Grade Scale Systems: A = 10, B, C...

[bogdan]

On a scale from 0 to 10 what does A equal to ?
And B, C,... ?
(I mean grades...at school)

 

[The Grimmus]

uhh a is 9-10 b is 8 c is 7 d is 6 and f or e depending on where you are, is 5-1

 

[bogdan]

Thank you...

 

[enigma]

Also, a D is passing, but it is not enough if you need to take classes which are based on it.

For those a C is typically needed.

For courses in your major, you also need a C typically.

Some grad schools require B's or higher to stay in.

 

[climbhi]

Originally posted by The Grimmus
uhh a is 9-10 b is 8 c is 7 d is 6 and f or e depending on where you are, is 5-1

Yes when I came to the U of Utah and found out that they give e's instead of f's I thought they were joking at first. But no they really do give e's. I'm still not used to it.

 

[Mulder]

In UK schools, A:80-100, B:70-80, C:60-70, D:50-60, E:40-50, <E = fail .

I've no idea how it works in Romania though [?].

 

[climbhi]

Originally posted by Mulder
In UK schools, A:80-100, B:70-80, C:60-70, D:50-60, E:40-50, <E = fail .

I've no idea how it works in Romania though [?].

Hey no fair, in American schools A is only 90 to 100 and then things go down by tens after that. But I guess I shouldn't complain to much school in the UK is probably harder then here anyways.

 

[Dj Sneaky Whiskers]

Originally posted by Mulder
In UK schools, A:80-100, B:70-80, C:60-70, D:50-60, E:40-50, <E = fail .

That's just a 'guideline' though. The grade boundaries are changed from exam to exam on the assumption that a certain proportion of people will get A's, B's, C's etc and that these proportions do not vary from year to year, exam to exam. So, if an unusually high proportion of the people taking a certain exam that year get A's, it's concluded that the exam was easier than 'standard' and the grade boundary for an A is raised until everything looks 'as expected'

For instance, I sat one of the earlier pure exams, which was a bit easy, and found that the grade boundary for an A had been raised to 97 after the initial markings of the papers! In the Differential Equations exam, however, over 74 was enough to get that A.

In practice, the grade boundary for an A rarely falls below 70 (except on perhaps the 6th Pure Exam, if you take it) but it's not unusual to see mental grade intervals like - A: 100-85, B: 84-68, C: 67-59, D: 58-50, E: 49-24, N: 23-00 just to make all the proportions of people achieving each grade are as predicted. E isn't technically a fail (N is), although it's rubbish enough to be considered one. And then there's always the mysterious U (for ungraded), which I think is for people who go mental and draw windmills all over their exam sheet.

The one major advantage of this grading scheme is that it's possible to get your A-Level grades to spell NUDE, or DUNE, which is of some consolation to those who don't manage to get above a D.

Originally posted by Climbhi
...I shouldn't complain to much school in the UK is probably harder then here anyways.

If you're curious about what we actually do, check out

http://www.ocr.org.uk/OCR/WebSite/Data/Publication/Specimen%20Assessment%20Materials/cquartetOCRTempFileMkflzXM31F.pdf

Choose either 6 or 12 exams (Maths A-Level students choose 6 exams, Further Maths students choose 12, mentalists and creepy folks do all 18) on the basis that you can only do modules 2 and onwards in one 'field' (Stats, Pure, Mechanics) if you do the first module, and similar for the third, fourth, fifth and sixth module in each field.

 

[Mulder]

Originally posted by Dj Sneaky Whiskers
In practice, the grade boundary for an A rarely falls below 70 (except on perhaps the 6th Pure Exam, if you take it)

hehe that means I must have got about 22% on the actual exam on my P6. We did do the module in about 2 weeks though .

 

[Dj Sneaky Whiskers]

heh, we did the two week flash course in P6 as well, as a 'handy' add on to the main A-Levels. I think I scored 28% on that, I'm the filth.

Although, to be fair, there comes a point after about five hours of maths exams, with the prospect of the three hour AEA Maths exam to look forward to looming on the horizon, where you just don't care anymore.

I came very close to the windmill stage, there were the beginnings of a cat wearing a top hat creeping into my answers for the Differential Geometry question.

 

[Stranger]

In UK schools, A:80-100, B:70-80, C:60-70, D:50-60, E:40-50, <E = fail .

Wwwwwwwwhat? the GPA of american students will shoot up with that type of grading...

 

[Mulder]

Our exams are probably harder . Besides like Dj said, it's only a guideline, and is only useful relative to exams in this country.

 

[Monique]

I am just wondering.. I always hear about straight A students in the US.. what proportion of a class will actually have this type of student? My impression is that it isn't too difficult to get good grades in the US, am I mistaken?

For my class, they were terrible! Their goal was to pass with a 6, where a passing grade is 5.5. So the average was probably 6.5 to 7.0. That is a bad thing of the Dutch system, people get good jobs regardless of their grades and there is enough space in the universities that there is no competition.. Usually people got a 3-5 for their first exam, after which they will retake it and get a 6. Stupid people..