Got bellcurved down [Archive] - RedFlagDeals.com Forums

heat

Jan 7th, 2009, 03:38 PM

HBP

Jan 7th, 2009, 03:42 PM

You can view your exam for free, $13 to photocopy. At UTSG at least.

AcidBomber

Jan 7th, 2009, 03:43 PM

Marks are all relative. Assume if everyone did well on the exam, and the class average afterwards is high, then the prof / department may choose to bellcurve all the marks down to a C/C+.

Sounds like the class did fairly well and then got screwed over?
Are you at UTM or something (since you're in Mississauga)?

You can get your exam and talk to the prof, but i dont think there's much he/she can do unless they have made a mistake marking your exam. SOOO, just so you can be satisfied, i would suggest seeing your exam for yourself. :)

XxXSnake23XxX

Jan 7th, 2009, 03:52 PM

sucks to be on the top end of an bell curve but amazing to be on the bottem end!

heat

Jan 7th, 2009, 04:00 PM

I am at UTM, I do have to pay $13 to see the exam. And if there is any mistake, I get a refund, otherwise not.:mad:

dondada83

Jan 7th, 2009, 04:28 PM

Well, you receiving a final mark of 68% for that course means you got 61% on the final exam.

If you feel you did better than 61% on the exam, by all means go for it.

BlueHurley

Jan 7th, 2009, 04:59 PM

Your deciding whether or not to do it because it costs $13, are you kidding me?

sexpuppet6000

Jan 7th, 2009, 05:01 PM

I say go for it.

BornRuff

Jan 7th, 2009, 05:19 PM

That's pretty crappy that they charge you to go over an exam. That's a normal part of a profs job.

omchow

Jan 7th, 2009, 05:22 PM

U of T and their dumb bell curving down policies ... so unfair

Jay Hova

Jan 7th, 2009, 05:22 PM

Even if he did get bell-curved, what next?

I would rather spend $13 and buy some dope and smoke my misery away.

heat

Jan 7th, 2009, 05:37 PM

I would rather spend $13 and buy some dope and smoke my misery away.

:lol:

SongforaFriend

Jan 7th, 2009, 06:13 PM

I am at UTM, I do have to pay $13 to see the exam. And if there is any mistake, I get a refund, otherwise not.:mad:
Wait, you have to pay $13 just to see the exam? Coz I'm at UTSG and I'm thinking about looking at one of my exams. That is highway robbery! :mad:

heat

Jan 7th, 2009, 06:28 PM

Wait, you have to pay $13 just to see the exam? Coz I'm at UTSG and I'm thinking about looking at one of my exams. That is highway robbery! :mad:

The process is to pay the $13 fee and they will photocopy it in a week or two and let you know when to pick it up.
Ah well..I'm still thinking whether or not to do it.

gilboman

Jan 7th, 2009, 06:29 PM

with execption of very few coursts (stats)

universities DO NOT BELL CURVE, they may/will do a downward/upward adjustment thats uniform across the board but not bell curve.

gilboman

Jan 7th, 2009, 06:31 PM

That's pretty crappy that they charge you to go over an exam. That's a normal part of a profs job.

they did their job and if you question it, pay up.

Jon Lai

Jan 7th, 2009, 06:57 PM

That's pretty crappy that they charge you to go over an exam. That's a normal part of a profs job.

I thought you have to pay EVERYWHERE to see your exam? That was my impression.

Does Waterloo charge? I want to see mine too but I assumed I would have to pay so I told myself, screw it.

Shimso

Jan 7th, 2009, 07:13 PM

You have to pay to see exams AND you have to wait 1-2 weeks? WOW, that's nuts.

For me, as far as I know, I just have to make an appointment to see it.

It seems like if they curved you down, you're a tad powerless here. Although in the grand scheme of your education, $13 is nothing and is worth the peace of mind at least.

sharpturn

Jan 7th, 2009, 10:57 PM

Go to your prof's office during his regular office hours. If he's not there, email him. If he doesn't reply in 5 working days, just pay the damn 13 bucks.

coolspot

Jan 7th, 2009, 11:03 PM

universities DO NOT BELL CURVE, they may/will do a downward/upward adjustment thats uniform across the board but not bell curve.

Or colloquially, it's called a Bell Curve.

brucedlx

Jan 7th, 2009, 11:10 PM

Getting taken down by a bellcurve is unheard of, especially when you only had 75% to begin with. And yea, to see an exam, just e-mail your prof. This is the first I've heard of a 13$ fee to see an exam, I like to see most of mine and never paid anything.

Kasakato

Jan 7th, 2009, 11:11 PM

Thanks to Bell, your mark is now lower.

XxXSnake23XxX

Jan 8th, 2009, 12:07 AM

Thanks to Bell, your mark is now lower.

genius!

night_sky

Jan 8th, 2009, 12:43 AM

help_questions

Jan 8th, 2009, 12:48 AM

Ok guys, my organic chemistry mark came out. I know I should have gotten atleast a 75, but ended up with a 68. THERRE IS NO WAYY I did a 68% job on the exam.
Course was broken down into:
2 tests 25% each, both I got a 75% on.
Exam was worth 50%.

CLass average on both tests was around 74%.

My question is: should I PAY and get the copy of my written exam to see what I got and talk to the prof? Assuming i got a 75% on the exam, my mark in the course should be 75, would the prof bump it up...or would the prof say its the bell curve and can't do anything about it?

If you got 75% on 50% of the course (the 2 tests), then math says you got a 61 on the final exam, leaving you with a 68% as your final grade.

I say you pay the $$ and go check your exam. It could be bell curve, or even a mistake. IF you are concerned, you have to see for yourself.

BUT honestly, atleast you got to finish a course. At York, our "Fall" semester is not complete yet.

boyoflondon

Jan 8th, 2009, 01:01 AM

Perfect proof that in University, most of the time it comes down to where you fall on the prof's 'chart' as opposed to how much you actually know!

Essentially, if you are a B/C student, you get the short end of the stick in times like this.

with execption of very few coursts (stats)

universities DO NOT BELL CURVE, they may/will do a downward/upward adjustment thats uniform across the board but not bell curve.

Which planet do you live on? I've taken courses where the prof DOUBLE bell curved in order to get the avg to some standard.

Getting taken down by a bellcurve is unheard of, especially when you only had 75% to begin with.

Where is it unheard of? I had a friend who got fcuked by getting belled down below 70. He initially had a 73 and got belled to 68, getting royally screwed with the program.

shannn

Jan 8th, 2009, 01:03 AM

AFAIK, the Faculty of Arts and Science has a policy that the average mark has to come to a certain number (70) with a certain maximum number of students getting A-'s or higher (forget which percentage point). While the marks do come out to average of 70 most of the time, especially in a highly organized course like org chem, there /is/ a possibility of bell-curving down.

However, marking errors do happen, like addition of your marks across your exams, etc. If you're sure about it I'd go see it.

Talking to my old UofT profs, that is true
It is not really the class average that matters compared to the distribution of students at the differing grade levels (i.e. only a certain number of students should be getting A+'s, A's, A-'s, B+'s, etc...)

But pay to see your exam, it won't hurt...one of my friends had their mark drop 20%, so when he looked at his exam, an entire page was not marked, lol...his mark went back up in a couple weeks...this was at UTSC, but it probably happens at every uni once in a while

heat

Jan 8th, 2009, 01:12 AM

Getting taken down by a bellcurve is unheard of, especially when you only had 75% to begin with.

Class average for the 2 tests was 74% or so. The exam was not hard at all, so the class probably maintained that average after the exam. Prof probably decided to pull all the average students down to 65-68% rather than just pulling down the lower end of the spectrum (which is what is normally done..i hear). Also because a lot of students would end up with B's and A's.

I will pay the $13 and get my exam so I can look over it. But I don't know what the prof will say (assuming I got a 75 again). Maybe make an exception since I took the initiative to get a copy of the test and bump it up.:cheesygri

Sh*tty university.

shannn

Jan 8th, 2009, 01:21 AM

Class average for the 2 tests was 74% or so. The exam was not hard at all, so the class probably maintained that average after the exam. Prof probably decided to pull all the average students down to 65-68% rather than just pulling down the lower end of the spectrum (which is what is normally done..i hear). Also because a lot of students would end up with B's and A's.

I agree with what you are saying, but based on that, he probably just had a very difficult marking scheme to force the class average down for the final

For instance, if you had long answer questions, he may have told the TA's to mark those questions as all or none (being correct would get you perfect on that question, any small mistake would mean 0)

Good luck, let us know how youd id

gwu

Jan 8th, 2009, 08:33 AM

Ok guys, my organic chemistry mark came out. I know I should have gotten atleast a 75, but ended up with a 68. THERRE IS NO WAYY I did a 68% job on the exam.

You said it yourself bud.
1) If you are so confident that you can claim "THERRE IS NO WAYY"
2) Then that $13 bucks will be refunded to you

If you aren't willing to pay $13 bucks, maybe "THERRE IS A WAYY" in your mind you got that mark.

Suggestion: Pay the $13, which will be refunded, so you won't get shafted for this mark distribution crap that goes on at Uni's.

heat

Jan 8th, 2009, 07:26 PM

Prof sent out an email to every student stating that she can't let you see the exam yadda yadda...have to go to the registrars, pay $13 and look at it.

Seems like I'm not the only one who wants to take action.

Anyways tommorow..ie friday, I will head to the office of the registrars.

andrew2good4u

Jan 8th, 2009, 10:43 PM

so you have to pay to see the exam YOU wrote.. sounds like a stupid policy to me

gilboman

Jan 9th, 2009, 10:29 AM

Which planet do you live on? I've taken courses where the prof DOUBLE bell curved in order to get the avg to some standard.

i dont know where you are from. but i'm from earth. where you are from, is it not the norm to read something before responding to it?

blizzah

Jan 9th, 2009, 11:50 AM

If you are so sure you are right, then you can see your mark and get your money back afterward.

Ask some people in your class what they got as well to see if it was belled down.

heat

Jan 9th, 2009, 12:29 PM

If you are so sure you are right, then you can see your mark and get your money back afterward.

Ask some people in your class what they got as well to see if it was belled down.

OK heres the thing.
Getting belled down does not mean you will get your money back. Again if we assume I got a 75% on the exam, my course mark is a 75. THe prof takes the 75 and pulls it down to a 68. It has got nothing to do with my exam.

Anyways.. I went to the registrars, told me I have to wait a week to apply for a copy of my exam. (Then I gotta wait a week again to get it :lol: ) Great system at utm.
And if I want my exam remarked: $35, refunded only if mark changes on the exam.

blizzah

Jan 9th, 2009, 02:26 PM

OK heres the thing.
Getting belled down does not mean you will get your money back. Again if we assume I got a 75% on the exam, my course mark is a 75. THe prof takes the 75 and pulls it down to a 68. It has got nothing to do with my exam.

Anyways.. I went to the registrars, told me I have to wait a week to apply for a copy of my exam. (Then I gotta wait a week again to get it :lol: ) Great system at utm.
And if I want my exam remarked: $35, refunded only if mark changes on the exam.

Man, that's rough.

So find some people in teh class and get asking lol. I'm at SG first year, I'm still waiitng for my orgo mark.