My school system has rampant grade inflation- a student can get an 89.6% one quarter and a 79.6% the next quarter and still get an A for the semester. I consistently gets As every quarter, but am wondering how colleges will be able to tell between me and the students who get half Bs but the same A for each semester. Does anyone know? I have decent extracurriculars and test scores but I hope it’s not only reliant on that…
They can’t really tell the difference. That is one reason standardized test scores remain important in admissions for many colleges.
That’s where teachers LOCs and standardized tests like PSAT, SAT ACT come in play, and AP scores are another check if the school offers them.
Test scores play a big role in detecting grade inflation. However, the school profile is also very telling. If 70% of kids have a high GPA, that’s a hint. If the school has a lot of A students with low average test scores, that’s a red flag.
Ask your guidance counselor for a copy of your school profile (if it isn’t on your school web page).
If you’re worried, take the AP exams and/or SAT subject tests. High scores on those may help.
Your school profile that goes out to colleges with your transcript might explain how grading works.
However, the scenario you present is pretty common at my kids’ high school. A kid can get an A one quarter (quarter grades don’t go on the transcript, only semester), and a B the next, but there is a final exam that always counts for quite a lot and if that’s an A can bring the whole thing up to A. That final only counts for the semester grade and isn’t taken into account in either quarter grade (which is really just informational - the final grade is the semester and that’s an average of the two plus the final).
Is that not the case at your school? You don’t have semester finals that count for a lot of your semester grade? If you do, perhaps you are not understanding the full picture of some of your classmates’ grades.
@OHMomof2 They stopped doing semester exams a few years ago and instead do quarterly tests that count for 10% of your grade. Once again, rampant grade inflation…
So your transcripts sent to colleges show quarter grades, or semester grades? @collegegal100
Standardized tests based on subject matter (i.e. SAT subject and AP tests) can be more standardized measures of what students learned in various schools, although they are not that commonly used for admission (though more so at the most selective colleges). The more common SAT and ACT are based on some types of subject matter, though more limited than the range of subject matter in SAT subject and AP tests.
This OP is the reason standardised tests are needed. Grades or GPA from any school doesn’t tell you much unless they are supported by rank, SAT, ACT, SAT subject tests, AP, IB scores.
This is the reason private schools are against class rank, AP courses and standardised testing. Ambiguity gives their students unfair advantage.
I totally disagree with @riversider 's second paragraph. Ambiguity is NOT advantageous. Some very elite private HS with strong brand recognition can afford to not offer AP courses. Most other private schools can’t afford to do that and need the outside metric of strong AP results to market their school to prospective parents. Those very elite privates that can afford to not offer AP courses avoid them because they find the AP curriculum to be too confining. I think you’d see, though, that even though those schools don’t offer AP courses many of their students still take the exams and do quite well.
It’s not just about grades and scores. Yes, top scores can back up top grades. But there’s so much more involved in showing you have the ‘right stuff’ for your own college targets. Your other choices matter, too, other things that are within your control. The whole of it, for top holistics.
Poor scores, paired with top grades, don’t necessarily mean grade inflation. In themselves, they can represent less focus on mastering the tests. A student centered issue.
And of course, many top high schools eliminated AP by choice. They feel their curriculum is rigorous enough, as it is, without needing some CB supplied courses.
@collegegal100 You’ve raised a very good question, collegegal100 Our local school system (MCPS) sounds exactly like the school you described! From what I have observed here in Maryland, the grade inflation helps to assure high GPA students admissions to our excellent state flagship, UMCP. UMCP appears to have a very strict GPA cut off, with this year rumored to be at 4.3. I think it is similar at other state flagships. You may find it more difficult to gain admission to certain private colleges, which review more holistically and are probably aware of the grade inflation issues.
In the end, though, focusing on whether it’s easier for others or whether it’s unfair that others get the same grade as you is counterproductive.
Everyone should focus foremost on whether they are the best version of themselves they can be.
I’m still questioning how this can happen. TBH I don’t believe it, unless there are unstated factors at play (like a high stakes final exam that can move a grade above 90).
Or I suppose it’s possible that an “A” at this school means anything above 84.75%, in which case that info should be in the school’s profile. Or teachers have a lot of latitude to give whatever grade they want, independent of the average number grades of homework, exams or whatever else goes into the grade expressed as a % of 100.
I feel like important info is missing from the provided description.
And FWIW I agree with @PurpleTitan . Run your own race and spend less time worrying about the grades other kids are getting.
I agree with OHMomof2, I can’t tell if there is rampant grade inflation or not. There’s no empirical reason why weighting a final exam a lot or a little is a sign of grade inflation. Without knowing what counts as an A, I have no idea how what looks to me like a B+ and C+ would average out to an A.
My kid younger did manage to eke out B’s in Latin because the finals always included a lot of mythology, but the regular class quizzes rarely did.
Not OP, but the description is correct for Montgomery County, MD. They round up to an 80 and a 90 and then the year end grade is based on the semester that is higher… a 90. A 90 is an A = 4.0. It is ridiculous.
@OHMomof2 @mathmom As @collegegal100 described and @bear19 confirmed, this is how grade inflation works in our school system. The Washington Post even ran a story on it.
^ Frankly, I’m all for it.
Easier grades allow kids to hone their own expertise and interests.
If they want to know if they truly stack up, there are always AP tests, OCW, various tests online, etc.
Class rank is a dead giveaway. Is the top decile at 3.95 uw or 3.7 uw?
Even for schools that don’t rank, the HS Profile usually has a descriptor so the Adcoms can interpolate. Alternatively, GC’s can write, 'our school does not rank, but if we did, Sally would be in the top 5/5%.
Or, as an example, our HS, which does not rank, does show a column graph with % of students who graduated between a 4.0w and 4.5w (max), 3.5-3.99…