<p>A student concerned about gaming a weighted-GPA-based ranking system may choose to take an open period instead of a non-weighted elective. Would you rather see a student take 5 weighted courses, or the same 5 weighted courses plus 1 non-weighted course that s/he really would rather take but hesitates because it will cost him/her in the class ranking (assuming that the student can get A grades in all courses with or without the extra course)?</p>
<p>Given what has been said about the importance of class rank in the super-selective colleges that people talk about a lot here (i.e. that rank #1 or #2 is highly desirable for an unhooked applicant), and the thread about parents throwing parties because some competitor got a B grade, one would hope that the incentives would be set up to avoid giving incentive for students to take lighter course loads.</p>
<p>I guess I see your point. For our school it never has been an issue, I don’t think. The only way it would come into play MIGHT be for Val and Sal. Most kids take an off period their senior year, most take an elective their senior year. So the field is pretty level. I guess in extreme cases, or in some high schools I hear about on this site, where you can get a 4.0 unweighted and still not make the top 10%, it might be an issue. Just never has been for us.</p>
<p>My daughter’s first semester senior year:</p>
<p>AP Lit. (required course - highest weight)
AP Calculus (elective, highest weight - she’s already had the equiv. of 4 years of math)
Dual Chemistry I (required course - highest weight)
Band (elective - regular weight)
Teacher’s Assistant - choir (elective - regular weight)
Online Dual Economics - (required course - highest weight)</p>
<p>2 off periods from school, but only 1 class missing from schedule because of the online course - she needs the off periods for transit to and from CC.</p>
<p>She’s graduating in the top 4% of her class. She’s an A student (unweighted 3.75 gpa)</p>
<p>Second semester will be similar except for Dual Chemistry II and no more Economics.</p>
<p>In our system, generally, only 3 classes would be affected. If you choose PE instead of band, you get 3 true electives throughout your HS years. If you choose band, you get 2. Any true elective can be a “free period” junior and senior year. There’s not that much wiggle room in our kids’ schedules.</p>
<p>4 years English
4 years Math
4 years Science
4 years Social Studies</p>
<p>Health requirement for a semester
BCIS requirement for a semester
Marketing Yourself requirement for a semester
Learning Frameworks requirement for a semester if you’re taking AP and/or Dual
2 years of PE (or substitute. i.e. dance, 4 years of marching band, athletics, etc)
1 year of fine arts requirement</p>
<p>At our high school, only freshman PE is taken out of the grading. It is based on weighted GPA. Honors classes are worth an extra .5 and AP and DE classes are worth an extra 1 point. Until this year, there were only 5 AP and 2 DE classes, but now there are 10 options. </p>
<p>We also give out Academic Honors based on unweighted GPA. It allows kids to be recognized whether they are in vocational training on non-college track. Those with honors wear chords at graduation. </p>
<p>The top 15 students are recognized in a Hall of Scholars photo and banquet, and each person gives a speech, but at graduation the speakers are class officers and an elected representative. Valedictorian is not recognized and our school does report rank to colleges.</p>
<p>Ugh, I forgot foreign language. To graduate competitively on distinguished plan, 3 years of foreign language is required. So there goes your three electives.</p>
<p>That’s all of your classes.</p>
<p>Most distinguished plan kids wind up HAVING to take some classes in the summer, or doubling up at the college, or taking online classes just to be able to make room for and keep their Choir, Band, Athletics, Art, etc. It’s pretty common to take BCIS and one of your Math credits at junior high, and take Health and Learning Frameworks in the summer.</p>
<p>AFAIK our HS still does not weight grades and still does not rank. They do declare a val and a sal, and do release a “top 10” to the local newspaper. Since it is quite possible for the val to be a kid who has never taken a single honors or AP class–this has actually happened–those in the know tend to view both of these things with a somewhat jaundiced eye. <em>Usually</em> the top students in terms of GPA also have taken a rigorous courseload, just because of the nature of things. But the kid who has taken the EVEN MORE rigorous courseload, or the kid who has taken a rigorous load but not gotten all As, is not going to be rewarded with a rank boost. So the top ten and val/sal would be similar but not exactly the same if the weighting systems in place elsewhere were applied. </p>
<p>A couple of years ago, I spoke to the college counselor, who was in the process of calculating rank for deciles. Apparently they will make that information available–but based only on UNWEIGHTED grades–if institutions require it. I do know at least one kid who was royally screwed by this.</p>
<p>City public school
Class rank is by weighted GPA. All HS credit classes are counted even if they were taken in 7th grade. Honors and PreIB classes get a small weight (.0125) added (not averaged) on to the overall GPA; AP and IB get .03 added on to the overall GPA. So there is no penalty for taken a regular level class or free period except for not getting the small addition to overall GPA. </p>
<p>The top 10 students last year and this year are all IB due to all the weighted classes. DD has 7 IB/AP classes so will have .21 added to her GPA this semester alone. Highest class GPA right now is probably around a 4.6 but will be over 5.0 by graduation.</p>
<p>Our Texas HS calculates only weighted GPA, and all classes count with the exception of PE and certain non-academic electives. We don’t use a 4.0 scale… only number grades are used (out of 100), with 10 points added to Pre-AP and AP classes. Thus, our Val last year graduated with a GPA of 107.5; number 10’s GPA was around 103. </p>
<p>Re: #57</p>
<p>Rank-conscious students definitely avoid non-weighted classes. There are a few required classes (health, speech and BCIS) that don’t have a weighted version, and a few students have strategically opted to take those online rather than at school. The online classes fulfill the high school requirement, but aren’t figured into the student’s GPA.</p>
<p>My sister-in-law got dinged by the stupid ranking system. She took 5 weighted courses + orchestra, the valedictorian took 5 weighted courses + nothing. She’d have ranked the same or higher without the unweighted elective. Thirty years later it still rankles.</p>
<p>Our school only uses “academic” courses in the ranking, but it was clear from my son’s weighted GPA they must have used orchestra. I didn’t complain since it helped him even though orchestra is not weighted. :)</p>
<p>D2 school weighted honors by 1.05, APs and IBs by 1.1, except for TOK(1.05). They graded by 0 to 100. D2 was a contender for Val even with 2+ regular classes/yr (photography, art, and local history class for foreigners). I did ask her if she wanted to take “weighted” classes to preserve her GPA. She said no. She did graduate as the Sal for her class, and she was fine with it. The school didn’t rank, other than for Val and Sal. But I guess they do use the GPA to indicate if a student was top 1, 5, 10%…of the class.</p>