This is a much discussed issue among my peers, as I attend a college that utilizes the +/- grading system. You regularly hear cries of, “It’s not fair!” or “We’re getting screwed!” from the students I encounter and I’ve actually yet to hear any students in favor of the policy.
While I can see that the system does offer a benefit (78% in a class can get you more GPA points on the plus/minus system than under the flat grade system), I can’t help but think that the system is flawed over all. The biggest flaw I see is that if I score a 94 in a class, I get an A- (so less than 4 GPA points, though I’m not sure the exact calculation), but if I get a 99, I can’t get higher than 4.0.
So what are your thoughts on universities using the plus/minus grading system? Is it fair? Is it logical and practical at the university level? Does it put the students attending such an institution at an unfair disadvantage to their peers that attend universities that use the basic system?
Well, for the vast majority of students who don’t continue on to graduate school, it makes absolutely no difference whatsoever. To the overwhelming majority of those who do post-grad work, they make the required GPA to gain admittance to the program of their choice, so it makes no difference to them. To the three people left who are fighting for a place in the Harvard Law program…tough. Shoulda worked harder.
I think this is a case of students massively over-thinking things in their own little corner of the world. It is obviously fair because it is just a finer grading distinction which uses the same criteria as others and is still widely understood. It is also mainly GPA neutral because students tend to get plus grades to offset their minus grades. It just gives a better sense of where someone stood in a class. It isn’t going to matter much for post-grad competitiveness because schools are all over the map with grade inflation and different grading systems. Anyone that has reason to care knows that already and has ways to compensate for it.
I am very surprised this is an issue at any school in the country. If it is, it is really time to move on.
That’s what my high school did until my sophomore year. We were given exact percentages for our class grades instead of pansy-ass A(+/-), B(etc). I loved it.
While I agree that, in the end, it really doesn’t matter (the overall effect on GPA is minimal, since most plusses and minuses cancel each other out,) but I also agree that it is a bit unfair to students, if only for the psychological aspects.
Case in point: if my current school was like my undergrad, I would have had a perfect 4.0 last semester. But, since they use grade modifiers, I had two A’s and an A-, which left me with less than a 4.0. Will it matter when I try to find a job? No, but I would have liked the bragging rights…
I’m just annoyed that I ended up with an A- this past semester (93-point-something), with a 95 being the cutoff for an A. At least I got an A in my other class, and all As so far in grad school (except for the one undeserved B+ from the bitch who didn’t give anything higher than that).
Yeah, it’s the A- thing that irritates me. I made a 99 or 100 in a few classes, so in a neutral system that would have more than balanced out the one A- I made (from a professor who graded me entirely on the basis of the five papers I turned in over the semester, and who gave me an A- on every paper, and who never returned a single paper to me so I could tell why I was getting an A-! :mad: ). But since the system doesn’t work that way, I didn’t get the 4.0 that I’d set for myself as a goal.
I’m a professor and we don’t have +/-. I wish we did. It’s really hard to give the same grade to students with 89.5% and 80.5% (which I actually did just last week). To me, a finer gradient would be more meaningful.
For what it’s worth, some schools give +/- grades, but the +/- part doesn’t affect the GPA.
(About halfway through college, my college switched from not counting the +/-'s to counting them. This made my GPA a little lower than it would have been if they had used either system consistently throughout the four years, but hey, that’s life.)
We had +/- for about two semesters while I was an undergrad at Kentucky. It turned out to be a giant pain in the ass for profs, when their “I deserve a higher grade” drama at the end of each semester tripled, so they dropped it.
The funny thing was that my roommate, a math/physics double major, had a perfect 4.0 up until that time. During one of those two semesters, he got an A- in Russian–the only non-A grade he would get in his entire undergrad career. It really bothered him.
I don’t see how it’s “unfair”, but I do think it’s kind of silly to think that performance can be measured precisely enough to place a student on a 15-point scale based on work done during one semester. Personally, I think a 3-point scale is more realistic: E for excellent, P for pass, F for fail.
At my university, up until about two years ago they had AB, BC, CD for A-/B+, B-/C+, C-/D+ respectively. I liked that better than the +/- system (which they have since moved to).
I always thought grades, especially for college courses, was a crappy system anyways.
I think all classes should be done on a pass/fail basis. Not degrees of passing.
You either know what your doing or you don’t. You get your degree when you pass all the required courses to the level in which the professor believes you have mastered the material.
Why give someone a degree with a 2.0 GPA. Obviously they haven’t mastered the material.
My college does plus/minus. I don’t mind it because I get enough +'s to satisfy me. What sucks though is you don’t get any extra points for an A+. I finally got a couple of those last year and you just get the 4 gpa points for it. I mean it would be sweet to get more points when I get a B- or whatever, but it’s not a big deal for me.
We have +/-, which I don’t mind too much overall. One problem, though is that they don’t carry the GPA for each class beyond the first decimal point. So, an A- = 3.7, and a B+ = 3.3, which is rather unfair. As a matter of fact, getting 3 A- and an A would put you in the first quintile, while 2A, 1A-, 1B+ would put you in the second.
This is entirely off topic but the majority of people in this thread (and in the boards in general) often talking about getting A grades consistantly. Do most students receive such high marks is this an SDMB thing?
My college does things entirely different, we get marked in percentages, no one really talks about the letters involved. When it comes to final results people can come get either a fail, a pass, a 2nd class honour grade 2, 2nd class honour grade 1, and a first class honour.
Changes slightly for graduate courses, with just pass, second class honour, first class honour.
Of course you can also fail under both options. I think most Universities/ITs in Ireland do it the same way.
It’s never struck me as unfair. I wince a little when I see an “A-” only because it means just a little more work would have resulted in an “A.” But I get frustrated with myself, not the grading system.
Getting a “B” in my very first grad class meant I could kiss a 4.0 goodbye, but due to some scattered "A-"s it looks like the best I’ll be able to do is a 3.8 (I have a 3.79 right now and am assuming that I’ll get an “A” in my next class, which is also my last class).
But a 2.0 is passing. I graduated from college with a 2.9, and while I may not have “mastered” all of the material I seem to have learned most of it well enough: I have a solid career (which is actually related to my degree), and was accepted into graduate school (also related to my degree).
It’s an SDMB thing – and, also, I think that the people most likely to participate in discussions about grades are those who did/are doing well in school.
Prof here. My U started the +/- thing a couple of years ago. I hate it. Now instead of a few kids wanting a point ot two to go from a B to an A, etc., I have just about avery kid wanting a point or two, C- to C, C to C+, C+ to B-, etc. I also thought it was unfair to students as (-) grades are worth less so I adjusted my grading scale accordingly. A is still 90-100, A- is 88-89, blah, blah, blah.
Please ignore spelling and punctation. Had a bit of work done on the physical plant yesterday. Drugs are good. Typing with one hand is not.
Typing with one hand is not.