Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 66.djvu/378

374 curve of error, with the failures as a separate group or species. In the courses in mathematics and history the groups are more nearly equal in size, except in the case of 'excellent.' Here the range of ability is presumably greater in D and F than in B and C. The distribution in economics is intermediate. The fact that the courses in English, though given by different instructors, correspond closely shows that within a department certain standards may be followed; and this would be possible for the whole college or for the educational system of the country. It is only necessary to adopt the standards and then to teach people how to apply them.

I have also counted up the average grades assigned to 200 students in their first ten courses. In the table and curve, A represents the range between A and B + ½, B the range to C + ½, etc. Here

the grades tend to be bunched, the differences between the men being partly obliterated by the combination of the grades in different courses.

In the next table and in the figure are given the grades of 15,275 papers assigned by the examiners of the College Entrance Examination

Board in 1904. The grades are in this case given on a centile scale. The curve is decidedly skewed in the negative direction, the most frequent grades being between 60 and 75. There is a considerable variation in the different subjects. Thus 10.6 per cent, of the candidates are given a grade above 90 in Greek and only 2.7