Understanding R Score

Brief definition of R Score

R score is a statistical method of evaluating a student performance compare to other students. The point of making R score is to compare students with the same grade in different school or different program. It helps to choose which student is performing better academically. The R score is calculated by the Ministry of Education and is ranged from 1-50, however most R scores fall within the range 15-36. It can be accessed by the Registrar’s Office on behalf of students. R score is used in the selection process for admission to programs of limited enrollment in the university. Although this is not the only criteria in the selection of candidates, for example the entrance test, being interviewed, submitting portfolio are some of the criteria that may replace or supplement the R score. R score is also named as CRC (la cote de rendement au collégial).
 

Advantages of R Score

1. Fair (no matter which CEGEP, which class, which high school you are from or which program you did, it will be able to compare equitably)
   • Hard marking teachers and easy marking teachers do not matter.
   • Harder course and easier course do not matter.
   • Different CEGEP does not matter.
2. Switching program or switching CEGEP, will not affect the calculation of the R score. For example, the R score that you have in the first semester will remains the same if you switch to another school in the second semester. R score in the first semester will be calculated with the group of students in your first school. R score in the second semester will be calculated with the group of students in your second school. Same thing if you switch program.
   
   

Disadvantages of R Score

1. Only use in Quebec.
   
   

How do we calculate R Score?

R score is calculated into 2 parts:

1. Z Score
2. ISG (Indicator of the Strength of the Group)
   
   

Definition of Z Score

1. It helps to compare or rank the student in each class. It helps to have a direct comparison between students in different class with the same program, same course, and the same school in the same semester.
2. It neutralizes any bias in the grading method used by the professor.
3. But this Z score is penalizing the strong student in a strong group. If the group is composed of all strong students, then most strong student will be ranked low. This is the reverse if it is in a weak group with all weak students. Most weak students will be ranked high. So the weak student in a weak group will have advantages.
4. Z score becomes less valid or less equal if it uses to compare different group of students. For example, Student in different programs like health science and commerce wants to apply to law school. Their Z score will be useless to compare, since they do not have the same course, same teacher in the CEGEP. Same thing for the student in enriched program or international program.
   
   

Definition of ISG

1. ISG is a correction for the z score. ISG allows comparing the students in different group with difference course, different program, different teacher and different school.
2. Using the grades from high school of all the students that is comparing within a group. (it must be the same course, same program, same semester, same school, and same grading method) This can show if the student is really in a strong group or a weak group. This will compensated for the strong student in a strong group or a weak student in a weak group.
3. Your own grade from high school is not going to affect much in ISG, it will affect just a very tiny part.
4. Courses that are in High school counted in ISG:
   • Science and technology or scientific and technological applications (Secondary IV)
   • Mathematics (Secondary IV and V)
   • Citizenship history and education (Secondary IV)
   • Contemporary world (Secondary V)
   • French, instruction language (Secondary IV and V)
   • English, second language (Secondary IV and V)
   • English, instruction language (Secondary IV and V)
   • French, second language (Secondary IV and V)
5. If the student is doing the above courses as the make-up courses, then they will not be counted.
   
   

The equation to calculate the R score for one course

• A strong student in a strong class will have a lower z score but a higher ISG.
• A weak student in a weak class will have a higher z score but a lower ISG.
• So the Z score and ISG compensate each other.
• R score is calculated for each course.
• To be in the same group, it must be the same course, same program, same semester, same school, and same grading method.

 

The denominator (bottom part) of the Z score is the standard deviation:

ISG cannot be calculated ourselves since we need to know every student’s grade in their secondary 4 and 5.

Example of a Calculation of the R score

• Within each group, they will have the same course, same program, same semester and same school.
• All grades below 50% will not be counted into the group average. However, the student who get below 50% will still get a R score.

Grades for each student	Group A		Group B		Group C
	Marie	89	Claude	77	Eric	95
	Jean	89	Sophie	75	Pierre	90
	Paul	88	Kitty	75	Sarah	88
	Crystal	85	Tony	74	Sam	78
	Jennifer	84	Hélène	73	William	75
	Karen	82	Vivian	72	Ben	66
	Francis	81	George	70	Andrew	62
	Tom	81	Frank	70	Ron	59
Sum of the grade	679		586		613
Number of students	8		8		8
Average grade	84.875		73.25		76.625
Standard deviation	3.22		2.33		12.69
Z score for each student	Group A		Group B		Group C
	Marie	1.28	Claude	1.61	Eric	1.45
	Jean	1.28	Sophie	0.75	Pierre	1.05
	Paul	0.97	Kitty	0.75	Sarah	0.90
	Crystal	0.04	Tony	0.32	Sam	0.11
	Jennifer	-0.27	Hélène	-0.11	William	-0.13
	Karen	-0.89	Vivian	-0.54	Ben	-0.84
	Francis	-1.20	George	-1.39	Andrew	-1.15
	Tom	-1.20	Frank	-1.39	Ron	-1.39
ISG	0.65		0.71		0.80
R score for each student	Group A		Group B		Group C
	Marie	34.66	Claude	36.59	Eric	36.24
	Jean	34.66	Sophie	32.30	Pierre	34.27
	Paul	33.10	Kitty	32.30	Sarah	33.48
	Crystal	28.44	Tony	30.16	Sam	29.54
	Jennifer	26.89	Hélène	28.01	William	28.36
	Karen	23.78	Vivian	25.87	Ben	24.81
	Francis	22.23	George	21.58	Andrew	23.24
	Tom	22.23	Frank	21.58	Ron	22.05

 

Group A			Group B			Group C
	Grade	R Score		Grade	R Score		Grade	R Score
Marie	89	34.66	Claude	77	36.59	Eric	95	36.24
Jean	89	34.66	Sophie	75	32.30	Pierre	90	34.27
Paul	88	33.10	Kitty	75	32.30	Sarah	88	33.48
Crystal	85	28.44	Tony	74	30.16	Sam	78	29.54
Jennifer	84	26.89	Hélène	73	28.01	William	75	28.36
Karen	82	23.78	Vivian	72	25.87	Ben	66	24.81
Francis	81	22.23	George	70	21.58	Andrew	62	23.24
Tom	81	22.23	Frank	70	21.58	Ron	59	22.05

Side Notes of R Score

 

1. Some program in CEGEP is allowed to increase by 0.5 point on the average R score.

Example:

International Baccalaureate Program, Honor program, etc.

2. R score will not be calculated if the group is less than 6 people who have higher than 50%.
3. R score will not be calculated if everyone in the same group has the same grade.
4. R score that is 99.999 indicated that the R score could not be calculated.
5. If a student get 100% , the R score will be at least 35.
6. A failure of a course in the first semester, the R score of the course will be multiplied by 25% meaning it counts for one quarter of what it originally should be.

Example:

Let a course be 4 units meaning the student will obtain 4 units after the student passes the course.

• If the student passes the course, the R score will multiplied with 4 units
• If the student fails the course, the R score will multiplied with 1 unit.

7. Normally university looks at the specific R score, meaning they only look at the R score that is relevant to the program that student applied. Therefore, if the student switched program, the previous program should not be counted into the R score of the applicants. Except McGill University, they take an average of all courses no matter if the student did irrelevant courses. Meaning they take the overall (global) R score.

Example of Specific R Score:

Average R score is based on all the courses that you did in that program. Each course will be multiply with the number of unit of that course. Then sum up the answer and divided by the total number of units.

 

Ex. 1

A student change program (did not finish the first program) and the second program is going to be finished soon. The student is applying to Law school.

Last Registration	Program	Average R score	Number of units	Graduated
Fall 2012	Social Sciences	29.42	30	No
Fall 2011	Science	24.21	12	No
	Overall	27.93
	R Score submitted	29.42

Ex. 2

A student change program (did not finish the first program) and the second program is going to be finished soon. The student is applying to Medical school.

Last Registration	Program	Average R score	Number of units	Graduated
Fall 2012	Science	30.40	30	No
Fall 2010	Social Sciences	32.00	24	No
	Overall	31.11
	University Prerequisites’ Courses	29.80	12
	R Score submitted	30.40

Ex. 3

A student change program (did not finish the first program) and the second program is going to be finished soon. The student is applying to Medical school.

Last Registration	Program	Average R score	Number of units	Graduated
Fall 2012	Social Sciences	32.11	28	No
Fall 2010	Science	27.80	24	No
	Overall	30.12
	University Prerequisites’ Courses	28.10	12
	R Score submitted	30.91

Ex. 4

A student returning to school with a program already finished. The current program is going to be finished soon. The student is applying to Medical school.

Last Registration	Program	Average R score	Number of units	Graduated
Fall 2012	Science	26.75	24	No
Fall 2005	Social Sciences	31.46	26	Yes
	Overall	29.20
	University Prerequisites’ Courses	27.00	12
	R Score submitted	30.05

Conclusion

There is no preference of CEGEP that will give a higher R score. To choose a CEGEP, you should base on the service that the CEGEP is providing, the quality of teaching, proximity of the location, etc. For the R score, there is nothing we can do about it. We can only make our best effort to do the best in every single course.

To have a high R score, the main 3 conditions must hold:

1. You will need to have a grade higher than the group average.
2. You will need a high group average. The higher the group average, the higher is your R score (your grade must be higher than the average for this rule to be true).
3. You will need to have the students in your group to have high grades in their secondary school (This is to prove that you are in a strong group).

You can take a look on the math course that I’m offering, it’s to prepare students to be ready in CEGEP.

Reference:

All info can be found on the site web of La Conférence des Recteurs Et des Principaux des Universités du Québec (CREPUQ)

http://www.crepuq.qc.ca/

The R score : what it is, and what it does

http://www.crepuq.qc.ca/IMG/pdf/R_Score_long-2.pdf

The R score: a survey of its purpose and use

http://www.crepuq.qc.ca/IMG/pdf/R_Score_short.pdf

Questions and answers on the college R score

http://www.crepuq.qc.ca/IMG/pdf/R-Score-FAQ-march2013.pdf