Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site dartvax.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!dartvax!scot
From: scot@dartvax.UUCP (Scot Drysdale)
Newsgroups: net.college
Subject: Re: Grade Scales?
Message-ID: <2439@dartvax.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 1-Oct-84 10:57:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: dartvax.2439
Posted: Mon Oct  1 10:57:02 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 2-Oct-84 06:20:14 EDT
References: <2100001@ea.UUCP>, <12500004@uokvax.UUCP>
Organization: Dartmouth College
Lines: 21

estions
require applying principles to new situations.  Some of these applications are
easy ones, most are moderately difficult, and usually one is taken from a 
recent research paper so is very hard.  On this type of exam 80% can be a 
solid A and 50% a respectible C.  (The handful of students who get close to
100 get rave recommendations to graduate schools.)  The choice of questions
and partial-credit policies can make the numerical scale come out wherever
the professor chooses.  The measure of the quality of an exam is how well
it measures student understanding, not whether the outcome follows some 
pre-ordained distribution.  (I do think that students should have some idea
of how difficult you think the exam is and what your expectations are before
they take it, so that they do not panic when they cannot solve half the 
questions on an exam where you expect most students to be unable to solve
half the questions.)
                                           Scot Drysdale (scot @ dartmouth)