In the USA, a popular five-step rating system is often utilized, where letters substitute numerical values. This system is not officially standardized, thus each primary and secondary school has the autonomy to devise their own assessment method. In some countries, the percentages required to attain a certain grade may slightly differ.
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Table of Contents
School Grades in the USA
The grade a student receives is determined by their passing percentage on a specific test:
Note Word Expression Test Percentages GPA Value A Excellent 90-100 3.5-4.0 B Good 80-90 2.5-3.49 C Satisfactory 70-80 1.5-2.49 D Less Than Satisfactory 60-70 1.0-1.49 E/F Fail Under 60 0 Some American schools continue to adhere to an older tradition where the worst grade was not an F but an E. However, these schools have become significantly fewer after World War II. Currently, you might come across N (No Credit) or U (Unsatisfactory) as well. In some instances, a scale with two options is utilized: Pass and Fail.
Often, auxiliary signs like + and – are also employed, allowing a student, for instance, to receive a B+. Each student’s Grade Point Average (GPA) is also calculated throughout their studies, with each letter grade assigned a value from 0 to 4 – the higher the better.
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Student GPA in American Schools
The assessment system in the USA is sophisticated, making it easy to compare students with each other.
Credits, which signify the significance of each subject, play an integral role in assessments. For instance, engineering students might take mathematics for 4 credits and history for 1 credit, while the converse is true for history majors.
This method facilitates the calculation of grade point averages (the aforementioned GPAs) and comparison of students. You can see what the assessment looks like in practice in the following example:
Subject Number of Credits Note Score Mathematics 102 4 A 4 × 4.0 = 16.0 Literature 104 2 C 2 × 2.0 = 4.0 Division 158 1 B 1 × 3.0 = 3.0 Biology 1 D 1 × 1.0 = 1.0 Total 8 B 24 The overall grade point average is computed by adding the scores for all courses and dividing the result by the total number of credits. In this case, 24 ÷ 8 = 3. A value of 3 corresponds to a grade of “B”, or good.
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