Students and Faculty Reflect on Course Rigor

By LOGAN BECKERLE, MICHELLE CHOO, DRONA GADDAM, ANGELA HE, CRANE LEE, ALEX LIM, MARVIN SHIM, ISLA WIEGAND-HAMMOND, and FAYE YANG

    There are 405 courses at Exeter, each with its own twists and turns, as well as a variety of difficulty levels. In recent years after Covid, course rigor has been a big question, as well as questions around “college-level difficulty” and grade inflation.

    Previous to Covid, classes were very standard with a close set of rules. After the pandemic, however, regulations were loosened. Instructor in Science Townley Chisholm said, “I hear colleagues from all kinds of academic departments talk sadly about how today’s students would fare on tests given 20 years ago.”

    It is very apparent that the effects of Covid were very negative. Chisholm remarked that grade inflation had gotten so bad that students simply could not compare to students of the previous generation. This opened up the discussion between teachers about grade inflation and the rigor of their courses.

    Upper Ronald Qiao said, “Pre-Covid grades were hard to standardize because everyone was online for a little bit, so I think it’s understandable. ”

    Grade inflation is defined by Merriam-Webster as a rise in the average grade assigned to students. It has been a problem throughout the last few years since Covid, and faculty have been looking to stop this trend by increasing the rigor of their classes.

    “There was a period of inflation for the Class of ‘22 and ‘23,” Qiao said. “Since then, I think grades have gotten quite a bit arder to get.”

    As of late, Qiao believed that grade inflation is on a decline, but Instructor in History Nolan Lincoln believed it has already made its mark. “I have had students in the past that have asked me for their essays back…Just so that the college can trust the grades that they are getting.” Lincoln has used grade inflation as a guiding factor to increase the course rigor of his classes, as many other teachers have.

    In terms of the Math Department, senior Jaansi Patel discussed the changes they had made in terms of the rigor of the classes, and in an attempt to standardize grading. “In my lower year, I think they moved away from having as much of an emphasis on hand-ins and take-homes. So I think now it’s 20 percent of your grade total that it can be. And teachers in general have been a bit more strict about grading and making sure that how they evaluate their students is fair.”

    Most students concur that the level of difficulty of advanced classes, in any department, heavily escalates compared to their respective 200 and 300 level courses. Senior Davido Zhang commented, “I don’t feel like I have to work harder in my classes disproportionately to get the same grades. I have definitely felt an escalation of difficulty just because I’ve gone up a course level.”

    “This also goes with the expectation of more advanced Harkness discussions, Zhang continued. “Of course, we still regularly ask clarifying questions. But when you’re an upper or senior the expectation is so much higher with the kind of contributions you can make.”

    Senior Altan Unver spoke of his experience with the Exeter physics and math curriculum. “The quantum mechanics course I took [as an upper] was a course on par to one I might take as a physics major in college for an introductory course. Some of the math electives are also things I might learn in college. I think the Exeter curriculums are designed very well and the teachers are very good at conveying information.”

    “I think [these classes] are definitely college level. In my internship this summer at a university, I could understand all of the quantum mechanics on the board. And that was like graduate PhD level research,” senior Byran Huang echoed. “So I was stunned that I could even understand that. I definitely think that the word college level is fitting.”

    “I think physics has a very high expectation at the more difficult levels, especially with quantum,” Unver reflected. “It first took me away from my sleep. I was not in a great state of mind, but I feel that once I was doing a constant amount of work, I got used to it and became more efficient. I think taking Quantum and struggling and learning these math concepts on the spot will definitely help me in the future.”

    Exeter uses such phrases as “college-level expectations” and “equivalent of an introductory college course” to describe courses within the 400-600 level. Some students don’t think the title is important.

    “I feel like those terms are just there so that it’s easy for colleges to see on my transcript,” Zhang said. “But as a student, I do not care about the title at all since it doesn’t really reflect on the course rigor, in my opinion. For example, some of the most notoriously difficult courses at Exeter aren’t even considered college prep—they’re just titled as regular courses.”

    However, other students shared experiences where they felt quite the opposite. “This summer, when I was working in a neuroimaging research lab, one of the reasons why that went so well for me was because I had a lot of knowledge that I had accumulated from my human physiology class,” Patel said. “At this lab, all of the people that I was working with were graduate level students or PhD students, so they were very surprised that I was able to help with scans.”

    Patel added, “It was a moment where I realized that being here, surrounded by such difficult courses, it’s very easy to forget that many classes here are actually college level.”

    “I definitely think they’re college level,” Huang agreed. “It was really stunning when I could understand all the physics questions, quantum and mechanical, just like after a year. I think it pushed me really hard with the assessments, and I pretty much had assessments every week. It was very difficult, but I survived and it paid off a lot.”

    Qiao echoed these sentiments, mentioning feeling fully prepared for college-level courses having taken 500-level courses here at Exeter. “For a lot of the people outside of Exeter I’ve talked to, their first- or second-year college courses are roughly equal to a 500-level course,” he said. “So, in terms of rigor, we’re definitely well prepared if we take these. ”

    Upper Lauren Lee commented similarly on the level of rigor from the History Department. “I think on the level of connecting with other students around the table that love what I love, it’s very fulfilling,” she said. “I also think the work it takes to construct nuanced arguments that are worth speaking at the Harkness table, also helps prepare me to become a better student of history, and paves the way for success in college level courses.”

    The academic expectations at Exeter have changed considerably since the pandemic. With grade inflation and fluctuating course difficulty, the campus is having conversations about what it means to maintain high standards. Many students on campus said that advanced classes are challenging, similar to what they might encounter in college. It is clear that Exeter is committed to ensuring students leave not just with impressive titles on their transcripts but with the knowledge and skills to succeed in whatever comes next.

    Patel, for one, believes Exeter courses are unique, despite the high expectations that come with it. She concluded, “With discussion-based classes, even though ultimately you have to cover the same material, at the end of the day, the way that we talk about it in class and the kind of environment you foster has a much bigger impact on how someone feels in a class compared to the difficulty itself.”