Carney Curve

Boston College course evaluations · Fall 2021 through Spring 2026, ranked class by class

Top of the board1.PRTO 3300982.UNAS 3348903.MUSP 1670944.COMM 1060925.MUSP 1660926.ECON 9902887.BSLW 2299918.PHIL 4932939.COMM 19029010.UGMG 10109311.MUSP 26009912.TMPS 803495
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.

Instructor record

Vincent Portillo

Assistant Professor of the Practice · English

How the curve score is built
85Teaching93 raw · 76th percentile of BC instructors
+1Easiness adjustmenteasiness 80 · 48 raw workload · lighter than 61% of BC instructors
86Curve scorethe teaching curve +1 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 instructors 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 61% of BC instructors.

Records21
Classes7
TermsFall 2021 – Spring 2026
On each class's board
ENGL 10108th of 136 instructorsENGL 3821only instructor on recordENGL 3338only instructor on record ProvisionalENGL 108056th of 90 instructors ProvisionalENGL 1748only instructor on record ProvisionalENGL 3344only instructor on record ProvisionalENGL 3825only instructor on record Provisional
Sources
BC evaluations9221 records · weight ×1.0 · Fall 2021 – Spring 2026
RateMyProfessors965 ratings · weight ×2.0 · 100% would take again · difficulty 36/100 for the person
Student reviews—no reviews — not counted
How is this worked out?

Sources are averaged by how much we trust each one and by how many records sit behind it, so a handful of reviews nudges the number rather than replacing it.

Collected from RateMyProfessors, not from Boston College: 5 ratings, 100% would take again, difficulty 36 out of 100. Difficulty is not a quality signal in either direction — a harder course is not a worse one.

Anyone can post there — no @bc.edu check and no enrolment check — so it is weighted alongside the evaluation data, never above it.

Where challenge and workload come from
Challenge
22ndMore challenging than 22% of BC instructorsranked against every one we hold
83BC — “Intellectually Challenging”21 records · raw score out of 100

Boston College's own “intellectually challenging” question. It is not a measure of difficulty, grading or workload. Boston College's own “intellectually challenging” question — 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. RateMyProfessors separately rates this instructor 36 out of 100 for difficulty — that IS a difficulty measure, but it is about the person across everything they teach, not about any one class, so it is shown here rather than folded into the number above.

Workload
39thMore work than 39% of BC instructorsranked against every one we hold
48BC — “Workload”21 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. Boston College reports workload 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.

Ratings

All 13 items · 21 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.

Class by class

7 classes · 21 sections
ENGL 1010First Year Writing SeminarCurve85Easy78Chal11th
Board8th of 136 instructors
12 sections · course rated 88/100 · all 13 items
TermSecInstrCourseWork
Spring 202642726640
Spring 202519948940
Fall 202445969160
Spring 202406989340
Fall 20230810098—
Fall 2023099186—
Spring 202337989060
Fall 2022121009560
Fall 202269969360
Spring 202206908540
Fall 202132978040
Fall 202163949260
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.

ENGL 3821Sporting Rhetorics: Language, Games, and CultureCurve87Easy84Chal20th
Boardonly instructor on record
3 sections · course rated 91/100 · all 13 items
TermSecInstrCourseWork
Spring 202601979440
Spring 202501939040
Spring 202401918840
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.

ENGL 3338Americanization and the Rhetorics of CitizenshipCurve85Easy78Chal48th
Boardonly instructor on record Provisional
2 sections · course rated 88/100 · all 13 items
TermSecInstrCourseWork
Fall 2024011009060
Spring 202201878740
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.

ENGL 1080Literature CoreCurve69Easy—Chal29th
Board56th of 90 instructors Provisional
1 section · course rated 80/100 · all 13 items
TermSecInstrCourseWork
Summer 2024018080—
Instructor4
Course3
Feedback3
Workload & Challengenot ratings

Bars are ranks, not raw scores. Nothing here is graded good or bad. 1 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.
Fast Feedback
I received feedback on my work in a timely manner.
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.

ENGL 1748From Loneliness to Connection: The Literacy of Human ConnectionCurve80Easy68Chal9th
Boardonly instructor on record Provisional
1 section · course rated 88/100 · all 13 items
TermSecInstrCourseWork
Fall 202501928860
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.

ENGL 3344American Archives: Memorials, Monuments, and MemoryCurve69Easy84Chal2nd
Boardonly instructor on record Provisional
1 section · course rated 71/100 · all 13 items
TermSecInstrCourseWork
Spring 202301787140
Instructor4
Course3
Feedback2
Workload & Challengenot ratings

Bars are ranks, not raw scores. Nothing here is graded good or bad. 1 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.
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.

ENGL 3825True Crime: Scoundrels, Villains, and ViceCurve83Easy84Chal31st
Boardonly instructor on record Provisional
1 section · course rated 90/100 · all 13 items
TermSecInstrCourseWork
Fall 202501919040
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.

How each position is worked out

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.

How to read this page

The big number is a CURVE score, not Boston College's average. BC's own scale is bunched at the top — the median instructor averages about 88 out of 100 on it and 44% of them clear 90 — so this site ranks the average against every instructor we hold and prints that rank back out of 100. A 77 is the median, 84 is the top quarter, 91 is the top tenth. On top of that sits an EASINESS adjustment worth up to about ±6 points — the workload rank turned over, so a lighter class gains and a heavier one loses, while an ordinary workload is worth exactly nothing — and the adjustment is printed on the card, signed. Every raw BC average and every percentile behind the curve is in the strip under the plate, and the thirteen items below are shown the same way, curved, with the raw figure on each cell. Challenge is not difficulty and workload is not hours; neither is marked better or worse. A dash means the question was not reported, and is never a zero. The position printed against each class is this instructor's place on that class's own board, computed from the same records the board itself is built from.