Test 1 scores and scale

Here are the results of the first test. Overall, I think collectively you could have done a better job. The average is pretty low and the standard deviation (a measure of dispersion around the mean) is rather high, meaning scores are all over the place.

Descriptive Statistics:

mean = 26.48 out of 40 possible points (around 66.2%)
median = 26.25 (around 65.6%)
standard deviation = 6.4 points (about 16%)

It may seem as if the test was "hard", but since there were two perfect papers and two 39s, I think the test is justified as reasonable.

You can use the following scale as a guideline for interpretation (frequencies in parentheses).

A: 33 and up (17)
B: 26.5 - 32.5 (30)
C: 20 - 26 (33)
D: 13.5 - 19.5 (14)
F: 13 and lower (0)

Please note, however, if you scored less than 50% (20 out of 40) you shouldn't be feeling all that great about your performance. Yes, this scale calls it a C or D but I'm reluctant to say its passing. I'm just hoping that performance on later tests and performance on homework assignments will push up that overall mean.

Also, you need to know that I only record the raw score in the gradebook. There is no letter grade recorded for this test. The raw score is used to weight the 20 possible percentage points. For example, say you scored a 33 out of 40 points. Then of that 20 percentage points allocated to this test, you earned

(33/40) x 20 = 16.5 percentage points.

Good luck with the rest of the semester.