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 5440

Islam Today: Jihad and Fundamentalism · 1 instructor on record · 1 section

How the curve score is built
99Teaching100 raw · 100th percentile of BC classes
±0Easiness adjustmentworkload not reported — takes nothing off the score
99Curve 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
100BC evaluations1 record · weight ×1.0 · Spring 2022
—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
48thMore challenging than 48% of BC classesranked against every one we hold
90BC — “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
InstructorCurveEasinessChallenge
Gerhard BoweringTheology Provisional99100 raw · 1 record—48th

There is no ranking to read here: Gerhard Bowering is the only instructor with evaluation records for THEO 5440, so the number is a record, not a position. It rests on 1 record, which is thin — read it as provisional.

Also taught by Gerhard Bowering

3 other classes
ClassInstructorsCourse score
THEO 2312Perspectives on World Religions11 record60
THEO 2953Introduction to Islam11 record60
THEO 5444The Quran and Its Interpretation11 record40

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 1 record
Instructor4
Course3
Feedback1
Workload & Challengenot ratings

Bars are ranks, not raw scores. Nothing here is graded good or bad. 3 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.
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
Gerhard BoweringSpring 202201100100—
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.