Re: Are 'we' too negative?

On 09/09/2024 01:50, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

On 9/8/2024 3:06 PM, JAB wrote:

On 08/09/2024 18:13, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

On 9/8/2024 3:04 AM, JAB wrote:

On 07/09/2024 16:30, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

When I did my O and A levels in the UK many years ago the system was based around your score vs. the score of everyone else who sat the exam. So, can't remember the exact numbers but it was something like the top 5% got an A, the next 15% a B, then the largest portion was C, and that was considered average, and the then D and E were the opposite of B and A.
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"Grading on the curve."  Used by some college/university teachers in the US as well.  Known to be inaccurate because a 30-100 student class is NOT going to have the same distribution of "smart" as a population of millions.  As is pointed out by many students. Teachers defense of that system usually boils down to "Life isn't fair, this reflects the way employers will treat you so get used to being screwed."

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This was done nationally so you are literally talking about thousands upon thousands of sixteen/eighteen year olds sitting an exams. Being in a class with either all the worst or all the best wasn't going to change the grade you got.
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So you could be the best of the worst, i.e. "the best" or the worst of the best, i.e. "the worst".  So someone who was a worst student/ lower capability would end up with higher grades than someone in a different classroom who was a better student/more capable.  And the awarded grades would be a factor in hiring and promotions.
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No as it's done nationally so everyone in the entire country who took the exam at the same time is included regardless of who their classmates were i.e. your grade was dependent on how thousands and thousands of other students did in the entire country.

 So they actually grade the entire country on the curve?
 

Yep that's how it was done, nationally although there were several different exam boards who controlled their own grading and in theory they all had to stick to the same overall standard. I suppose it's technically possible that if you did a horribly obscure* subject with the right exam board they may be some deviation as all you peers are dimwits/Mr. Spocks.
*There weren't a lot of them as schools were generally quite conservative so ours was considered a bit avant garde as it offered commerce (business studies). Even then they then played it safe by you had to be in the bottom stream to take it.