<p>By THOMAS STEWART , Alligator Writer
UFs grading system, which is being changed to include minus grades, will premier a semester later than planned.</p>
<p>UF Provost Joe Glover announced the new grading scale at Thursdays Faculty Senate meeting. Glover said the scale would be ready by summer A.</p>
<p>Minus grades were originally approved by the Senate in December 2006, according to Senate records. </p>
<p>According to Alligator archives, former UF Provost Janie Fouke said in February that the new system would be ready by January.</p>
<p>The new grading system wont just add new grades: It will change the value of plus grades as well. For example, a B+, which is currently worth 3.5 grade points, will be worth 3.33 points. A B will be worth 2.67 points.</p>
<p>Student Senate records state thatplus grades were added at UF in 1974 at the law school and adopted by the rest of UF four years later.</p>
<p>The new grading system brings with it an array of side effects, including a possible fluctuations of student grade point averages.</p>
<p>It could also affect whether students earn math and writing credits from their classes, Glover said.</p>
<p>I DO think that it is ******** that a B- would count as a 2.67. That really undermines the idea of a B, period, to me. I could see setting a B- at 3.0, or even a 2.8!..and slightly lowering the B/B+, but making a B- worth 2.67? Come on. </p>
<p>By the way, does anyone have any idea what the scale actually is for a B-, B, and B+? Its a bit tricky to find the grading scale on the UF page.</p>
<p>Almost every other University has the same grading standards. Should get used to it for the people who will be attending Graduate/Professional Schools in the future.</p>
<p>Even still sucks to be you all right now ....</p>
<p>Well, the thing that sucks about Grad school is not the scale but that fact that your grade is based on your rank in the class. At least that's how many of the classes in the ISOM program are.</p>
<p>At the other state schools it is at the discretion of the professor to use +/- or not. If that's the case at UF, only a few hardliners will actually adopt the new scale right away.</p>
<p>There's an A- too? Wow, that's completely unreasonable under any circumstances, IMO.
Does anyone know what constitutes the grades? Like, what % A- is and such?</p>
<p>Grad Schools usually require a 3.0 just to stay in the program. Thus a "B" is the equivalent to a "C" if you think about it.</p>
<p>Regardless most Masters Programs are a cake-walk in my opinion. Bascially you do the project/research/etc. and show the professors that you took time and effort and most of the time a good grade will be given. It's very much work at your own pace, but it can also be double the load in comparison to 4000 level courses. But the thing is that you will be around serious students and hopefully the student isn't partying as much as they were during college. It's really not that bad at all...</p>
<p>Any guesses as to what percentage of teachers will adopt the new scale? I can't imagine too many would considering 1. Most use a point system and 2. It would make them quite unpopular</p>
<p>
[quote]
I can't imagine too many would considering
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Since this resolution was introduced in the Faculty Senate and approved by the majority of the faculty in the senate, then it can be safely assumed that a good amount of professors/instructors/lectures will start using it. UF, from my understanding, is the last school in FL to implement the +/- system. At least 3 professors I am close to plan to use it. </p>
<p>The point system affects the change because, if it is truly at the discretion of the instructor, each point system would have to be converted into a percentage in order to fairly allocate grades. In my experience so far, I can't imagine that most general instructors would run to adopt this system, in which they would have to feel out where each cutoff should be at the expense of the individuals on the edge.</p>