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.

 RScoreEq

ZScoreEq

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

StdDevEq

ISGEq

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 averageHowever, 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.

  1. R score will not be calculated if the group is less than 6 people who have higher than 50%.
  2. R score will not be calculated if everyone in the same group has the same grade.
  3. R score that is 99.999 indicated that the R score could not be calculated.
  4. If a student get 100% , the R score will be at least 35.
  5. 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.
  1. 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

   

RScoreEx3


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


RScoreEx4


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

 

 Francis signature


Comments

  • Fran

    How do you convert the r score into a gpa??

  • Francis

    Well…R Score is a unit of measure in CEGEP for the University. It has nothing to do with GPA.

    The GPA is a unit of measure in University.
    In other words, GPA will not get affected by the R score

    • Fran

      I understand but the job that I’m applying for in another country, wants to know my GPA for my CEGEP program…

      So I guess its not possible to make that conversion then?

  • Francis

    You can convert your score manually I guess according to the GPA table that I listed in my other blog post:
    https://www.goforaplus.com/gpa-calculation/

    However R-score has nothing to do with GPA.
    R score is using high school grade and your CEGEP class average to compare your grade in CEGEP.

    GPA is solely using your grade to generate (not related to class average at all).

    • Fran

      Ah I figured..
      Well thanks for your help anyway!
      🙂