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That scenario rarely comes up since the teachers who refuse to give A's tend to give a B to almost every student, not an F.
Such students should just be told that life isn't fair, just like the students who get stuck with hard teachers are told.
You seem to have a chip on your shoulder about this particular teacher you had. But I'm skeptical he/she ruined your life's chances at success. One class grade that was A or B, and one college acceptance or not doesn't make or break anybody. It's why you apply to multiple colleges.
As an example, a friend of mine's son last year got into all of his reach schools, half of his target schools, and only one of his so-called safety schools. Made no sense.
I’m rolling my eyes reading people claiming they didn’t get into an Ivy because they had the “hard” AP biology teacher. Generally, that level of school requires top-5% intelligence. If you can’t cruise through a High School AP course with an A, there are lots of other things that will eliminate you, too.
How does that help the students that have already been screwed over? Damage is already done.
And that is why standardized tests are needed.
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I prefer an absolute scale, if the scale is made known in advance and the professor actually grades on it. That way I at least know what to study and what is expected of me. Grading on a curve puts students at risk of what others do on that particular test, not what is actually learned. For example, how would a professor curve this: 96 72 27 14 12 8. (Actual class scores from one of my exams in Mech 301). Is that a bad test, bad teaching or bad students?
But how do you stop teachers from not giving A's or from giving everybody A's?
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To be specific, the full ride scholarships at that college should be just what you're looking for -- they're awarded on standardized test scores, interview, and essay.
For the other two I mentioned, the min GPA is 3.5 and 3.0 respectively.
And yes, things have changed greatly since I was in college. These types of scholarships didn't exist at all. Back then you competed with all other students on academic merit. There was no leveling for the quality of high school in the process.
Again, our experiences were different, and we just have to agree to disagree.
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That's how forced ranking works. Doesn't matter the actual mix of abilities in the room only so many get an A. So how do you choose which of the A students get the B when you have more A students than A slots?
Again, there needs to be some flexibility to account for an unusually strong or unusually weak class.
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I think most people who oppose standardized tests see it as standardized tests do more damage to more people that's harder to overcome than an individual teacher can.
However, in my school system, the ultimate arbitrator of a questioned grade was the principal. And I occasionally used that power.
However, it was like many injustices -- fewer actual cases of unprofessional grading than claimed. And I was always quite sensitive to it because of my own experience back in high school.
And that is a perfect example of why we need standardized tests, since every high school has different policies. Since my high school allowed teacher grade overrides, the principal had basically no power to overturn a grade, since the teacher could always just claim that he/she was using a grade override.
You seem to have a chip on your shoulder about this particular teacher you had. But I'm skeptical he/she ruined your life's chances at success. One class grade that was A or B, and one college acceptance or not doesn't make or break anybody. It's why you apply to multiple colleges.
So why is the same not said to students who underperform on standardized tests? That is the double standard I keep pointing out that not even one poster has attempted to answer.
I’m rolling my eyes reading people claiming they didn’t get into an Ivy because they had the “hard” AP biology teacher. Generally, that level of school requires top-5% intelligence. If you can’t cruise through a High School AP course with an A, there are lots of other things that will eliminate you, too.
In the real world, everyone doesn’t get a trophy.
The teacher that I had literally did not give A's! Nobody who had this teacher ever got into Ivy League schools! If you were stuck with this teacher, there was literally no way you could be in the top 5% of your graduating class!
My graduating class had 550 students. There were 4 sections of AP Bio, each with 24 students. Mr. G gave literally every student an A, regardless of performance, since he felt that even attempting college-level work in 10th grade was exceptional. Mr. E (the teacher I had) gave nobody an A, regardless of performance, since he felt that no 10th graders could truly be doing A level college work. The other 2 teachers, Mr. P and Dr. R graded fairly. 5% of 550 is 27.5. Remember, 24 students would get Mr. G and the automatic A. So, if Mr. P and Dr. R had even a combined total of 4 students who got an A (and they'd usually get far more than that), it meant that there was no way that any student who was suck with Mr. E could be in the top 5% of their class.
The teacher that I had literally did not give A's! Nobody who had this teacher ever got into Ivy League schools! If you were stuck with this teacher, there was literally no way you could be in the top 5% of your graduating class!
My graduating class had 550 students. There were 4 sections of AP Bio, each with 24 students. Mr. G gave literally every student an A, regardless of performance, since he felt that even attempting college-level work in 10th grade was exceptional. Mr. E (the teacher I had) gave nobody an A, regardless of performance, since he felt that no 10th graders could truly be doing A level college work. The other 2 teachers, Mr. P and Dr. R graded fairly. 5% of 550 is 27.5. Remember, 24 students would get Mr. G and the automatic A. So, if Mr. P and Dr. R had even a combined total of 4 students who got an A (and they'd usually get far more than that), it meant that there was no way that any student who was suck with Mr. E could be in the top 5% of their class.
You are assuming (likely wrongly) that every person in the all-A class only had As in every other class. A lot of people who take AP courses get Bs and even Cs. While they might not get them in that particular class, they presumably took at least 23 other courses in which they could receive a B.
I think the issue most of us have is that is very unlikely that one B in high school is going to change your life forever. A student with a 3.99 will have numerous good college and scholarship options. It may not be their dream scholarship/school, but even students with a 4.0 may have the same experience. If you let the 3.99 ruin your life, that is YOU, not your grades in high school.
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