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 · ENGL · MCAS

ENGL 1713

Roots and Routes: Writing Identity, Migration, and Culture · 1 instructor on record · 3 sections

How the curve score is built
73Teaching83 raw · 35th percentile of BC classes
−2Easiness adjustmenteasiness 69 · 60 raw workload · lighter than 22% of BC classes
71Curve scorethe teaching curve −2 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 22% of BC classes.

What the course score is made of
83BC evaluations3 records · weight ×1.0 · Fall 2022 – Fall 2024
—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
53rdMore challenging than 53% of BC classesranked against every one we hold
91BC — “Intellectually Challenging”3 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
78thMore work than 78% of BC classesranked against every one we hold
60BC — “Workload”3 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.

This is an Enduring Question course and is open to FRESHMEN only. You must take both ENGL1712 and ENGL1713. How does migration in today's world shape questions of identity, borders, and belonging and lead to a reimagining of home? In these paired courses, students will read a range of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry by authors whose migration stories offer different ways to think about what it means to be an outsider and build a new life and home. They will explore how their own roots and routes shape their identities. We will consider the gifts and challenges of making a home across cultures and discuss themes of power, voice, silence, memory and multilingualism, along with the experience of migrating in a globalized, wired, yet often divided world. Activities may include an author talk, a museum visit, an excursion to an immigrant neighborhood, creative writing, and several shared meals.

The only instructor on record

3 sections · nobody else has taught itFull record
InstructorCurveEasinessChallenge
Lynne AndersonDirector, Program for Multilingual Learners · English7991 raw · 3 records68−2 to the score53rd

There is no ranking to read here: Lynne Anderson is the only instructor with evaluation records for ENGL 1713, so the number is a record, not a position.

Also taught by Lynne Anderson

6 other classes
ClassInstructorsCourse score
ENGL 1079Literature Core for Multilingual Students1340 records89
ENGL 2222Introduction to Creative Writing for Multilingual Students15 records95
ENGL 3011The Art of Tutoring Writing35 records91
ENGL 7701English Language Training for Graduate Level Students: Focus on Writing12 records95
ENGL 4439Topics in Creative Nonfiction: Food, Hunger, and Identity11 record97
ENGL 7700English Language Training for Graduate Level Students: Focus on Speech and Presentation Skills11 record94

Other ENGL classes

All of them
ClassInstructorsCourse score
ENGL 1010First Year Writing Seminar136442 records80
ENGL 1080Literature Core90257 records80
ENGL 1079Literature Core for Multilingual Students1340 records89
ENGL 2221Introduction to Creative Writing936 records90
ENGL 2133Studies in Narrative1634 records87
ENGL 2131Studies in Poetry1333 records84

The line

All 13 items · means across 3 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

3 sections · newest first
InstructorTermSecInstrCourseWork
Lynne AndersonFall 202401887860
Lynne AndersonFall 2022019184—
Lynne AndersonFall 2022029488—
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.