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 · BIOL · MCAS

BIOL 4510

Cancer Biology · 1 instructor on record · 5 sections

How the curve score is built
80Teaching90 raw · 60th percentile of BC classes
±0Easiness adjustmenteasiness 78 · 56 raw workload · lighter than 54% of BC classes
80Curve scorethe teaching curve ±0 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 54% of BC classes.

What the course score is made of
90BC evaluations5 records · weight ×1.0 · Spring 2022 – 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
90thMore challenging than 90% of BC classesranked against every one we hold
98BC — “Intellectually Challenging”5 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
46thMore work than 46% of BC classesranked against every one we hold
56BC — “Workload”5 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.

The only instructor on record

5 sections · nobody else has taught itFull record
InstructorCurveEasinessChallengeRMP overall
Danielle TaghianProfessor of the Practice · Biology8594 raw · 5 records74−1 to the score90th8628 ratings · all classes

There is no ranking to read here: Danielle Taghian is the only instructor with evaluation records for BIOL 4510, so the number is a record, not a position. The RateMyProfessors figure is their overall score across everything they teach, not their score in this class.

Also taught by Danielle Taghian

4 other classes
ClassInstructorsCourse score
BIOL 2000Molecules and Cells520 records71
BIOL 2060Gateway Biology Discussion II313 records88
BIOL 4120Inflammation and Disease210 records85
BIOL 5250Topics in Nutrition and Metabolism12 records95

Other BIOL classes

All of them
ClassInstructorsCourse score
BIOL 2040Investigations in Molecular Cell Biology Lab2176 records87
BIOL 1310Anatomy and Physiology Lab 1443 records78
BIOL 1330Anatomy and Physiology Lab 2443 records76
BIOL 2210Microbiology for Health Professionals Laboratory341 records84
BIOL 4260Human Anatomy with Lab135 records86
BIOL 4330Human Physiology128 records85

The line

All 13 items · means across 5 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

5 sections · newest first
InstructorTermSecInstrCourseWork
Danielle TaghianSpring 202601949060
Danielle TaghianSpring 202501938860
Danielle TaghianSpring 202401949260
Danielle TaghianSpring 202301928940
Danielle TaghianSpring 202201979160
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.