Math Lessons & Study Tips : How Does a Grading Curve Work?

A grading curve usually works in one of two ways, which are called bell curves or distribution curves. Find out what grading curves are generally used in college with help from a tutor in this free video on math lessons and study tips.
Expert: Brian Leaf
Contact: www.brianleaf.com
Bio: Brian Leaf, MA, is the author of McGraw-Hill's Top 50 Skills for SAT/ACT Success series and has instructed SAT, ACT, GED and SSAT preparation to thousands of students.
Filmmaker: David Pakman

[@MINKLEPROGRESS]

So relieved to find out there wasn’t any mathematic formulas involved. Avoided learning how this worked for 20 years and just looked it up right now with my rose wine. Quarantine baby. Plugging holes in my game

[@FlipHackingRealEstate]

There is math. #2 in this video is bunk

[@RSLimon]

Thanks, although the second forced grading curve seems unfair, It becomes a competition not to get Into the F zone.

[@FlipHackingRealEstate]

Because this video is incorrect, sd is actually used

[@100percentgradeA]

How bad do you want it. Motivation!

[@niexel249]

my teacher was grading on the first curve, but i got a 98. (highest grade in class) after, everyone tried to figure out who ruined the curve

[@babythedude]

Bastard ! HAHA

[@niexel249]

i dont feel bad at all. i never told hem tho.

[@joegentile706]

no one likes u

[@alexfernandez6621]

If you were an outlier then they probably should've moved it down to the average of the top 5 answers. I'm not sure though...

[@Dinglebarriez]

This is a perfect video. Thanks.

[@dsdude8441]

Here's some advice: Do not rely on the grading curve. Even if you try to get other people to fail with you to make it a high curve, there will always be at least one person who will get a high score.

[@valsarff6525]

So we've socialized learning. The goal of excellence is a moving target determined by the effort put forth by the brightest class student who needs to put forth no effort. As an older returning student in the 1980s I failed to learn in a critically required science subject - I learned nothing and typically scored 15-20% on exams - yet I received a B- grade. 30 years later I came to realize that if I failed with a B-, SO DID EVERYONE ELSE WHO IS NOW RUNNING THIS COUNTRY.

[@jasonRhawt]

what if the highest grade is 100? then there is no point in bell curving?

[@tamamemad2479]

after 7 years... did u find the ans? am curious

[@kristapsb-d3401]

@@tamamemad2479 same, he’s probably off working at a job all grown up now haha, time really does fly. This is like a little time capsule

[@Just_a_bench111]

11 years later, did you find the ans?

[@joseph.b-]

If the highest grade is already 100 before the curve then that means the results are perfectly curved and need no further intervention.

[@bl-ll7415]

We experienced something like this and we received +11 each. In my case, I got 89, making it into 100.

[@VinegarPotato]

Totally here because I got a better grade than I expected that didn't even seem possible. I gues the distribution curve was used or there is a new Pandemic Grading curve based on how the course(s) were changed to online. I would think that there is some data about differences between grades for people transitioning from in person to online.

[@Sirhc7000]

The distribution grading curve is totally unfair! If for some reason everyone in the class got a grade in the range of A, then that means that the lowest A would be considered a fail...I think. I may be mistaken but that just seems really wrong.

[@landewell6862]

Ikr. Or an F of 71 becoming an A.

[@landewell6862]

@Bongo Omg this is like talking to a fossil, didn't realize that lmao and to come back to this comment 4 months after feels weird to me too hahaha

[@dsdude8441]

@@landewell6862 71 isn't an F, it's a C minus

[@andrewmarshe1500]

Great explanation.

[@runesumuchanyerei5454]

Math: A High School football team scored a total of 111 points in their final game. James scored exactly 1/9 of all the points the team scored, and Bianca scored 18 points. How many points were scored by the rest of the team? May you please solve this math problem for me, I could not figure it out. Thank you very much.

[@allandonald6248]

+Runesu Muchanyerei The exactly 1/9 is impossible as 111 doesn't divide by 9 evenly, but if James scored 12 (rounding down) that would equal 30 with Bianca. This would leave the rest of the team to score 81. Sidenote: Interesting school that would let a girl (Bianca) play on the football team. That or the parents really didn't know how to name a boy. Lol

[@arandomdodo4699]

@@allandonald6248 If they were asking for homework, I cant imagine that answer was very helpful a year later

[@farohszn9733]

@@arandomdodo4699 i can imagine commenting this to him 5 years later is just as smart

[@bendacosta3696]

@@farohszn9733 you tell him

[@og_neso]

Thank you!

[@ll0ydsan207]

My professor used a method where she pick a question where most people got wrong and give them 5 points Since I got that question right, my friend who initially got a lower grade than me had now a higher grade I had 83 and he got 82, after the curve he’s on 87 and I remain 83. Sent her an email and talk to her in person about how unfair it is. She just said sorry but I can’t changed it.. sending an email now to the Dean

[@saimanakale2386]

In a kraal there are cows and ostriches. there are 150 herds and 366 legs. how many ostriches are there?

[@scottcollege213]

Did you mean animals instead of herds? If so, there are 33 cows and 117 ostriches.

[@Just_a_bench111]

8

[@DefaultFlame]

. . . I'm not an American and both of these seem to be utterly insane ways to grade to me.

[@runrunrun6517]

So sad my school gave us grade on distribution curve

[@jamespklett]

If the top score is 70, and every other student in the class gets a 69, so we add 30, then everyone gets an A? Not quite sure I get that method

[@arthurmorgan9039]

They wouldn't bell curve if that's the case, they usually do when a big number of syudents fail or get really bad grades.

[@jamespklett]

Not true !!! In College - I had professors - In math and statistics, who graded on a curve. They told us on day zero - This class will be graded on a curve, using grades form the previous 10 years. There was no deciding - it was curved over 10 years - make sense?

[@arthurmorgan9039]

Im not familiar with that, could be the case.

[@jamespklett]

The video describes the curve wrong - that's the case. The curve is balanced over time. Not over just one class. Make sense?

[@EricDG326]

I was always the student to score so high that I completely threw off the grading curve.

[@EricDG326]

@J M Because people if people flunk the test and are hoping to get curved up to a passing grade, they hate that they only got a few points and still failed miserably.

[@dsdude8441]

@J M Basically, if people get a 40 and the highest grade is a 70, they pass with a C minus at a 70. If the same scenario happens but the highest grade is a 98, the 40 only goes up to 42, which is still a failkng grade. Imo, you should just try to pass, because there's always gonna be that one perfect grade to invalidate the curve

[@griffinf8469]

Why even grade on a curve to begin with? Each student should get the grade they got. If you get an 80%, then that’s what you get. Why should their grade become higher just because someone else got a better score? If you don’t like getting an 80%, then you should’ve studied harder.

[@williampennjr.4448]

my teechers alwaze graded on a kerv.

[@FlipHackingRealEstate]

This video is bad info. Distribution curves use standard deviation, they don’t just pick how many people will receive x grade.

[@LucasCarroll0]

So the nerds in school wernt actually getting a's and everyone else wernt getting c's. Good to know

[@saimanakale2386]

need help please

[@gravity4religion]

Yeah but why? What's the point of this? Is it get kids acclimated to the Injustice and frustration gerrymandering?

[@Slowpoke3x]

Just cuz it was on the test doesn't mean it was covered or assigned in class or on homework. The test usually isnt tailored for every semester and isnt really an accumulation on everything learned. Or maybe its just some questions on the test was just a footnote on the content learned and nobody remembers it and it wasnt prevlent or included on the study guide. The idea is to give a fair chance to all the students because if there were some questions Everyone or almost everyone got wrong then its not really the students fault its the teacher or class that failed the students for not properly preparing them for whats to come.

[@anapaola7241]

that’s a $#ity way of grading

[@Dano-uf8ys]

Sounds like bull spit to me.

[@muddypalmsera]

Socialism in academia.

[@xonecinema]

My thoughts exactly

[@Matthew-dd6kp]

It depends some professors have more difficult material than what is required planning on curving as a method to find the top 1% of student

[@calamaricalamity6757]

?????

[@ericthomas6726]

That last one sounds like a scam.