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  <title id="t">When to Curve — and When Not To</title><desc id="d">Two columns: curve when the mean is low, a question was flawed, or aligning sections; skip it for small classes, mastery grading, or already-fair high scores.</desc>
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  <text class="ttl" x="32" y="42">When to Curve — and When Not To</text>
  <text class="sub" x="32" y="64">A curve corrects a bad exam; it can distort a good one</text>
  <text x="60" y="100" font-size="15" font-weight="700" fill="var(--br)">Curve when…</text><text x="410" y="100" font-size="15" font-weight="700" fill="var(--dg)">Skip the curve when…</text><path d="m60 132 5 5 9 -11" stroke="var(--br)" stroke-width="2.5" fill="none" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"/><text class="mut" x="82" y="137">The exam mean was unusually low</text><path d="m60 174 5 5 9 -11" stroke="var(--br)" stroke-width="2.5" fill="none" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"/><text class="mut" x="82" y="179">A question was flawed or unfair</text><path d="m60 216 5 5 9 -11" stroke="var(--br)" stroke-width="2.5" fill="none" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"/><text class="mut" x="82" y="221">Aligning multiple sections or years</text><path d="m410 128 12 12 m0 -12 -12 12" stroke="var(--dg)" stroke-width="2.5" fill="none" stroke-linecap="round"/><text class="mut" x="432" y="137">The class is small (noisy percentiles)</text><path d="m410 170 12 12 m0 -12 -12 12" stroke="var(--dg)" stroke-width="2.5" fill="none" stroke-linecap="round"/><text class="mut" x="432" y="179">Grading is mastery / criterion-based</text><path d="m410 212 12 12 m0 -12 -12 12" stroke="var(--dg)" stroke-width="2.5" fill="none" stroke-linecap="round"/><text class="mut" x="432" y="221">Scores are already high and fair</text>
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