Pros and Cons of Letter Grades?

Question

I have to speak about letter grades, and was wondering about people's opinions on what is good and bad about letter grades. Thanks :)

Answer 1

I bet you can tell if I am pro or con for letter grades. lol =) I hope that this helps!

Good:
- The letters are easier for kids to understand when they are beginning school.

Bad:
One thing that I hate is how letter grades with percents differ in schools. My school is harder than others, so my GPA can possibly be suffering and look a little lower than a person with an easier grading scale.

My scale is...
A : 100 - 93
B : 92 - 84
etc

Most scales are...
A : 100 - 90
B : 89 - 80

So if I get a 92%, I get a B while someone from another school may get an A.

This is bad when applying to colleges because some people's GPA can be better for that reason.

Also, 100% is better than 97%, but they both are represented by an A.

Answer 2

2 things: first, letter grades represent a RANGE, not a specific number, and second, letter grades mean DIFFERENT ranges at different schools, so an A at one school, may be a B+ in another school with the SAME NUMERIC GRADE. Numbers don't lie, and college admissions departments prefer EXACT as opposed to APPROXIMATE results.