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 · THEO · MCAS

THEO 1361

Praying Our Stories · 1 instructor on record · 5 sections

How the curve score is built
90Teaching96 raw · 88th percentile of BC classes
+2Easiness adjustmenteasiness 83 · 45 raw workload · lighter than 71% of BC classes
92Curve 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 71% of BC classes.

What the course score is made of
96BC evaluations5 records · weight ×1.0 · Fall 2021 – Fall 2025
—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
61stMore challenging than 61% of BC classesranked against every one we hold
92BC — “Intellectually Challenging”5 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
29thMore work than 29% of BC classesranked against every one we hold
45BC — “Workload”5 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.

Significant experiences of God's presence are often thought of as extraordinary. They are moments we might expect while on retreat, during community worship, or while sitting under the stars. We might assume that to find God we must transcend our mundane life and get to another place. This course will explore how God is in fact more likely, and thankfully, discovered in the ordinary. Ignatian spirituality does not distinguish between secular and sacred, work and prayer, or God and "real life." Instead, it is about finding God in our lived experience and cooperating with God to transform that experience.

The only instructor on record

5 sections · nobody else has taught itFull record
InstructorCurveEasinessChallenge
Daniel PonsettoTheology9196 raw · 5 records82+1 to the score61st

There is no ranking to read here: Daniel Ponsetto is the only instructor with evaluation records for THEO 1361, so the number is a record, not a position.

Other THEO classes

All of them
ClassInstructorsCourse score
THEO 1402God, Self, and Society55175 records82
THEO 1091Perspectives on Western Culture II/Perspectives II41125 records86
THEO 1088Person and Social Responsibility I19120 records87
THEO 1401Engaging Catholicism43114 records78
THEO 1090Perspectives on Western Culture I/Perspectives I33107 records85
THEO 1089Person and Social Responsibility II2598 records90

The line

All 13 items · means across 5 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

5 sections · newest first
InstructorTermSecInstrCourseWork
Daniel PonsettoFall 202501979740
Daniel PonsettoFall 202401979540
Daniel PonsettoFall 2023019194—
Daniel PonsettoFall 202201969640
Daniel PonsettoFall 2021019810060
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.