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 · HIST · MCAS

HIST 4823

Ireland at War in the Twentieth Century · 1 instructor on record · 1 section

How the curve score is built
81Teaching91 raw · 66th percentile of BC classes
±0Easiness adjustmentworkload not reported — takes nothing off the score
81Curve scorethe teaching curve — nothing added or taken off

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. Boston College's workload question was not reported in these records, so easiness could not be worked out. That is missing data, not a heavy class — and it takes nothing off the score.

What the course score is made of
91BC evaluations1 record · weight ×1.0 · Spring 2023
—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
62ndMore challenging than 62% of BC classesranked against every one we hold
92BC — “Intellectually Challenging”1 record · 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
—BC — “Workload”1 record — does not contribute

Not reported in these records — which is missing data, not a light class.

How is this worked out?

Boston College's workload question was not reported in these records, so there is nothing to show. That is missing data, not a light class.

The only instructor on record

1 section · nobody else has taught itFull record
InstructorCurveEasinessChallengeRMP overall
Oliver RaffertyHistory Provisional8091 raw · 1 record—62nd889 ratings · all classes

There is no ranking to read here: Oliver Rafferty is the only instructor with evaluation records for HIST 4823, so the number is a record, not a position. It rests on 1 record, 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 Oliver Rafferty

6 other classes
ClassInstructorsCourse score
HIST 1002Europe in the World II1541 records75
HIST 2258The British Empire: Its Rise and Fall13 records88
HIST 2259When Women Ruled the British World: From Tudor England to Stuart Britain12 records89
HIST 2508Saints, Scoundrels, and Sinners: Popes and their Histories from St. Peter to Pope Francis12 records80
HIST 2512The Jesuits: A Secret History22 records81
HIST 4242With God at their Side: Religion and World War I12 records87

Other HIST classes

All of them
ClassInstructorsCourse score
HIST 1001Europe in the World 12077 records72
HIST 1002Europe in the World II1541 records75
HIST 1113The African Diaspora and the World I1239 records76
HIST 1012Atlantic Worlds II: Race, Religion, and the Struggle for Democracy1134 records75
HIST 1093Modern History I930 records79
HIST 1094Modern History II824 records81

The line

All 13 items · means across 1 record
Instructor4
Course3
Feedback2
Workload & Challengenot ratings

Bars are ranks, not raw scores. Nothing here is graded good or bad. 2 of 13 questions were not reported and are left out rather than shown as zero.

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.
Useful Feedback
The feedback I received on my work was meaningful.
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

1 section · newest first
InstructorTermSecInstrCourseWork
Oliver RaffertySpring 2023019191—
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.