College grading scale confusion

[hippiespeak]

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So this is probably a typical grading scale but it still confuses me. My college just has A, B, C, D, and F. No pluses or minuses. So if I have all A's, do I have the equivalent of a 4.0? I don't understand how a 90 could be essentially the same as a 105. Thanks

 

[RebelxSoldier]

A - 4
B - 3
C - 2

90 is a 4.0 just as a 105 is a 4.0

 

[Mac Blade]

So this is probably a typical grading scale but it still confuses me. My college just has A, B, C, D, and F. No pluses or minuses. So if I have all A's, do I have the equivalent of a 4.0? I don't understand how a 90 could be essentially the same as a 105. Thanks

That's the beauty of it. Just do what you need to do to hit 89.5 and you're flawless.

 

[ISUBird100]

That's the beauty of it. Just do what you need to do to hit 89.5 and you're flawless.

That's the ugly part of it. An 89.5, in most cases, just counts as a regular B.

 

[hippiespeak]

Well dang, guess I don't need to try so hard. Thanks ^^

 

[Geneticist]

That's horse crap. I go to a tough engineering school and a 4.0 (A) is 95% or higher. A 94% at my university is a 3.67 (A-). And my school doesn't round things up. If you get an 89.5%, that's a B+, not an A-.

 

[deleted365434]

My school is the exact same way. Even an 89.9 is a B+ except with some professors who are more lenient.

 

[Geneticist]

My school is the exact same way. Even an 89.9 is a B+ except with some professors who are more lenient.

Same.

What's with these other universities rounding grades up? This isn't middle school. You should receive the grade you earned, even if it is a few tenths away from a different letter grade.

 

[apumic]

Agree w/ the above. An 89.99% is a B+ UNLESS I can give you a B+ for your 90.00% (and don't doubt me because I will do it). In other words, you get what you earn. Cutoffs are there for a reason. They should stay there.

 

[UC pre med]

Lame, at the UC's A-'s count as 3.7
And we dont have many lenient professors here.... 😡

 

[Geneticist]

Lame, at the UC's A-'s count as 3.7
And we dont have many lenient professors here.... 😡

Join the club. An A- is a 3.67 at Penn State.

 

[takk]

I'm on the +/- system too, but I don't think it's all that bad. Getting a 3.7 for an A- sucks, but 3.3 B+ can be helpful (as opposed to getting a straight 3.0 B)...

 

[Narmerguy]

Thus why those who don't have +/- are extremely fortunate. My GPA would be very different if a 90 was just a straight A and not an A-...very different.

 

[PreMedder]

Agree w/ the above. An 89.99% is a B+ UNLESS I can give you a B+ for your 90.00% (and don't doubt me because I will do it). In other words, you get what you earn. Cutoffs are there for a reason. They should stay there.

After reading your multiple posts re: GPA's/grades it seems to me that you get off to grading.

 

[apumic]

After reading your multiple posts re: GPA's/grades it seems to me that you get off to grading.

Nah, I simply find grade-grubbers and people who complain about grading annoying. IMO, they are the scum of the student body. They're the sticky disgusting thing that lowers the value of everyone else's education and effort.

 

[Forthegood]

Nah, I simply find grade-grubbers and people who complain about grading annoying. IMO, they are the scum of the student body. They're the sticky disgusting thing that lowers the value of everyone else's education and effort.

👍👍👍

 

[BiochemGirlYay]

Nah, I simply find grade-grubbers and people who complain about grading annoying. IMO, they are the scum of the student body. They're the sticky disgusting thing that lowers the value of everyone else's education and effort.

So how many times have you gotten an 89.9%? Lemme guess...never? 😉

 

[PreMedder]

So how many times have you gotten an 89.9%? Lemme guess...never? 😉

As long as it is possible for someone to get an A in the class, apumic knows how to do what it takes in order to be within that %. So yes, never.

 

[Colorados]

Wow just a quick thought but tough if you don't like the different grading policies at schools both have their ups and downs. Yeh getting a 4.0 for a 90% is nice but getting a 3.0 when you have a 89.5 in the class sucks which happened to me last semester. Ultimately it evens out overall so it's fair and it's not. Does blow though getting a straight 3.0 for a 89.5.

 

[Danlee07]

The +/- system is much different than just A / B because you still have to put forth a tremendous amount of effort just to get an A- let alone a A.

Some classes are 95%+ = A and some are 94%+.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

not having +/- grades is the greatest thing of all time. it makes me laugh when people want a high A when a 90% is the same. i will take my free time.

 

[Prncssbuttercup]

I have been graded on both systems. I much prefer straight grades... for the reasons listed above... If I am that close to an A (89.99%), and the professor doesn't like me enough to give me the A, then I did something wrong, and I didn't try hard enough... it's all willy-nilly anyway... some profs stick by the numbers, and some don't in the end, no one else knows your final grade except you and the prof, sooo, it's up to them...

 

[apumic]

So how many times have you gotten an 89.9%? Lemme guess...never? 😉

Nope. I've been close before. I've ended up with a 91-92 going into a final and been a little iffy, but I do what it takes to have some good padding going into the final. Ideally, I try to have a 96% or better going into the final; that way, if the final is, say, 33% of my grade and 93% is the A cutoff, I can get an 87% and still keep my A.

While I recognize it is frustrating to finish close to the cutoff but just miss it, the fact is that unless people who are close to missing the cutoff but just barely get by also get bumps downward, it isn't fair to bump someone up over the cutoff.

Ultimately, I would say that if you are close to a cutoff work harder! I mean...if you're at an 89% and 90% is the cutoff, do whatever it takes to break that cutoff! When I took ochem II, I bombed the first test because I hadn't taken ochem I in quite awhile (semesters in between) and the test was about 50% applied review and 50% new material. I ended up with a low B on that exam and it killed my grade initially. I worked my butt off, though, and managed to bring it back to an A, pulling one of the highest As in the class on the ACS ochem II final. When people fall just short of a cutoff, I have to ask where they fell short. Someone who is solidly in the B category probably wasn't trying for an A but someone who is within a 10th of a pt of an A could have done it. My question is, "Why didn't you?"

 

[phltz]

Where is it set in stone that a 90%, or a 95% or any other fixed score is the cutoff for an A? A school, or department, or professor can come up with whatever system he wants. The standard numerical cutoffs are fine in middle school, when you're training students rote repetition of specific tasks and you want them to be able to consistently repeat what they've been taught. For classes where you're expecting students to think independently and solve new problems, this logic doesn't hold. I'm suspicious of any upper level science class that's still grading on this scale.

On any grading scheme that's expressed in percentages, possible scores range from 0% to 100%. If you write an exam so that the vast majority of the students are scoring above a 50%, you're wasting half of your sensitivity. A class that uses the old middle school cutoffs either has absurd grade deflation or poorly written exams.

If you score a 50% on the Putnam Exam, you'll probably get cold-called by the NSA. What constitutes a good score all depends on how the exams are written.