Do you agree with the scaling of marks? [i.e for exams]?

Question

Please give a reason for your answer. Thx.

Answer 1

If you mean scaling in the sense that you could get a raw exam mark of 70 but it gets scaled to 75 then yes i agree. It's hard to get parity in difficulty for all the different types of assessments and the scaling reflects that. It should be noted that this scaling does not effect the relative rank of students - so that if you've got the 5th best exam mark you keep that rank regardless of scaling. In addition to that, scaling so that subjects have roughly the same mean is also important (the dreaded bell curve) because again it restores parity and you know standards are equal. If no scaling than faculties which needed money would put on a course where everyone got distinctions and students would all take those courses. Knowng that there's a distribution which needs to be adhered to makes schools/faculties aware of having courses which are too hard or too easy because major scaling would make them look silly and minor scaling makes up for minor differences in difficulties across courses.

Answer 2

Two students in the same class, doing the exact same work, with the exact same points, can -and do- receive different letter grades .

Ex: B+, B, B- ... Scaling ... and that makes a 4.0 system into a 4.33 system yielding grade inflation and the devaluation of those grade/scores by colleges when the college receives those applications.

After college, who looks at your college degree for grades? It matters not whether you passed with a C- or an A+. A degree is a degree, it all pays the same.

Answer 3

Yes as a former instructor.
Final exams should carry more weight since they encompass the whole semester or quarter's work.
Midterm exams should carry the next highest weight because they encompass half the semester's work.
The daily assignments and weekly test should carry the least weight because they are given as a guide to your progress and what you need to study more.