A Practical Guide to Grade Adjustment or Curving for Pharmacy and Other Professional Health Programs
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-10-2025
Abstract
The peer-reviewed literature on the adjustment or curving of assessments in health profession programs is almost non-existent. This communication aims to present potential methods of grade adjustment for individual questions or entire assessments. Simulated data for a 25-item assessment were used as an example to analyze the effects of different methods of grade adjustment on students’ scores. Grade adjustments were made by adjusting the points for individual questions or the scores for the entire assessment. Adjustment for the individual questions was carried out by dropping the question, adding points to those who missed the question, or adding a bonus point to all students. Grade adjustment methods for the entire assessment included adjusting the mean or mean plus distribution (i.e., standard deviation) of the assessment score. Different methods of grade adjustments or curving for individual questions or the entire assessment resulted in drastically different outcomes for individual students’ scores. The justifications for selecting the appropriate method for adjustment of the individual scores are presented based on item analysis statistics. Curving or adjusting the score for the entire exam may be justified when there is a need for consistency in grade distribution among the assessments across the years or different sections of the course. Although methods for adjustment of grades are relatively easy to implement, instructors should have reasonable educational justification for deciding whether to adjust grades or which method to use.
Recommended Citation
Mehvar, R. A Practical Guide to Grade Adjustment or Curving for Pharmacy and Other Professional Health Programs. Pharmacy 2025, 13, 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy13010004
Copyright
The authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Included in
Medical Education Commons, Other Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Commons, Science and Mathematics Education Commons
Comments
This article was originally published in Pharmacy, volume 13, issue 1, in 2025. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy13010004