<p>Does anyone else hate grade inflation as much as I do? Some teachers at my school use ridiculous grade inflation. We can bring tissue boxes, paper towels, and hand sanitizer for extra credit. Some let you help them after school for extra credit. In WH last year we had an extra credit question everyday and all tests were curved about 15 points. I never take extra credit when it's offered (because I feel like its the easy way out), so I have to work harder than a lot of other students to maintain A's, and it's kind of making me mad. For instance, no one in my AP history class (except me) scored over a 3 on the exam. And I know one kid who got all A's last year and scored all 1's on his 3 AP exams (Eng, WH, and Lang)! </p>
<p>YES. The rampant grade inflation at my school drove me absolutely crazy. My math teacher junior year would give extra credit for bringing in hand sanitizer and tissues. Some teachers at my school give like 10 points extra credit at the end of the year if you go the entire year without using the bathroom pass. Ummm, seriously? </p>
<p>Teachers played favorites and the students they liked more would get A’s in the class even though they were actually receiving an 85%. I know someone who had a B- in math but his teacher liked him, so he gave him an A. It makes me sick. There are a lot of cases where students will go and cry to a teacher at the end of the semester and beg- “I’ll do anything if you raise my grade!”- and the teacher will raise their grade. For. No. Reason. </p>
<p>All you had to do was buy teachers lunch and grade papers for them and instantly you had a ticket aboard the grade inflation train.</p>
<p>Tests, especially in AP courses, are curved to a disgusting extent. My school had 28 valedictorians and 18 salutatorians this year because all you need is a 4.2 weighted for val with 26 semesters of AP/honors classes and 4.1 weighted for sal with 22 semesters of ap/honors classes. And since grade inflation is so present in all the hard classes and those difficult classes are full of suck-ups, they end up receiving grades MUCH higher then they deserve.</p>
<p>We also had this whole cheating incident where a bunch of AP kids were caught with test banks for APUSH exams… but since the ringleaders of the group were the kids of the PFC president, none of them got punished. And now all these cheaters are going to Ivies and top 20 schools. This was irrelevant to grade inflation but it shows how corrupt the bureaucracy of my hs was. </p>
<p>That’s just a small sampling… ughh typing this has made me mad. :/</p>
<p>EDIT: By the way, I’m REALLY biased because teachers never liked me. :(</p>
<p>I hate grade inflation in the sense that its not fair to the students in the same course but who have a different teacher. And its not fair for inflated grades to be held up against the grades of students from other schools when applying to college.</p>
<p>But as a student I agree with the person who said the thing about Christmas presents.</p>
<p>And I have to say, I think that not taking extra credit when its offered is silly. If you care about your grade, why wouldn’t you do everything within your power to boost it? I think you can accept extra credit and still be a respectable student, if thats what you’re worried about.</p>
<p>It’s definitely not like that in my school. No tests were curved–depending on the test, though. In my AP USH class our teacher used real AP exam questions and the average test score was about a 40%. In AP Biology we never had extra credit but he did curve the test by giving us 3 points. And we never really had any tests in AP Lang, only essays every day. And she didn’t curve any of them. I got an A in every AP exam but my tests scores weren’t amazing, but some weren’t bad. So I’m not sure where that went… lol.</p>
<p>Welll the only inflation that ****ed me off was in AP World. Those who had a C or lower got to do this 110-ish question packet, and if they completed it, they got a 100 on the final, which is worth 15% of our grade.</p>
<p>I did the packet, and since I didn’t have a low grade, I was allowed to take the final. The final was easy, but it still took a lot of work and two nights of staying up until 3:30AM.</p>
<p>I was so happy because on the AP USH final I got the highest grade in both of her classes! I only missed one! That was when I was sad that I didn’t take the AP USH exam I beasted in that class.</p>
<p>Most rampant was my AP lit class. It was more so discussion so the teacher had a forum where we would discuss books read in class, concepts, preparation, etc. However the inflation came from going above and beyond, where 150% was possible. So I ended every marking period with over 120%, so I never needed to take the midterm or final (worth 20%) to get an A.</p>
<p>Also all my math classes have been notable. One test freshmen year average was about 50%… I was in the upper 90s on it and so then the average was upped to 70% by adding points… giving me a pretty nice test score. Additionally my Advanced algebra teacher wouldnt let anyone get below a C because he was afraid of “looking bad” and for pre-calc my teacher lowered the threshold for an A when it wasn’t needed.</p>
<p>First semester in my AP English Language class, my English teacher offered extra credit to anyone who would memorize Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”. I actually did it out of enthusiasm for poetry and Poe himself, (and I think I was the only one). Even though I screwed up a lot just standing there afterschool and trying not to mix up verses, my teacher thought it was awesome (I think I was already one of her favorite student-writers, if not one of her favorite students) and was like “you just earned 120 extra credit points”, a number I’m sure she made up on the spot. Anyway, that boosted my A- to an A+ that I could’ve afforded to keep even if I’d skipped the next few assignments.
Normally, this would bug me, but I would’ve gotten an A in that class anyway, and “The Raven” is 18 stanzas long.</p>
<p>And while this isn’t exactly inflation, my graduating class was the last one to have unweighted instead of weighted GPA considered for valedictorian status. Bleh.</p>
<p>If you don’t like extra credit then you don’t like America, freedom, babies, fun and I hate you.
jk
But grade inflation runs rampant through my school. Not in the honors or AP classes (they are actually the opposite -_-). </p>
<p>Let me run you through “Money Management” at my school-
-Taught by football coach
-1st grade level work
-Open book quizzes word for word. 20 questions. 2 pts. a piece. out of 20 points. yeah.
-He goes over the whole test, in order, the day before. </p>
<p>Some teachers in the honors and ap classes believe in the inverse bell curve though. Like my chem teacher sophomore year thought that out of every ten kids there should be 1 A, 2 B’s, 4 C’s, 2 D’s, and 1 F. No matter what</p>
I beasted in that class.</p>