dental school grading curves

[ronnie1dds]

I'm just wondering if you guys can tell me whether your dental school graded most of their classes with a curve. Let me know what schools you go to also. Thanks so much!

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[c132]

Depends on the class. Mine did in some of my classes, some examples are neuroanatomy, physiology, and histology.

If all the class fails a test, then there should/will be a curve. They can't fail everyone!

 

[texas_dds]

i have never seen anything curved (san antonio)
its all as is!

 

[trypmo]

^^^ Ack! That's terrible!

 

[UNLV OMS GUNNABE]

At UNLV it's like c132 said. Some curved some not. The majority have at least a little bit of a curve.

 

[Dr.SpongeBobDDS]

I've never had a curve yet in dental school. Sometimes there's not a single A and only a couple B's - tough luck. What you score is what you get.

 

[c132]

We have had some tests where there is only a few B's and C's and the rest D's and F's! They scaled the dickens out of those!

 

[math_nerd]

I am a second year student in UofT (University of Toronto - Canada). To my knowledge there has never been any curving. In my year, there are classes where the highest marks are B or B- and, still, no curving.

P.S. Our class is not dumb. Our entrance GPA was 3.85 (higher than that of any other professional school)

 

[aggie-master]

i have never seen anything curved (san antonio)
its all as is!

texas_dds, do yall have a lot of people fail out? I'm just curious because I've got about a 50% chance of ending up at San Antonio in 2 years.

 

[tinker bell]

No curve here, including anatomy, etc...Even if there is a curve, it's still the same. The mean is 85%. So, what you score is what you get. You won't believe how tough your classmates are until you see their impressive scores. Doesn't matter how difficult the exam gets

 

[say_awwww]

There are way too many "gunners" in my class. We were told that if there was a curve, making the average a B, it would hurt way too many people to be worth it. On top of that, we have no pluses or minuses, as in A- or B+. To get an A in most classes requires above a 93 average. Many people are pulling GPA's well over 3.5. My A's are few and far between, but I enjoy life and dont worry about silly things like GPA. I just want to be a good dentist.

UNC 2007

 

[cgt3477]

There is no curve per se but for our basic science classes they will sometimes add 2-3 points at the end of our final grade (esp if lots of people are failing). Last semester we had quite a few people failing physio (15 right before the final...the average was around 78%)...although they added 3 points to the final grade some people still failed and had to remediate this summer.

We also receive the actual percentage on our transcripts.

 

[texas_dds]

hope you do come to san antonio!
um, do people fail out? yes
but most of them are not people who at least try to study somewhat
we started with 93, entering 4th year with 87... so we have only lost 6
1 transferred
1 had to repeat 2nd year (never studied)
1 got caught cheating
2 were dismissed for continually failing oral path
1 had a miserable old man fail her on a remediation competency in fixed pros - pending appeal right now... (hope she gets it)

overall, the grades in my class are like this: about 5-10 A's per class, about 70 B's and the rest are Cs (hopefully nothing lower!)
so the point is that the middle of the pack is really huge! its hard to break out of that into the top 10... our #10 student has a 3.85

 

[trypmo]

Are everyone's class rank and grades public knowledge at UTHSCSA??

 

[DDSSlave]

Houston doesn't curve. Remediation exams have been given occasionally usually when more than half the class fails an exam, but at most it averages into the failing grade. Based on averages and the occasional posting of grades according to posting codes, I'd say 10-15 (out of 60) get A's, the same number C's, a few D's or F's, and ~30 B's.

 

[texas_dds]

at san antonio
no your grades are generally as private as you want them to be - you have a secret ID number that they use to post scores, people dont know anything unless you say something (but w/90 per class, NOTHING is a secret for long if you tell one person)
the top 5 or so spots are the only ones that anyone talks about
when you get your rank report, the first question in many people's mind is "whos #1?"
its obvious when people fail out, etc. but other than that, no one knows anything you dont tell them.

 

[unlv rocks]

About 90% of the tests at UNLV are curved...

My classmates hate me because my grades always raise the curve!