Carney Curve

Boston College course evaluations · every published number, ranked class by class

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 7804

Colloquium: American Slavery · 1 instructor on record · 2 sections

What the course score is made of
98BC evaluations2 records · weight ×1.0 · Summer 2024 – Summer 2025
Student reviewsno reviews — does not contribute
RateMyProfessorsno ratings — does not contribute

That is the class itself, averaged across everyone who taught it. Who taught it, and how each of them scored, is the board below — that is what a student picking a section is actually choosing between.

What the challenge rank is made of
79thMore challenging than 79% of BC classesranked against every one we hold
95BC — “Intellectually Challenging”2 records · raw score out of 100

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

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

2 sections · nobody else has taught itFull record
InstructorOverallWorkloadChallengeRMP overall
Cynthia LyerlyHistory Provisional982 records93rd79th869 ratings · all classes

There is no ranking to read here: Cynthia Lyerly is the only instructor with evaluation records for HIST 7804, 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 Cynthia Lyerly

6 other classes
ClassInstructorsCourse score
HIST 1841Core Topics: When Worlds Collide: From Contact to the Constitution14 records80
HIST 4551American Hate14 records95
HIST 3434The Study and Writing of History: Union in Crisis: Newspapers and the Coming of the Civil War11 record82
HIST 3435Study and Writing of History: Slavery and Memory: The WPA Narratives and Antebellum Slavery11 record94
HIST 3437Study and Writing: Murder, You Wrote: Sensational Homicides 19C11 record91
HIST 4418American Slavery11 record87

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 2 records
The Professor4 items
Clearly Explains MaterialThe instructor was effective at creating an understanding of difficult subject matter.
9883rd pctl
Available Outside of ClassThe instructor was available for help outside of class.
9670th pctl
Brings Out Your Best WorkThe instructor motivated me to do my best work.
9347th pctl
Sparked My InterestThe course stimulated my interest in the subject matter.
9879th pctl
The Course3 items
Well-Organized CourseThe course was well organized.
9783rd pctl
Clear Learning GoalsThe learning objectives for the course were clear.
9891st pctl
Useful Beyond the CourseWhat I learned is applicable beyond this course.
9569th pctl
Assignments & Feedback3 items
Assignments Help You LearnAssignments and exams contributed to my learning.
8834th pctl
Gives Feedback PromptlyI received feedback on my work in a timely manner.
704th pctl
Meaningful FeedbackThe feedback I received on my work was meaningful.
702nd pctl
Workload, difficulty & attendanceNot ratings
WorkloadHow 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.
8093rd pctl
Intellectually ChallengingThe course was intellectually challenging.
9579th pctl
Attendance MattersAttending class was necessary to do well in this course.
9042nd pctl

Bar length is the rank against every comparable record we hold, not the raw score: BC's questions all have a median around 4.5, so a raw-scale bar would be nearly full on every row and would tell you nothing. 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
Cynthia LyerlySummer 202501100100
Cynthia LyerlySummer 202401969780

How to read this boardInstructors 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.