What's your opinion of the A-F grading system?

Question

I am a senior in college, and have forgotten a lot of what I learned in my sophomore-level classes, which I got mostly B's and A-'s in. A friend of mine, who studied practically every minute, received A's, but remembers just as little as me. Now I know that we need a standard for measuring students' effort, to guarantee that they are learning, and I know that grades must be earned...but I'm beginning to question the accuracy of a grading system that gives A's to some students and B's to others, when they lead to the same result. What do you guys think? What does that say about the learning process altogether? What IS the difference between an A and a B? Any additional feelings/opinions are appreciated

Our uni operates on a scale that goes: 90-100 is an A; 80-89 is a B; 70-79 is a C, and so on. We have plus/minuses, but those ranges depend solely on the prof, and vary. My point is, if the student that never really learning anything still gets an A, the same as the B student, then what does that say about what it takes to get an A?

Answer 1

As a professor, the only thing I can grade is your performance during my class. I can't grade the effort that you put into giving that performance, nor can I guess what use you will make of it later in life or what your long-term memory does with it. I can't predict your future. Should the eye doctor give you glasses when you test at 20/20 because 30 years later your eyes fail? Evaluation based upon the current situation is how the world works. It has nothing to do with the grading system; it is just the only thing we have to work with.

Answer 2

I tend to find that alot of my grade is dependent on the professor, especially in subjective classes. Obviously if you work hard, the professor will notice that. Most professors will round your grade up if you are close to the next level except if its to a 4.0. Most professors feel you have to fully earn a 4.0.
There are some professors out there though that can be a real pain when it comes to grading. I have a good example.

I remember my Stats I class. I had a 4.0 throughout the entire semester. Come final exam time, I get a 76 on it and my final average ended up being a 89.88. A 90 at my college is a 3.7 and the level below that is a 3.3 which is 87-89. He gave me a 3.3 and I emailed my professor asking if he would humbly round my grade up to a 3.7. He emailed me back saying, "you got the grade you deserved". reckon he is right but i was still livid at him. Literally a single point on anything would have got me a 90 and thus a 3.7. Not to mention I had him for two classes before that one so he knew me well.

Anyways, thats my two cents on it.

Answer 3

I don't believe it is the grading system that needs to be revise but the testing system. Students should be graded based upon what they have learned not upon assignments that do not truly enforce the information that is supposed to be learned. Also the problem of forgetting information is a very wide spread problem. And personally I believe the fault lies with the student. You never truly learned the information and therefore when it was no longer necessary to retain the information you forgot it.

Answer 4

My uni uses percentages - so whatever you get is what you get. No 4 scale, no 9 scale, no As or Bs. Granted, they do equate them to As sometimes (I think A is 85% + at my old uni), but the transcript will say something like 89% if that's what you got. I like it that way, since you know where you stand, and there's no limit to the number of A's or 9's given out.

Answer 5

the difference between an A and a B is usually one wrong answer. I like that grding system better than the one that we have now my son brought his report card home and it was like 'satisfactory' I wanted to know is this like a A or a C or either. turns out it is just how hard they tried not really if he got the answer right

Answer 6

I am in the position as you. I have gotten As or Bs all thru college.

I think we should have a plus/minus system