<p>I just found out that S's Hs gives 4.33 for an A (98), 4 for an A (93). So even though they say they don't weight, a kid could end up with a GPA above 4 (the highest cumulative he's heard anyone getting is 4.2).</p>
<p>bethievt -
technically its not weighting (for honors or AP) - but they should report the GPA based on a 4.33 scale, not a 4.0. Wonder if they do?</p>
<p>D went to city public HS. No pluses, no minuses, no extra credits given for honors, AP etc. If a student in the gifted track and a student in the general track both end up with straigt "A"s they will be co-valadictiorians.</p>
<p>Go figure...</p>
<p>Our school does the 4.33 for A+ (97+), 4.0 for A (93-97), 3.6 for A- (90-93), etc. Also adds points for Honors and more points for AP. Hence we have wild GPAs- LOTS of kids have over a 4.0. MOST kids have over a 3.5 (cutoff for NHS). There is a revealing analysis produced each year that lists the courses, number of students per course, number of A's, B's, etc. What's interesting is that there are Honors and AP courses where EVERYONE gets an A, and Honors and AP courses where practically NOBODY gets an A, and so on. There is virtually no way to realistically compare students on the basis of grades without this analysis. (Likewise, there are AP classes where everyone gets 5s on the exam, and AP classes where the majority gets 3 or less.) We also have prerequisites for some APs- some require a PSAT score of 600 or higher, some require 450 or higher, some require nothing (our students take standardized tests every year). So you get the "self-selected audience" thing with the class.</p>
<p>The analysis gets sent to colleges, with scatterplots of GPA/SAT, class rank, and an evaluation of the student's "rigor of coursework." Without the accompanying information it is impossible to evaluate based on GPA, or predict college acceptance success.</p>
<p>94-100=A
92-93=A-
90-92=B+
84-91=B
82-83=B-
80-82=C+
And so on...</p>
<p>To translate the letter grades into a numerical GPA, an A is 4.0. A plus or minus is worth .25, so an A- is 3.75 points; a B+ is 3.25. There are no A+'s so the highest possible GPA is 4.0. No additional points for honors or AP.</p>
<p>It is a large public high school in a decent suburban district that sends 50% or so to 4 year colleges; the vast majority being to in state public schools. I think the school has worked very hard to minimize grade inflation; there is only one student in D's class of 300 with a 4.0 GPA; there are several who have a smattering of A-'s and their GPAs are in the 3.9 range (probably half a dozen kids here). </p>
<p>The school does rank, and there is a weighting formula applied, so kids with the same GPA get additional points for honors/AP and will outrank a kid with the same GPA and fewer or no honors/AP credits.</p>
<p>A point for point sliding scale. </p>
<p>100= 4.0
99= 3.925
98=3.85
97=3.775</p>
<p>I like that because it stops any grade grubbing to get from an 89 to a 90 because there's no big jump from a 3.0 to a 4.0. It also keeps away the ridiculousness of having thirty valedictorians with 4.0 GPAs. There is never a tie. There is weighting for honors and AP classes, bumped up by 0.5 each. There's been no talk of changing the system so i guess people are happy with it.</p>
<p>We have extra points for honors(1pt) and AP (2 points) but no pluses and minuses. Many have well over 4.0 and some over 5.0.</p>
<p>90-100 A = 4
80-89 B = 3
74-79 C = 2
etc.</p>
<p>AP = 1 bonus point, Honors = .5 bonus point. Both weighted and unweighted on transcript. Getting an 89 is tough!!</p>
<p>My s's hs - 6 point scale, 90-100 A 6.0, 80-90 B 5.0, etc. They weight Honors, AP and GT with an extra point, but only for 4 classes per semester, so in the case of my s, his GPA is 6.5 (all A's weighted with extra .5 for 4 AP's per semester).</p>
<p>His hs is a competitive public sending 98% to 4 year colleges. He is tied with 26 for Valedictorian (all A's, with most challenging course load for 4 years). It is ridiculous.</p>
<p>S's public academic magnet HS: Uses a 100-point scale for unweighted grades and ranking purposes, translates to letter grades on transcripts 90-100 = A- - A+, etc.. I'm not certain where the breaks between minus, flat, and plus are exactly (e.g., whether an 87 is a B or B+). For weighted GPA purposes, all grades in college prep courses (substantially all of the academic courses in the school, other than AP and honors) are inflated 10%, honors classes are inflated 15%, AP classes are inflated 20%, and IB classes are (I think) inflated 17.5%.</p>
<p>They have just changed their ranking policy, so I'm not completely positive what it is now. The GPA used for ranking used to be very odd: Your best four academic courses (weighted), plus 10% of the weighted value of your fifth best academic course, divided by 4. A kid could completely blow a sixth course (lots take them) and not have it affect class rank. Now, I think they're taking all academic courses into account, and dividing by the actual number of courses taken, and factoring in nonacademic courses (like gym) at a 10% weighting in both the numerator and denominator, so that they have some effect on rank but not much.</p>
<p>three gpa's, weighted for UC-approved honors courses: 1) total gpa; 2) academic gpa; 3) UC gpa. While plusses and minuses are reported on the transcript, an A- is a 4.0 and a B+ is a 3.0 for calculation purposes.</p>
<p>92-100: A (4.0)
90-92: A- (4.0)
88-90: B+ (3.0)
82-88: B (3.0)
80-82: B- (3.0)
78-80: C+ (2.0)
72-78: C (2.0)
70-72: C- (2.0)</p>
<p>... and so forth</p>
<p>Rank and GPA are figured on the 4.0 scale, but the pluses and minuses show up on the transcripts. A pluses are not awarded. AP classes are weighted +1.0, provided the unweighted grade is a C- or better. Honors classes are generally not weighted, with a few exceptions for certain very challenging courses. </p>
<p>It's a bit silly that we're ostensibly on a 4.0 scale, since anyone in the top 10% of our 500 person class has to have at least a 4.1. Our valedictorian has something like a 4.8. So we're de facto using a 5.0 scale.</p>
<p>Re Post #18:</p>
<p>No.
That will not level the playing field or equalize the comparisons. In this thread alone are gigantically different scales & computation systems. </p>
<p>What is more helpful is to:
1) include as complete & accurate a transcript as possible (plus/minuses, +, if available, numerical equivalents)
2) an accurate profile of the school provided by the school, including course content
3) accurate descriptions of course content provided by teachers doing any recommendations.</p>
<p>In this way the college itself has a better way of seeing that someone's B+ in an Honors course at one school, in one course, is equal to or perhaps exceeds someone else's A in another school.</p>
<p>When will people ever understand that GPA and a "standardized" (cough, cough) test are two entirely different species? The "correction" or "equalization" is not to rely on a test, which by the way the preparation for which may vary greatly depending on the high school curriculum (a critical fact conveniently forgotten). The correction is to get an accurate read on the content of the high school, the content of the student, the content of what other academics the student has engaged in, and <em>additionally</em> to examine test results.</p>
<p>Grading Scale</p>
<p>A+ 100-97 4.500
A 96-93 4.188
A- 92-90 3.875
B+ 89-87 3.563
B 86-83 3.250
B- 82-80 2.938
C+ 79-77 2.625
C 76-73 2.313
C- 72-71 2.000
D 70-66 1.000
F Below 66 0.000 </p>
<p>Grade Point Average
Certain honors courses are weighted one grade ahead of the grade given for purposes of the GPA. For example, a ''B'' (3.500) is awarded a (4.500) for GPA purposes. At the present time those classes are AP English 11 and 12, AP Chemistry , AP Physics, AP Statistics, AP Calculus, AP World History, AP US History AP.</p>
<p>Those classes taken through Rhodes State College, Ohio Northern University and Lourdes College (classes held at the highschool) are weighted 1.00 quality point. For example, a ''B'' (3.250) is awarded a (4.350) for GPA purposes. At the present time those classes are ONU Chemistry, ONU Physics, ONU Statistics, ONU Calculus, Lourdes Honors English 11 and 12, College Psychology, college Sociology American Short Story, Medical Terminology, and Anatomy and Physiology I and II </p>
<p>Marketing Education Work, Physical Education, Kinesiology, Resource Center, and College Prep Skills are not included in the GPA.</p>
<p>My suggestion for all kids and parents who are dealing with colleges in the near future is to ask the GC for a "college" transcript, that is the transcript they generate for college admissions. Most of the time, it is not the same thing you see. Then you can see exactly how your grades are presented, what gpa they have for you, and any other info on there that you just may not know about. There may even be mistakes on there. You should also get a copy of the highschool profile that is sent to colleges along with your transcript, so you can see how your school presents itself to colleges. There may be info in there that you did not know. There may be inaccurate, outdated info in there. Where I used to live, one year there was a big brougha about that. A school that likes to brag how great it is had been sending an old outdated profile for the last God knows how many years with info that was now incorrect. 700 graduating kids each year with 90% applying to colleges, and the profile was never checked till then.</p>
<p>Our school district takes the cake. Only wtd gpa's are computed/reported.</p>
<p>AP, Pre-AP, Honors AND a non-AP/non-honors level called 'Above Level' are all weighted the same A=7, B=6, C=5, etc...</p>
<p>On level A=6, B=5, C=4, etc...</p>
<p>Below level A=5, B=4, C=3, etc... (I think this level is local lore or district bs....I can't name a below level class.)</p>
<p>In all classes, 90 or above is an A, 80-89 is a B, 75-80 is a C, 70-75 is a D and below 70 is failing. Every other district near our district adds 15 points to the number grade for AP classes, 10 points for Honors and 5 points for Pre-AP. Our district does NOT do this and it stinks.</p>
<p>The top ranked kids tend to gravitate toward the easiest classes that will earn them the 7 for an A because most want to go to Texas or to A&M and it is imperative to rank in the top 10% for admissions to a state school in our state. So rank is meaningless in our district.</p>
<p>S's HS gives only letter grades and the +/-. They do not compute GPA, nor do they rank. Every class is Honors (except gym, I think) and it states that on the transcript, but no weighting is used for AP. Admissions officers are supposed to know (I guess from the HS info sheet?) how difficult the school is. I think some colleges take it into consideration, but many do not.</p>
<p>There is no perfect system, but time has come to make changes. If the self-reported GPA numbers are valid, we now have more than 40% of high schoolers earning an A average. That is utterly ridiculous, especially when considering how the US trails other countries in high shoolers' performance. </p>
<p>The saddest part is that schools that are trying to maintain integrity in their curriculum and grading systema DO end up penalizing their students in a world where grade boosting shenanigans and gamemanship are amply rewarded. Schools that allow programs where ALL classes are reported as Honors or above should scrutinize the policies that led them to such silliness. </p>
<p>No matter how we look at it there is a nothing to gain from a grading system that establishes a A as the ... average yardstick. The best way to recognize true excellence should not include trivializing it.</p>
<p>I'm not sure if you were responding to my post above, xiggi, but S's HS reports all classes as Honors because the HS is a magnet one with admission by test. Only about one in ten students get in. Fully one quarter of the senior class are NMSF. And far from being "grade inflation", no weighting is used, no GPA is reported, and students are not ranked. Believe me, I'd rather take S's (self-computed) weighted 3.9 than the 3.4 the University of Michigan sees...and they don't care how competitive his HS is.</p>
<p>Heli, I was not commenting on your specific school, but mostly on specific programs within a school such as the IB. In Texas, the success in attracting students is directly tied to the possibilities of "earning" a higher ranking. </p>
<p>However, why would a school or a program bother to identify all classes as Honors if is not to differentiate itself? Would it not be easier to label itself a Honor School? </p>
<p>Please understand that my comments are based on our local situation. In our neck of the woods, the students at the best magnet school hardly break 1000 on the old SAT, and the students at the best IB program only break it by 30 points. However, that it is still WAY better than at the latest school to start a full fledged IB program in West Texas ... there the average was barely above 800. Makes you wonder about the meaning of Honor classes. Of course, Honors Basketweaving and Baton Twirling will remain popular!</p>