Please help me answer the final question. Thank you so much Lab Ch. 7 continued

Question

Please help me answer the final question. Thank you so much Lab Ch. 7 continued #3. Use technology to answer the following problems related to "Grading using The Curve" Grading using The Curve When grading using "the curve", the percentages are as follows: A: Top 10% of scores B: Scores between Po and Pso C: Middle 40% (scores between Pso and P70) D: Scores between Pso and Pio F: Bottom 10% of scores 20% / 40% 20% 10% 10% P1o P o Pro Pso asset suppose that the exam grades for Class #1 are as follows: S1 54 55 7 58-9 60 | 60 | 60 | 60|61 44 46 47 | 55 | 61 62 64 77 82 85 48 57 73 -61.3 =11.5 a) Using the mean and standard deviation above, determine "the curve" cutoffs. Round these test grade cutoffs to one decimal. Label them underneath the curve Test Grades

Explanation / Answer

Final Question :

- Answer:

In my opinion, "Grading using the curve", like a lot of things around us, has its own pros and cons. The concept of grading using the curve is basically, relative grading, where your grade is affected by what the rest of the class has scored.

In a scenario where 'Grading using the curve' is helpful would be when say, class X has course A and class Y has course B. Let's say course A is high scoring and the teacher is lenient with marks and course B is low scoring and the teacher is miserly with marks.

Eg : i) Without grading using the curve, class Y will suffer as they get low scores even if they work hard, the top scores of class X in course A might easily get A grades while the top scores of class Y in course B might struggle to get a B grade.  

Eg : ii)  With grading using the curve, it is beneficial for both classes because the grades are going to be relative. The top 10% will always get an A and the bottom 10% will always get an F irrespective of what score they actually get. That means, the bright students of both classes will get the good grades while the poor performers will get low grades in both classes.  

Seeing the question, this is essentially what happens in Class 1 and Class 2.

Class 1 has an average of around 61 and Class 2 has an average around 81. We see that, students with scores of 77, 82, 85 have managed to get an A in class 1 while students with scores of 77,82,85 have got a C in class 2!

Let's look at the below cases to further analyze this :

Case 1) If Class 1 had a hard, low scoring course where marks are hard to get and Class 2 had an easy, high scoring course where marks are easier to get; In this case 'Grading using the curve' is good as the top performers in both the classes get their rewards and the poor performers fail.

Case 2) If Class 1 had most of the low scoring students and Class 2 had most of the high scoring students, and both the classes had the same course and the same teacher, then 'Grading using the curve' is not fair at all. This system would be catering to Class 1 and be very harmful and discouraging for Class 2.

Therefore, to summarise, there are definitely shades of grey in the argument regarding 'Grading using the curve' and one needs to decide whether to use it or not depending on the scenario the school/college has, as we've seen in different cases above where it is beneficial and where it is harmful.

Cheers!

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