<p>So one of my teachers says that every college knows that our school has grade inflation and that an A here is like a C at a good high school. I don't really believe him because kids here get a whole range of grades, the average probably being an 82 (low B), however I do believe I an first to break the 2000 mark for SAT so that says something I guess... The statement got me thinking, what should a student with rampant grade inflation at their school do? For example, I have straight As with the most rigorous schedule available, but if a college saw that and knew that it's quite easy to getAs, it would hurt me, but I can't do any better than an A, it's not possible!!!!</p>
<p>This is why the SAT and class ranks exist, and why GPA is an overrated method of comparing candidates. Throughout my high school career, I’ve attended two schools, and I have to say that a C at my former equals an A at my latter. Anyways, try keeping a high rank and do well on the SATs, also try taking as many subject tests and AP exams as possible. I am sort of in the same situation as you (More like transferring from a hard high school to an easy one, though), and hopefully my 750+ in SAT subject tests and 4s and 5s on my AP exams prove that I am not getting my grades based on grade inflation alone.</p>
<p>There is also a large disparity in difficulty of teachers in the same school. My lang teacher has one hw assignment per week and a few short quizzes and no late work penalties. The other lang teacher has quizzes everyday and harsh late work penalties. Both classes do well on the ap exams so I dont know what to say.</p>
<p>Be ranked high and get really flipping high test scores.
Even though an C is an A, do A-quality work.</p>
<p>This is when test scores, school profile, counselor recommendation, and class rank all come in handy.</p>
<p>Thanks guys, bump</p>
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<p>You’re the first to break 2000? Jesus. </p>
<p>Try to break 2200 on the SAT, so they know you’re not simply a big fish in a small pond. In addition, I would think that subject tests would take on added importance for you, as colleges would like to see that you know the material</p>
<p>But then again… You can see the only B’s I ever get are English. And the only bad SAT score I have is the CR/W, but my AP scores/SAT Subjects/Grades in the other subjects are good… So I get to look bad twice, when I’m only taking three non-math science classes including public speaking in college!</p>
<p>I have a 2220 on my SAT and a 33 on my ACT, also I’m ranked number one, so I know that that looks good,I just feel disadvantaged if my school is so much easier then everyone elses. People thought I was a genius when they heard my SAT score, guess they have never seen college confidential.</p>
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<p>You really shouldn’t take anything you see on CC as being real. It’s not. And you really need to forget the whole thing with grade inflation. First off, the only way to have an A equal to a C is to have curved grades or to have a subjective course such as English, Art, some History classes, some parts of Science, etc. Ignore what the teachers say. Likely, they just want to put the school down. Likely, they’re comparing y’all to people at a school with grade deflation.</p>
<p>@SerenityJade: </p>
<p>You clearly have never been to a grade deflated school. It’s not just humanities classes. While the curricula is uniform between most of the schools in America, some graders tend to be harsher. For example, in math courses my old school never allowed students to use calculators on tests, where the problems were trickier, and it also had a lot more homework than my current school (Old one used to give 40 problems/night, teachers at this one give less than 10 and they are always optional.) Not to mention that my old school never allowed “privileges” such as extra credit, re-tests, test curves, no zero policies, late work being handed in, and grade grubbing. Science courses at my old school required a greater mastery of subjects, such as how there were no MC tests there, just short answers. Getting a B there was quite a blessing, but at my new school kids avoid the B grade like a plague. So yeah, grade inflation/deflation exists, and it’s not just giving a B essay an A.</p>
<p>Heck. Difficulty differences also happen between colleges. It’s not like a multivariable calculus course at Podunk U will be taught at the same level as a multivariable calculus course at MIT.</p>
<p>in honors english in my school, people can barely manage to meet the prereq for 10th grade honors, but get into ap in 11th grade. so getting an a in honors english at my school is a matter of luck.</p>
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<p>I really don’t get why you’re speaking to me. I said that the teachers were comparing the students at that school to one with serious grade deflation. I don’t understand why you’d be explaining to me how a teacher can deflate grades when I know it already. Honestly, what you’re speaking of isn’t deflation as much as a different teaching style that I would personally call ignorant.</p>
<p>teaching style is what determines or at the very least, influences inflation or deflation.</p>
<p>Bump</p>
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<p>With more thought, one teacher in a school’s A is another’s C. In class rank, comparing students from the same school… One teacher has 2/3 of her students with an A and another has 5 out of 35 in the end…</p>
<p>My school is definitely one where there is generally grade inflation. Hell, my calc teacher tacks on two percent to the end of everyone’s marking period grades (possibly because there are only four tests a MP and that’s it, but still). I have a little over a 100 in that class for the semester because of that kind of stuff.
The average (unweighted) GPA is still only like a 3.2 though, so it makes me wonder how people would do at a legitimately difficult school.</p>
<p>@FastNeutrino:</p>
<p>This is why GPA is quickly becoming the most useless factor in college admissions.</p>
<p>@SerenityJade:</p>
<p>I interpreted your post as saying that you cannot inflate math and science grades, so I gave you a counterexample. And making the course more rigorous is usually a method of grade deflation.</p>
<p>As FastNeutrino suggests - are some schools deflating grades, or are other school inflating them? It is reasonable, if one class happens to have a group of particularly smart students, for that class to end with the majority getting an A, but I would be wary of any teacher whose classes consistently have a large percentage of students “earning” an A. It is still possible, if that teacher does her job well, and all of her students learn the material to a high standard. It is also very reasonable for a class to have no student earning an A, if the students are not learning the material.</p>
<p>The real problem is that there is no common national curriculum (not that I would want one), thus no standards by which the teachers should be grading. As Ach7DD said, GPA is useless, as a standard. Even if you use standardized tests, such as SAT subject tests, they don’t allow for a true measure of all classes - only the classes for which the student took a test. Then add in electives, and how they are graded, and whether they can be used to pad the GPA or not. Most art classes at our HS, for instance are NOT a way to pad your grade, because the head of the art department rightly believes that students have little respect for non-academic classes, and while Band might be considered an easy A it is only if you devote significant time and effort.</p>
<p>While many moan about the SAT as a good tool to compare schools, it is in fact pretty good, just not necessariliy in the way many think. There are students with lousy grades who do well on the SAT, and other with stellar grades who do poorly. Because some students do well on tests, while others do not, some would argue you can’t compare these students - so don’t! The OP stated that he was the first to reach 2000 at his school. That indicates that students at his school don’t score well, which suggests a less rigorous curriculum (as he believes). Another school may have many students scoring 2300 and above - that suggest the school does have a more rigorous curriculum. So instead of comparing the students, we compare their environments. </p>
<p>For the OP, we see that not only does he have a high GPA, but also the highest SAT score among his peers. He won’t be compared favorably against the majority of applicants at Harvard or Yale, but they still might be willing to take a chance on him, because his stats indicate that he has made the best use of the resources available to him, while a 3.8/2100 student from the other HS didn’t make the best use of his resources even if he has already learned more.</p>
<p>So yes, an A at one school might be equivalent to a C at another, but in the end it doesn’t really matter, because students for the most part don’t have a choice of which school to attend.</p>