I don’t know if it works the same at all schools, but at my university any course that’s taken for credit toward a degree requires a C grade or better to actually count. If you get a D, it’s functionally equivalent to getting an F; i.e. you have failed. The only difference is the 1.0 you would get toward GPA instead of a 0.
So why do we have this 4-point system with an A/B/C/D/F scale instead of a 3-point system with A/B/C/F? Is it just an inertial “that’s the way we’ve always done it” thing or is there some good reason for having D grades that don’t count for anything except a point? That is, is there a point to the point?
You are correct. The ABC system doesn’t work. Seriously, would you want someone to pass who can remember 70% of the content? In my grad school, 80% was required to pass.
I don’t see as how it’s functionally equivalent to failure, as you get credit for the course and you’re not required to take it again if it’s part of the required courses for your major (and I speak from painful personal experience on this one). I think more often than not it’s just a way of acknowledging that you showed up for class clothed and breathing, but beyond that there was little to no effort involved on your part.
A D implies that, while you didn’t learn, you probably could retake the course and pass it. Try a little harder, and you can do it. If you’re actually trying and you get an F, you probably shouldn’t bother.
That said, I know of systems that redefine a D as 75 or lower.
Varies all over the place, but there are other odd rules that the D grade might be important for.
Where I taught we had two levels of pass. There was the straight pass grade (i.e. your C) and the Grade 2 pass (your level D). You were allowed to present a (very) limited number of D’s towards a degree, but a P2 did not allow you to proceed to take subjects in that stream in later years.
The other use of a P2 was in awarding resits of exams. This depended up the faculty rules, but in many cases a P2 was a prerequisite grade to be allowed to resit the exam. (If the faculty allowed resits at all.)
Then again, I’m not in the US, and my experience is that universities vary considerably in their rules. The older they are the more they vary.
If I set your exam, remembering the content of the course would get you a fail. Understanding the content would get you a pass. I liked setting open book exams for this reason.
At my university, C or higher isn’t required for all courses, just a subset. As an example, for my math degree, I must take 45 credit hours of core math courses, 18 of a secondary concentration, 9 of English/Communications, 5 foreign language, 3 history, 3 humanities, 3 comparative world culture, 3 social science, 3 computer science, 12 physical/biological sciences, and enough electives to get at least 124 total credit hours.
Of these, only the core math courses, English/comm, and comp. sci. need to be C or better (the core math courses have a secondary requirement that their GPA average must be 2.5). The physical/biological sciences can have one course be D as long as the other courses are C- or better. All other requirements can be met at D- or better.
The worst I’ve seen was the lowest level GCSE maths sets back when I was at school.
GCSE’s are similar in that whilst a D was (and presumably still is) technically a pass it wouldn’t be regarded as such by anyone other than the exam board.
The lower level maths sets were easier than the higher ones at each grade but had a maximum grade cap. A pretty stupid idea by itself, but the lowest level maths set was capped at a D. Once a kid was in the lowest set it was effectively impossible for them to earn a passing grade :eek:
The way I remember it a D was passing minimally, but did not fulfill the requirement for a prerequisite. So if you needed to pass Organic Chemistry I to take Organic Chemistry II a D did not qualify you, but if all you needed was 4 credits in chemistry to fill a liberal arts degree the D was good enough.
At my uni, a D got you a sup (Supplementary exam, a second exam sat just before the next semester, so there goes your holidays. Still, better than taking the course again, I hear)
If I remember correctly, at my undergrad institution a “D” was sufficient to pass if it wasn’t a course required for your major and you were still in your first two years.
As others have noted, in many places a D “counts” in the sense that you get credit for passing a course in which you got a D, but it may not fulfill a requirement or prerequisite (often worded as “Pass _____ with a C or better.”)
But I suspect part of the answer to the OP’s question involves grade inflation.
At every college I have been at (student and prof) a D was a passing grade. As has been mentioned, for certain courses a C or better might be required, e.g., for courses in ones major. Other than that, if you got a D there was no requirement to retake a course. Unlike an F. C means “average” not “passing”.
Another point is that numerically speaking, its generally easier to recover from a D grade than an F, especially in instances where the student is generally putting forth effort but struggling with the material. If you have a 68 going into your midterms, perhaps said student gets a tutor, puts in extra time and gets that grade upwards of 70-75 by the end of the semester.
At my university, a D was a passing grade, but for certain pre-requisites and core major requirements, you needed a C. So if you wanted to take Calculus II, you needed a C or better in Calc I. But if you only needed Calc I for your basket-weaving degree, a D in that class was sufficient.
That’s assuming that a grade reflects what percent of the content you remember, which is only the case in memorize-and-regurgitate style classes like they have in China.
Like others have said, at my university, if it wasn’t in your major, a D was passing. It didn’t help your GPA of course, but “D is Done” was a common phrase.
Just to put in my 2 cents my experience at school (Which I will pretty much call F.U. from this point on, not the real initials BTW:D ) the minimum for a class for a major varied. (At least a C- but I know in my case one of the classes was a B- minimum.) However for requirements a D counted. You could also advance in course series for a requirement with a D. For example the foreign language requirement, better known as the undergrad torture requirement, could be satisfied by a bunch of D’s. (As a side note I was a little upset when I got that C- in the reading version of French 4 since I was shooting for a D and a C- meant I had put too much time into it that I could have spent doing anything else.)
Actually to expand on it though they would not accept transfer credits of a D. (C- or better.) So for a transfer grade a D or F was pretty much equivalent. (Neither transfered.)
