Carney Curve

Boston College course evaluations · Fall 2021 through Spring 2026, ranked class by class

How this list is ordered

Positions account for how many records stand behind each number, so one perfect review does not outrank a semester of them. Every score shown is the real average — only the ordering is adjusted.

Class record · ADIT · ADV

ADIT 1450

C++ · 1 instructor on record · 2 sections

How the curve score is built
76Teaching87 raw · 48th percentile of BC classes
−4Easiness adjustmenteasiness 61 · 80 raw workload · lighter than 7% of BC classes
72Curve scorethe teaching curve −4 for the workload · at most ±6 either way

Boston College's ratings are bunched at the top — the median instructor averages about 88 out of 100 on the raw scale, and 44% of them clear 90 — so a raw score cannot separate anybody. Every figure here is ranked against BC classes and that rank is re-expressed out of 100, which is what turns a raw 88 — the middle of the university — into a figure that says where somebody actually stands. On this scale 77 is the median, 84 the top quarter and 91 the top tenth. Workload is then an adjustment on top of that, worth nothing at all for an ordinary one. Lighter work than 7% of BC classes.

What the course score is made of
87BC evaluations2 records · weight ×1.0 · Spring 2025 – Spring 2026
—Student reviewsno reviews — does not contribute
—RateMyProfessorsno ratings — does not contribute

The class itself, averaged across everyone who taught it — who taught it is the board below.

How is this worked out?

That is what a student picking a section is actually choosing between: the board carries each instructor's own score for this class, and the score above is the class averaged across all of them.

What the challenge rank is made of
51stMore challenging than 51% of BC classesranked against every one we hold
91BC — “Intellectually Challenging”2 records · raw score out of 100

Boston College's own “intellectually challenging” question. It is not a measure of difficulty, grading or workload.

How is this worked out?

Boston College's own “intellectually challenging” question for this class only — students answer it positively about courses that stretched them, so it measures intellectual challenge and NOT grading, workload or quality. Almost every BC class scores high on it, which is why it is shown as a rank rather than a score.

What the workload rank is made of
93rdMore work than 93% of BC classesranked against every one we hold
80BC — “Workload”2 records · raw score out of 100

One of Boston College's five workload bands, not a number of hours. Higher means more work, not worse.

How is this worked out?

Boston College reports workload for this class only as one of five bands, not as a number of hours, and it does not publish what the bands mean — so this site will not translate it into hours. Higher means more work, which is not the same as worse.

An introduction to programming with C++. This course is meant for students with little or no programming experience. We will start with the basics of programming using the C++ programming language. C++ is the cornerstone programming language used to develop many of the fundamental applications we use on a daily basis. For example operating systems, web browsers and other programming languages such as Java, Python, and SQL are built with C++. We will use the low level nature of the C++ programming language to learn about the fundamental aspects of how a computer works. In this course we will develop basic command line applications, explore how data is stored in memory and how we may use logic to manipulate the data to produce different results.

The only instructor on record

2 sections · nobody else has taught itFull record
InstructorCurveEasinessChallenge
Mimi TamAdvancing Studies Provisional7792 raw · 2 records58−5 to the score51st

There is no ranking to read here: Mimi Tam is the only instructor with evaluation records for ADIT 1450, so the number is a record, not a position. It rests on 2 records, which is thin — read it as provisional.

Also taught by Mimi Tam

1 other class
ClassInstructorsCourse score
ADIT 2200Database Management11 record96

Other ADIT classes

All of them
ClassInstructorsCourse score
ADIT 3308Project Management19 records88
ADIT 2025Data Visualization35 records82
ADIT 2100Computer Networks15 records94
ADIT 2000Computer Security14 records95
ADIT 2500Cybersecurity Fundamentals14 records87
ADIT 3300Project Management14 records91

The line

All 13 items · means across 2 records
Instructor4
Course3
Feedback3
Workload & Challengenot ratings

Bars are ranks, not raw scores. Nothing here is graded good or bad.

What each item asks
Explains Clearly
The instructor was effective at creating an understanding of difficult subject matter.
Available
The instructor was available for help outside of class.
Motivating
The instructor motivated me to do my best work.
Sparks Interest
The course stimulated my interest in the subject matter.
Organized
The course was well organized.
Clear Goals
The learning objectives for the course were clear.
Useful Later
What I learned is applicable beyond this course.
Assignments
Assignments and exams contributed to my learning.
Fast Feedback
I received feedback on my work in a timely manner.
Useful Feedback
The feedback I received on my work was meaningful.
Workload
How much work the course took outside class, on Boston College's five-band scale — the band boundaries are not published, so this is not a number of hours.
Challenge
The course was intellectually challenging.
Attendance
Attending class was necessary to do well in this course.
Why these numbers are curved

Both the number and the bar are the rank against every comparable record we hold, printed back out of 100. BC's questions all have a median around 4.5, so on the raw scale every cell here would read in the high eighties and every bar would be nearly full — thirteen numbers that tell you nothing. Each cell prints its raw BC figure and its percentile underneath, so nothing is hidden by the transform. Every bar is one ink colour — nothing here is graded green or red. The hatched bars are not ratings at all: a higher number on either describes a different course, not a better one.

Game log

2 sections · newest first
InstructorTermSecInstrCourseWork
Mimi TamSpring 2026011009680
Mimi TamSpring 202501837780
How to read this board

Instructors are ranked on their record in this class only, never on their average across everything they teach. Scores are out of 100 — Boston College's 1–5 agreement scale, ×20, the way these numbers were printed for years. Workload is BC's own five-band figure, not a number of hours, and is shown as a rank. A dash means the question was not reported, and is never a zero.