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 · PHIL · MCAS

PHIL 4555

The Problem of Evil · 1 instructor on record · 1 section

What the course score is made of
72BC evaluations1 record · weight ×1.0 · Spring 2023
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
29thMore challenging than 29% of BC classesranked against every one we hold
87BC — “Intellectually Challenging”1 record · 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
78thMore work than 78% of BC classesranked against every one we hold
60BC — “Workload”1 record · 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.

Various philosophical and religious explorations of the most obvious and pervasive problem in human life. Readings include Dostoyevski, Augustine, Chesterton, Sartre, Beckett, Tolstoi, Weisel, Frankl, MacLeish, McCarthy, Lewis, Boethius and the Bible.

The only instructor on record

1 section · nobody else has taught itFull record
InstructorOverallWorkloadChallengeRMP overall
Peter KreeftPhilosophy Provisional741 record78th29th7230 ratings · all classes

There is no ranking to read here: Peter Kreeft is the only instructor with evaluation records for PHIL 4555, 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 Peter Kreeft

6 other classes
ClassInstructorsCourse score
PHIL 5005Medieval Philosophy25 records84
PHIL 4470Philosophy of World Religions13 records75
PHIL 5584C.S. Lewis13 records89
PHIL 2247The Great Conversation12 records74
PHIL 2266Philosophy in Literature: The Lord of the Rings and The Brothers Karamazov12 records79
PHIL 5846Plato's Republic22 records84

Other PHIL classes

All of them
ClassInstructorsCourse score
PHIL 1071Philosophy of the Person II71247 records84
PHIL 1070Philosophy of the Person I65207 records82
PHIL 1091Perspectives on Western Culture II/Perspectives II39144 records87
PHIL 1089Person and Social Responsibility II20104 records88
PHIL 1088Person and Social Responsibility I1969 records88
PHIL 1090Perspectives on Western Culture I/Perspectives I3067 records84

The line

All 13 items · means across 1 record
The Professor4 items
Clearly Explains MaterialThe instructor was effective at creating an understanding of difficult subject matter.
8411th pctl
Available Outside of ClassThe instructor was available for help outside of class.
680th pctl
Brings Out Your Best WorkThe instructor motivated me to do my best work.
794th pctl
Sparked My InterestThe course stimulated my interest in the subject matter.
836th pctl
The Course3 items
Well-Organized CourseThe course was well organized.
777th pctl
Clear Learning GoalsThe learning objectives for the course were clear.
786th pctl
Useful Beyond the CourseWhat I learned is applicable beyond this course.
8615th pctl
Assignments & Feedback2 items
Assignments Help You LearnAssignments and exams contributed to my learning.
784th pctl
Meaningful FeedbackThe feedback I received on my work was meaningful.
8110th 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.
6078th pctl
Intellectually ChallengingThe course was intellectually challenging.
8729th pctl
Attendance MattersAttending class was necessary to do well in this course.
8832nd 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. 1 of 13 questions were not reported and are left out rather than shown as zero.

Game log

1 section · newest first
InstructorTermSecInstrCourseWork
Peter KreeftSpring 202301747260

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.