As I expected, about a third of the class exercised the “drop this grade” option and didn’t take the test, so the distributions are a little odd. The most popular terms were Einstein and the Holocaust, followed by a near tie between penicillin, Hitler, atomic bombs, WW2, the Great Depression, UN and the greenhouse effect. What a century! Humanism, nationalism, secularism and the EU were the bottom of the pack.
The high score in the class was 44 out of a possible 48 (again!), but I used the second-highest score, 40, to preserve a reasonable distribution. The median score was a B again, but only barely. Here’s how the grade scale worked out:
Grade | minimum points | distribution |
A+ | 40 | |
A | 38 | 15% |
A- | 36 | |
B+ | 33 | |
B | 29 | 50% |
B- | 26 | |
C+ | 23 | |
C | 19 | 30% |
C- | 16 | |
D+ | 13 | |
D | 9 | 5% |
D- | 6 | |
F | 0 |
The extra credits were a little helpful, but seemed more challenging than I thought they’d be (each person was responsible for the two quotes immediately to their left, in order!)