I wouldn’t mind it if the A+ was actually weighted above a 4.0, or an A was below 4.0. As it is, an A+ is the same as an A and everything goes down hill from there.
If I hadn’t attended grad school in the States this whole thread would be confusing to me. As it is there are still parts I don’t understand. Throughout highschool and undergrad we used percentages in 0.1% increments. Each grad school I applied for had a different method for converting my university grades and I think one school even had a 5.0 system. It was really odd and confusing, one or two schools even converting my grades to above 4.0. GPA still doesn’t make much sense to me, I think everyone should just use percentages.
Of all responses so far, I get the award for “Most Unfair System”. We use the +/-, but A+ is still worth 4.0 (not 4.5) and what’s worse is that the system decreases in quarters, except for a big gap between letters:
A+ 4.0
A 4.0
A- 3.75
B+ 3.25
B 3.00
B- 2.75
etc…
So for whatever reason, they think an 89% is twice as different from a 90%, than a 91% is to 90%. Talk about fighting for points. My average grade is about a 90%.
You mean there are universities that don’t use the +/- grading system? Huh. I never knew that, and to be honest it’s never occurred to me that this would be an issue.
Anyway, I think the finer distinctions are both fair and necessary, especially in this age of grade inflation. My students, at least, would have significantly lower grades on the average if there were no plus and minus options. You need to have a grade that says “This is a good, solid, competent paper, but it is not a brilliant, standout paper.” Under the system that I’m used to working with, most of the papers in this category earn an A- or a B+. If the only options were a flat A or a flat B, I would have no choice but to call them a B, because extraordinary work deserves extraordinary recognition, and it isn’t fair to the students who are showing exceptional insight and writing polished prose to award them the same grade as students who are merely competent.
I’ve lived in both systems and I have to say I much prefer the +/- system.
When I was doing undergrad at a school that doesn’t use the +/- system I did the math. My GPA would have likely been over 3.0 if there had a +/-. Instead, with straight letter grades I ended up with a 2.8. I felt pretty cheated actually, there were a lot of classes where I would have gotten enough points for a A-/B+/C+ instead of just a B or a C.
I don’t particularly care (I’ve got a good job and my GPA had nothing to do with it either way), but I still would have like that 3.0.