Class record · FREN · MCAS

FREN 4404

How to Begin Thinking: Aftermaths of Twentieth-Century Literature, Philosophy, History · 1 instructor on record · 2 sections

How the curve score is built

75Teaching86 raw · 43rd percentile of BC classes

−2Easiness adjustmenteasiness 69 · 60 raw workload · lighter than 22% of BC classes

73Curve 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

86BC evaluations2 records · weight ×1.0 · Spring 2023 – 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

92ndMore challenging than 92% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

98BC — “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

78thMore work than 78% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

60BC — “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.

Conducted in English: Undergraduate Elective. Cross listed with English and Philosophy "Thinking," the French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas once suggested, "probably begins through traumatisms." This course will study a series of disruptive and transformative events that have indelibly marked the twentieth century. What is the task of thinking for a European tradition displaced internally by the Holocaust and externally by the end of colonial expansions into other continents? Authors will include Levinas, Derrida, Nancy, Saussure, Barthes, Duras (in English translation from French); Borges and Dorfman (in English and English translation from Spanish); Calvino (in English translation from Italian); and Descartes (in English translation from Latin). A German component (in English translation) will consider Husserl and Heidegger as a counterpoint to the European tradition of Romance languages, literatures, and cultures.

The only instructor on record

2 sections · nobody else has taught itFull record

Instructor	Curve	Easiness	Challenge	RMP overall
Kevin NewmarkProfessor of French · Romance Languages and Literatures Provisional	7689 raw · 2 records	68−2 to the score	92nd	1001 rating · all classes

There is no ranking to read here: Kevin Newmark is the only instructor with evaluation records for FREN 4404, so the number is a record, not a position. It rests on 2 records, which is thin — read it as provisional. The RateMyProfessors figure is their overall score across everything they teach, not their score in this class.

Also taught by Kevin Newmark

6 other classes

Class	Instructors	Course score
FREN 3306Narrative and Identity: The Story You Tell Yourself	410 records	86
FREN 3307Great Books in French	59 records	77
FREN 4433True Fiction: From Philosophy to Literature	13 records	83
FREN 4439Painters of Modernity: Baudelaire and Flaubert	12 records	84
FREN 7750Reading Jacques Derrida	12 records	88
FREN 7780Readings in Theory	12 records	92

Other FREN classes

All of them

Class	Instructors	Course score
FREN 1110Intermediate French II	1858 records	79
FREN 1109Intermediate French I	1847 records	79
FREN 1010Elementary French II	1434 records	87
FREN 1009Elementary French I	1123 records	86
FREN 2210French Conversation, Composition, and Reading II	318 records	85
FREN 2209French Conversation, Composition, and Reading I	417 records	77

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

Instructor	Term	Sec	Instr	Course	Work
Kevin Newmark	Fall 2024	01	78	75	—
Kevin Newmark	Spring 2023	01	100	96	60

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.