<p>At some schools grades are reported only as "whole" grades, like A, B, C, or a school's own individual grading scheme on report cards. Some schools report the actual number grade earned, such as 77 or 90. I think most schools give plusses and minuses, like B+ or A-. Does anyone think it makes a difference in the student's experience how finely academic achievement is diced?</p>
<p>Make a difference for what? The prep application?</p>
<p>What on earth are you talking about?</p>
<p>Whether I can a b or an 85 really doesn't make a difference to me. They are the same thing.</p>
<p>Alevelon23, I think i know what you mean. I highly doubt it makes any difference, because a grade is a grade, regardless of whether it is a letter or a number.</p>
<p>St. Paul's is very clever with their grading system. It's HH, H, HP, P, U which correspond to A-F letter grades. They don't rank people, have GPA's, or give number grades to colleges, and no plusses or minuses. I think the grades sound better this way. Saying 'I got an H' is better than saying 'I got a B-/I got an 82,' and while colleges obviously aren't completely fooled by the different system, it helps a lot. SPS has been debating whether to add plusses or minuses and the student body has actively fought that, so I think the system is good overall.</p>
<p>adsum, do the letters have any significance, or do they just use H, P, and U randomly?</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure it's something like HH = highest honors, H = honors, P = pass and U = unsatisfactory? I don't go to St. Paul's though : )</p>
<p>yeah that's exactly right. numbers wise, the grades are the same as a,b,c, and d (i.e. a=90-100, b=70-80, etc.)</p>
<p>I think the issue on grading schemes is how finely they differentiate different students and how much that drives the students behavior (studying), pressure felt, etc more than how they are looked at on applications (which depends on how well whoever is reading the transcript gets their school, grading system, difficulty of courses and rigor of grading etc... there is a lot of variability in the system).</p>
<p>In a A/B/C system with no plus and minus the grade for a given marking period of a kid with a 90 average is the same as a kid with a 100 (an A for both). A range of performance gets the same grade. Clearly in an +/- system or specific number system those differences show up. I'm not sure if that is good or bad but it changes some dynamics. </p>
<p>The A/B system makes the record of the low A student look as good as the high A student. The high A student may feel less pressure on their grade performance as they are confident they will get an A (doesn't matter for the record how hi of an A so less pressure to achieve for the record). They may feel more free to tackle a tough class, try a difficult research paper topic and generally take some chances if they are confident they can achieve their As. Of course, in this system the high A kid could feel cheated that they get no extra credit for their high A and may also respond by slacking off and doing less. Some kids capable of pushing themselves to a high A may not feel the need to and settle for getting any A. I think the toughest situation is the kid that just missed a grade -- the 89 average gets a B -- same as an 80 when they were so close to the A (which looks as good as a 100). </p>
<p>The +/- or specific number grade gives the kid that just missed the A something better than just a B (a B+ or an 89). The top achiever gets credit for their exact achievement. But the pressure is always on especially in a number specific system -- every point matters. There is a difference between getting a 98, 99 and 100. Kids can feel that if striving for top GPA and rank in a specific number system. So for some kids specific numbers put more pressure on (especially the top kids) but might ease things for the kids that hover between grades (high B to low A gets a bunch of 88-92s unstead of a mix of A/B). There are different issues where it chances things for kids at different places on the grade scale (I cant think of them all right now so took the top tier student perspecive but think of the kid who barely got a C with a 70 - kind of looks worse as a 70 or a C- than just a C).</p>
<p>The grading scheme clearly changes some aspect of being a student.</p>
<p>Philosophically, these are all interesting and valid points about the differences in approach. The bottom-line question, though, is "Should these differences in approach to grading be given some weight in choosing the school that's right for you or your child?" </p>
<p>I just can't see that happening except -- perhaps -- in the mythical "all other things being equal" situation.</p>
<p>I think, in the end, you go to a school, you learn about the grading system during orientation week, you then proceed to just do your best without trying to "game" the system, and then you look back at the system again when you're trying to interpret the report cards.</p>
<p>Some schools invest large amounts of time and energy into developing their grading systems. From the students' perspective, however, the outcome of the schools' efforts should be not amount to much more than an afterthought. It is what it is. Unless it is totally bizarre (e.g., everything is pass/fail), you take your grading system as you find it.</p>
<p>How do they do it at Andover with the up to 6 numbers...Is there a scale where for example 5 is a A etc</p>
<p>SPS grades are as follows:</p>
<p>HH = High Honors
H = Honors
HP = High Pass
P = Pass
NP/U? = Not passing</p>
<p>It does not take much transposing to see what A-F looks like at SPS. However, I do think the fact there is no +/- to the grade, nor the fact that they do not give the number grade (i.e., 89, 82, 93..etc.) is an advantage for some SPS students (particularly as you can imagine, when you fall at the bottom of the H range, for instance) when they apply to colleges because it is a bit harder to compare one student's GPA against another's. </p>
<p>There are level of Honor Roll there too - 1st testimonials with honors (80% grades of HH and nothing below H); 1st testimonials (60% grades of HH and nothing below H), and 2nd testimonials (not sure what this is...maybe an SPS student can clarify, and correct any mistakes I have made here, as I think I might have because I lost the sheet where it was written down). About half of the class falls gets some sort of testimonials.</p>
<p>second testimonials, which I was.</p>
<p>Is when your year end grades have no HP's.</p>
<p>This could mean you have 5 H's
One HH and four H's
or 2 HH's and 3 H's</p>
<p>This is if you take 5 classes, which I would say most students do. However the criteria for second testimonials is no grade below an H</p>
<p>"Saying 'I got an H' is better than saying 'I got a B-/I got an 82,' and while colleges obviously aren't completely fooled by the different system, it helps a lot."</p>
<p>Of course, this grading system also hurts students who get an 89 and received an H. I hardly think colleges are "fooled" by SPS' grading, considering most are very familiar with the school.</p>
<p>Personally, I think that Exeter has the whackest grading system of all: the 11-point system, wherein 11 = A, 10 = A-, 0 = E (don't have F's here) etc. etc. After 2 years here, I still don't see the benefit of such a system; does anyone know why Exeter does it?</p>
<p>Oh, and don't even try translating your grades into the normal 4.0 pt GPA system; you'll cry.</p>
<p>I'd say at reputed instituitions like Exeter, SPS, Andover etc the only thing that would matter is your class ranking...I'm just assuming as otherwises it's unfair for Exeter kids with 11 point systems and Andover with 6 point systems etc...</p>
<p>"Of course, this grading system also hurts students who get an 89 and received an H. I hardly think colleges are "fooled" by SPS' grading, considering most are very familiar with the school."</p>
<p>I don't think it's a matter of fooling a college; however, it does make it difficult to distinguish one SPS student from another. I might point out that the very top law school in the country does not give grades, per se, at all. Only Pass/Fail. And other top law schools have a very high mean, which basically tells potential employers the same thing - all of our students are great.</p>
<p>And yes, the SPS grading system does hurt the student with the 89 - my daughter avoided 1st testimonials with honor by having a very high 80's final grade in one class. Oh well!</p>
<p>Ahhh, Little_Galaxie, you feel my pain. Even though I go to another little Phillips that you may or may not have heard of, I sympathize. :) I want to throw myself out my dorm window everytime I try and convert my grades. All my friends at home are like, "Sigh. I have a 5.0 weighted GPA." Meanwhile, I think: "Oh that's funny, my school refuses to weight my GPA and then gives me unintelligible grades which -- to any college admissions officer -- translate into roughly a 2.8. Ha-ha."</p>
<p>Andover's scale works like this, Shore:</p>
<p>6.0 - Excellent (93-100) ... Either this class is terribly easy or you're a genius and everyone hates you.
5.0 - Superior (85-92) ... You're smart, you work hard, congrats.
4 - Good (76-85) ... You did decent work. It's a good honest 4. It's also the lowest grade you can get and still take 6 classes or make honor roll or do anything of distinction.
3 - Satisfactory (66-75 I think) ... Okay, fine. You're not good at this. Frown.
2 - Minimum Pass (59 or something) --- YEESH.
1 - Do you even really need to know this? You're basically failing.
0 - Did you even try?</p>
<p>Our averages come in stupid increments of .5. So you can never get a 5.2 -- it becomes a 5.0. On the bright side, a 4.8 is also a 5.0. Which is disappointing and ridiculous. This also makes getting a 6.0 nearly impossible, which makes everyone hate the 40 nerds who get them that much more.</p>
<p>Oh SsPixie17x, how similar our two schools are. I think we really need to learn to put aside our petty rivalries for each other and start commiserating over the rediculousness of our grading systems. Think of the bonding that could happen!</p>
<p>Here, I used to aspire to be an 11-pointer, but then I realized it would be better for my safety and social life if I weren't.</p>
<p>Is it 40 nerds a year or 40 nerds in the entire school?</p>