Do exactly what he said! IOW add 49% (= 72%-23%) to each person's grade.

Not from slavish obedience but because it works surprisingly well.

New scale: Mean: 72% Min: 53% Max: 117%

The average is now a "low C". (Assuming normal 60-70-80-90 F-D-C-B-A boundaries.) This mean is probably a little lower than normal but is reasonable enough that you don't get cries of murder for the tough exam. (Especially since they are getting thrown a bone versus no change.) And probably the class needs some remnant of a "spanking" for doing poorly. So low C is a good mean for this individual test.

The min will be an F now but not such a killer that semester is lost for those who failed it (if they do well rest of course can pass the course, maybe even eke out a gentleman's C). And there will probably be a few Fs but not that many. Some failures out of a group of 84 is normal.

The student who got 68% will have an over 100% mark now. Which she probably deserves. It quells some of the complaining from the Hermione Granger types that feels slighted when the standards are lowered after they perform well and the class gets a break.

I think if you try it, you will find a very reasonable grouping into F/D/C/B/A set. Plus it has the added advantage of doing what you were told (merely as a bonus). Plus...you don't need to totally overthink this. It is one test out of a few.

One further added benefit is the simplicity. Instead of having to explain some gawdawful transform (like binning each quintile or whatever). You just have a quick difference. Easy to process for you. And easy to understand for the class.

Do exactly what he said! Not from slavish obedience but because it works surprisingly well. IOW add 49% (= 72%-23%) to each person's grade. [Actually now that I think about it...even simpler is to just add 50%. Very easy to understand.]

New scale: Mean: 73% Min: 54% Max: 118%

The average is now a "low C". (Assuming normal 60-70-80-90 F-D-C-B-A boundaries.) This mean is probably a little lower than normal but is reasonable enough that you don't get cries of murder for the tough exam. (Especially since they are getting thrown a bone versus no change.) And probably the class needs some remnant of a "spanking" for doing poorly. So low C is a good mean for this individual test.

The min will be an F now but not such a killer that semester is lost for those who failed it (if they do well rest of course can pass the course, maybe even eke out a gentleman's C). And there will probably be a handful of Fs but not that many. Some failures out of a group of 84 is normal.

The student who got 68% will have an over 100% mark now. Which she probably deserves. It quells some of the complaining from the Hermione Granger types that feels slighted when the standards are lowered after they perform well and the class gets a break.

I think if you try it, you will find a very reasonable grouping into F/D/C/B/A set. Plus it has the added advantage of doing what you were told (merely as a bonus). Plus...you don't need to totally overthink this. It is one test out of a few.

One further added benefit is the simplicity. Instead of having to explain some gawdawful transform (like binning each quintile or square root of arctangents). You just have a quick difference. Easy to process for you. And easy to understand for the class. Sometimes simple better beats complicated perfect.

Do exactly what he said! (IOW add 49% to each person's grade.)

Not from slavish obedience but because it works surprisingly well!

New scale: Mean: 72% Min: 53% Max: 117%

The average is now a "low C". (Assuming normal 60-70-80-90 F-D-C-B-A boundaries.) This mean is probably a little lower than normal but is reasonable enough that you don't get cries of murder for the tough exam. And probably the class needs some general "spanking" for doing poorly. So low C is a great mean!

The min will be an F now but not such a killer that semester is lost for those who failed it (if they do well rest of course can pass the course, maybe even eke out a gentleman's C). And there will probably be a few Fs but not that many. Some failures out of a group of 84 is normal.

The student who got 68% will have an over 100% mark now. Which she probably deserves. It will probably quell some of the complaining from the Hermione Granger types that feels slighted when the standards are lowered after she put out effort.

I think if you try it, you will find a very reasonable grouping into F/D/C/B/A set. Plus it has the added advantage of doing what you were told (merely as a bonus). Plus...you don't need to totally overthink this. It is one test out of a few.

Do exactly what he said! IOW add 49% (= 72%-23%) to each person's grade.

Not from slavish obedience but because it works surprisingly well.

New scale: Mean: 72% Min: 53% Max: 117%

The average is now a "low C". (Assuming normal 60-70-80-90 F-D-C-B-A boundaries.) This mean is probably a little lower than normal but is reasonable enough that you don't get cries of murder for the tough exam. (Especially since they are getting thrown a bone versus no change.) And probably the class needs some remnant of a "spanking" for doing poorly. So low C is a good mean for this individual test.

The min will be an F now but not such a killer that semester is lost for those who failed it (if they do well rest of course can pass the course, maybe even eke out a gentleman's C). And there will probably be a few Fs but not that many. Some failures out of a group of 84 is normal.

The student who got 68% will have an over 100% mark now. Which she probably deserves. It quells some of the complaining from the Hermione Granger types that feels slighted when the standards are lowered after they perform well and the class gets a break.

I think if you try it, you will find a very reasonable grouping into F/D/C/B/A set. Plus it has the added advantage of doing what you were told (merely as a bonus). Plus...you don't need to totally overthink this. It is one test out of a few.

One further added benefit is the simplicity. Instead of having to explain some gawdawful transform (like binning each quintile or whatever). You just have a quick difference. Easy to process for you. And easy to understand for the class.