[cardcrimson]

anecdotal evidence, including personal experience:

true to some extent, but at a 20-40 ranked school, you have lots of company when you can't figure out a difficult problem set. at stanford, yale, harvard, half the class gets it no problem. so the professors can  and do make the tests and problem sets at stanford harder (in some classes, not all).

Was in many a classes at Stanford where a majority of the class struggled with problem sets. We'd all have our little study groups and we'd call each other for help. One class was so tough, the midterm means were in the teens, high score in the twenties. New professor, Stanford grad and PhD, wild guy; an absolutely brilliant guy who had no idea how smart he was compared to normal Stanford students. . . .

chemical engineer here, we also had study groups for problem sets.  We had one chemical engineering class with a midterm where the mean was 18 and the mode was zero (that's out of 100), I am still very proud of the C+ I got in the class which was the 8th highest grade out of about 30 students.  The same prof a year or two earlier initially failed about half of a winter quarter required class, the class was mostly seniors, the dept chair suggested he revisit his grading or plan on teaching the class again in spring quarter, he did the former.  We ran into the prof at a chem eng event maybe 15 years later and went up to say hi to him, he waved us off.  I still recall him introducing a visiting prof at an event taking not so subtle shots at his colleague about why the visiting prof was so much better at catalysis than his colleague.

Great story! Thanks! Loved our Prof, even though he was so tough. Can't remember his former fraternity, but they had a rep for serious partiers. During the grad ceremony at Frost, as he walked the procession, handed him one of our bottles of champagne, and he chugged a good bit of it. 

Great fun that day! Shook hands with George Shultz (and unbeknownst to me, was almost jumped by secret service because of it); and just missed hitting Donald Kennedy with a champagne cork. Those were the days on the Farm.

---

I remember when Dot gave me a hot tip to enroll in Film Esthetics.  He said all of the football players were taking it because it was an easy A.  All you had to do was watch old movies.  Well, I signed up just in time for the prof to have his come-to-Jesus career moment.  He failed half the class on their midterm and announced that his course would no longer be Mickey Mouse.  I got a D on the midterm, but studied my ass off for the final and pulled out a B in the course.  Thanks again for that Dot!

Great story. I took a class on ancient athletics my senior year. As an engineering major, we did't get many electives. Passed the midterm with flying colors, and as there was no final and only a final paper, never went again. For years, possibly decades, had nightmares that the prof decided to have a final and I didn't graduate because I missed it. . . .

[cardcrimson]

anecdotal evidence, including personal experience:

true to some extent, but at a 20-40 ranked school, you have lots of company when you can't figure out a difficult problem set. at stanford, yale, harvard, half the class gets it no problem. so the professors can  and do make the tests and problem sets at stanford harder (in some classes, not all).

Was in many a classes at Stanford where a majority of the class struggled with problem sets. We'd all have our little study groups and we'd call each other for help. One class was so tough, the midterm means were in the teens, high score in the twenties. New professor, Stanford grad and PhD, wild guy; an absolutely brilliant guy who had no idea how smart he was compared to normal Stanford students. . . .

chemical engineer here, we also had study groups for problem sets.  We had one chemical engineering class with a midterm where the mean was 18 and the mode was zero (that's out of 100), I am still very proud of the C+ I got in the class which was the 8th highest grade out of about 30 students.  The same prof a year or two earlier initially failed about half of a winter quarter required class, the class was mostly seniors, the dept chair suggested he revisit his grading or plan on teaching the class again in spring quarter, he did the former.  We ran into the prof at a chem eng event maybe 15 years later and went up to say hi to him, he waved us off.  I still recall him introducing a visiting prof at an event taking not so subtle shots at his colleague about why the visiting prof was so much better at catalysis than his colleague.

Great story! Thanks! Loved our Prof, even though he was so tough. Can't remember his former fraternity, but they had a rep for serious partiers. During the grad ceremony at Frost, as he walked the procession, handed him one of our bottles of champagne, and he chugged a good bit of it. 

Great fun that day! Shook hands with George Shultz (and unbeknownst to me, was almost jumped by secret service because of it); and just missed hitting Donald Kennedy with a champagne cork. Those were the days on the Farm.

---

I remember when Dot gave me a hot tip to enroll in Film Esthetics.  He said all of the football players were taking it because it was an easy A.  All you had to do was watch old movies.  Well, I signed up just in time for the prof to have his come-to-Jesus career moment.  He failed half the class on their midterm and announced that his course would no longer be Mickey Mouse.  I got a D on the midterm, but studied my ass off for the final and pulled out a B in the course.  Thanks again for that Dot!

Great story. I took a class on ancient athletics my senior year. As an engineering major, we did't get many electives. Passed the midterm with flying colors, and as there was no final and only a final paper, never went again. For years, possibly decades, had nightmares that the prof decided to have a final and I didn't graduate because I missed it. . . .