Curve

[srinivas]

I recently read a post here at the saba forum about a 13 pt curve on a physiology exam. I was under the impression that curves did not exist in medical school... can someone enlighten me as to how often this happens, what courses are more likely, and the pt. range? Thanks in advance for the replies.

ps. Have been read this forum for several month and it appears to be a close and welcoming community... Hope no one disagrees?!

[swinginislanddoc]

Nope, grading curves are pretty prominent in medical school. From what I hear the US schools curve too, at least on their Shelf exams. I haven't really asked a lot of other students about general exams.

[wolfvgang22]

Dont' expect more than a 1 point curve in Anatomy with our current faculty.
Also, we generally get a 3 to 4 point curve in Histology. This is ONLY because of misspellings or typos on the test. If there is one typo, only 1 point curve, or so it has been so far.
Don't forget passing is 75 percent....so try to get an A every time.
Getting more serious every day,
-W

[radboy710]

Curves are given every where, and most of the times the curves are do to bad questions, so they are not looking for a bell curve... or a certain average. Even though some profs like certain averages. In the upper semester (4th and 5th) the class average will not dictate a curve, the curve will only be given if there were bad questions (due to typo's or poorly written questions). Do NOT have the idea that they will curve the class grade so only a few people will fail... with first hand experience, I had a friend who got 74 in path and was failed, no questions asked... he appealed and ended up failing and having to repeat the class.

[rimon7381]

[QUOTE=]I recently read a post here at the saba forum about a 13 pt curve on a physiology exam. I was under the impression that curves did not exist in medical school... can someone enlighten me as to how often this happens, what courses are more likely, and the pt. range? Thanks in advance for the replies.

ps. Have been read this forum for several month and it appears to be a close and welcoming community... Hope no one disagrees?![/QUOTEI}

I agree with all the previous posts and to add to this, usually everyone would agree with me that the 3rd block exam for physio is the hardest of all. And therefore, usually every semester here at Saba there's a curve for that exam similar to that range posted. Without that curve, only about half of the class or probably less than that would pass that hard exam. And even with that curve about 20-25% of the class usually fails that exam; don't forget, here the passing grade is 75.