<p>I find the grade inflation that I am seeing on here incredibly infuriating. I don't give a damn who you are: there is NO such thing as a 99% or 100% average. In Alberta we write standardized exams worth 50% of our high school grade so inflation isn't a problem. Only 15% of Alberta students graduate with a course average >80%. I worked my ass off for a 95% average and I am ranked 2/370. 99% averages seem frighteningly commonplace on CC, and they're all fake. I don't care if you're Einstein--you can't get 100% on all of your tests, in all of your subjects. There are only two possibilities that I see:</p>
<p>(i) Students are given incredibly easy tests with canned questions
(ii) Teachers are intentionally inflating grades to improve their schools' rankings</p>
<p>It's painfully obvious too. I don't know how many people with "99 averages" I've seen with 670s on their SAT subject tests. In any case, how can one "chance" students with hyper-inflated grades? How can admissions officers distinguish the intelligent students from the average ones when the grade distribution looks like an exponential curve? It's ridiculous!</p>
<p>Personally I don’t have that average, but I do in some classes that it seems illogical to have such a high grade (for example I have a 102 in AP/honors English), so I can help. One thing you have to remember that every teacher and every school has their own grading policy. So in that English class I mentioned a lot of grade comes from projects and essays. both of which you can easily get very high grades in if you put in the effort and are strong in the subject. That combined with the teacher giving minimal extra credit made an extremely high grade possible for a student who is willing to put in the effort.</p>
<p>As for the testing, sometimes people are just bad testers. Again using a personal example, I am extremely strong in social studies, but the first time I took a multiple choice APUSH test I failed it. Every school and person is unique. Yes, I am sure this is inflation, but a lot of these people are probably telling.</p>
<p>I think that the 102 in English AP is ridiculous as well. First of all, grades should never exceed 100%; there shouldn’t be any bonus marks. My English teacher rarely gave anyone a grade above 90%, and never 100% on an essay. The Valedictorian didn’t get 100%s on any of her essays. I have a feeling that if you had her as a teacher, you would be getting 80s instead of >100%.</p>
<p>For my school, people (including me) have GPA’s that surpass 4 to help account for the difficulty of the class (AP and Honors). Why should someone who gets an A in a regular class be on the same level as someone who gets a B in an AP class? There are some people in my school who take advantage of this by taking AP Art History, which is basically a free A+ (due to the teacher giving out easy tests). One of my friends has a GPA of 5.3.</p>
<p>Give hard tests and set the AP class average to 85%. That’s what all of my teachers did.</p>
<p>Is it right for some above average student to have a 98% average and a genius to have a 99% average? Where is the differentiation? At least under our system the above average student would get an 80% and the gifted one would get a 90%+.</p>
<p>It really boils down to the teacher and the tests they give out. I took a course during Freshman year where I barely scraped by with a B average. Another class with a different teacher (but same material) all had A averages in every marking period. This is why there are standardized tests.</p>
<p>Alberta high schools and Quebec CEGEPs are both far harder grading than the vast majority of high schools we see most commonly on CC. (A 86% in differential calculus is somewhere near the top 15% where I was)</p>
<p>Yet, I’m willing to admit that maybe some teachers give tests that are vastly different from a humongous number of rapid-fire multiple-choice (or grid-in) items.</p>
<p>Johnb- I concur. I go to a high school with grade inflation to the max. I hate it. Some of my classmates brag about their GPA’s and the amount of AP classes they are taking; however, they have an erroneous notion about education. They have no passion for what they are learning. So, I guess they are looking for an ego boost or something…</p>
<p>I think my teachers purposely make test easy to get students into better schools. My high school is highly ranked in the nation based on standardized test scores (so, it tries to supplement SAT/act’s with high GPA’s). </p>
<p>I think that universities use your GC’s evaluation to figure out if your school has grade inflation. The GC evaluation form ask for the valedictorian’s GPA, the applicant’s class rank, and questions about the applicant’s personality.</p>