcurved down because the test was too easy. They want York to have some standards, be happy about that. I really like it when people say stuff like this because you don't realize how stupid YOU sound and irony really tickles me. I don't think the course was bell curved down 20%, I got an A+ and I probably had close to 95 Bell curved + a number shouldn't be in the same sentence, it makes no sense. It's not a linear adjustment so if you were way ahead of everyone else you should've still done relatively well, it's the people hovering around the average that should've changed the most Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorfresh Posted January 26, 2013 Report Share Posted January 26, 2013 I asked a question on whether or not you'd be pissed/unhappy if your mark got increased 20%. If wouldn't be pissed with an increase but are with a decrease then you're a hypocrite. So would you be happy with an increase as unhappy as you are with a decrease? Would you be happy if you got 80% and your mark got curved down to a B Aaron? That's quite detrimental to your GPA when considering some schools like Ottawa, and UfT (without FCL every year). I can certainly see her frustration, and the point you brought across has no relevance to assisting the OP in her struggle. Any individual, yourself included with the goal of a high GPA, would be a "hypocrite" in this given case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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