Plus/Minus Grading system? - Page 3

usfBROOKEusf · #31 11-18-2003, 01:04 AM

I know that I have heard plenty of my classmates complain about our plus/minus system. I think we've had it since 2000, which is the year I started college, so by now I'm used to it. The only time it really frustrates me is when I get an A-, this causes you to lose .33 of a GPA point per credit hour. Basically, for a three credit class, you lose .99 of a GPA point total. This really sucks, because in my book, and A is an A and should not cost you an entire GPA point, which can really make or break some students.

Most of my professors have found ways around this...for example some (God bless 'em) refuse to use the minus grades at all...so you only have regular or pluses. Or my personal favorite, they base everything on points, then assign a letter grade based on how many points you've earned over the semester. This tends to work in the students' favor.

aephi alum · #32 11-18-2003, 11:11 AM

Some time around my junior year, my school implemented plus/minus grades. They did a phase-in whereby the pluses and minuses only showed up on your internal transcript, and your GPA was calculated based on the letter grade without the modifier. It wasn't too bad - you felt good about the + grades, but not so bad about the - grades because the external transcript would only show a plain B or whatever.

The faculty had also discussed an A/AB/B/BC/etc grading system.

Most students had wanted to keep the plain A/B/C/D/F system.

The other thing they changed was that your entire freshman year used to be pass/no record, now it's just first semester. (Get a C or above and you pass; get a D or F and there's no record that you even took the course. This meant you didn't have a GPA until the middle of sophomore year - or, now, the end of freshman year. During recruitment, we used the number of "pass" credits to determine who had sufficient grades to receive a bid.)

AlphaXi4983 · #33 11-20-2003, 08:58 PM

at Towson we use the plus/minus system, but it is not manditory. some departments require the use of it, but some leave it up to the individual professors. many professors don't use the C- (becuase in your major and some core reqs. you need a 2.0 to pass). i think the + are good

but im not such a fan of the -. I have actually had many professors do that.... it's kinda nice, but then they're less likely to curve.

ZTAngel · #34 11-21-2003, 06:04 PM

HATE IT!

UCF switched to the +/- system my junior year. It really kills you to get an A-. I probably would've graduated with a much higher GPA had they not used and minuses.
I think there's a school in Florida (maybe UF?) that uses a plus-only system. That would be awesome!

Kristin AGD · #35 11-22-2003, 11:42 AM

Hate it!!!!

An A is an A. I don't see how they can justify taking that away from you. To get knocked down for an A- is ridiculous.

This happened to me in quite a few classes.

winnieb · #36 11-22-2003, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dionysus
WTF? This must be a geographical thing. Every school I went to from elementary to college used the +/- grading system.

It must be, I have never been to a school that did not use +/-. I thought everyone used it.

-wendi

Glitter650 · #37 11-22-2003, 03:34 PM

The Junior college that I attended didn't use Plus Minus.. but my current UNniversity does and it DOES piss me off to lose the points for a B-. I mean I believe that there are shades of grey, and let's be honest... someone who doeesn't earn enough points to get that straight b or b plus probably does deserve some points lost.... but I think they should make it so the scale either doesn't penalize AS much for a "- ",grade or starts at say 3.0 points for a b- and then rewards for straight bs at like 3.3 and b pluses at like 3.5 or something. Because a B is a B and, but when I'm earining what I believe should be the points awarded for a C (2.92 I THINK at my school) for a B- it PISSES ME OFF. Plus I'm sure grad schools look at the system used for calculating GPA... but it makes you less competetive when applying because people coming from a school with another system will automatically have a higher GPA.

sarahgrace · #38 11-22-2003, 04:16 PM

Ditto to Dionysus and others - every school I've ever gone to used the +/- system. Except perhaps in elementary school where it was s/u (satisfactory/unsatisfactory!) In high school I got one A- (in stupid health class), and that gave me a 3.99999999... instead of a straight 4.0, so I was salutatorian instead of valedictorian

Sarah

jharb · #39 11-22-2003, 05:27 PM

I know it kills me that there are plus/minus here...my GPA would be so much higher if I didn't have so many A-'s!! Such a pain in my butt...I like though that some professors won't utilize it, but others are all about it.

PrincessPhiSig · #40 12-01-2003, 03:57 PM

Today we voted on changing the grading system. Many people at Kutztown are opposed because it will screw up things with financial aid, ie getting a 2.0 to resume their financial aid.

At my old school we had the plus and minus system. One thing I noticed is that some professors just do A, B, C and D. Others are very strict.

I voted opposed today because there wasn't enough information available for it to be worthy, in my eyes. I would like to know if financial aid GPAs would be adjusted accordingly as well as some scholarship GPAs.

Note, I am above a 3.0, and although the grading doesn't concern me, it is very important to those students who rely solely on financial aid to attend college.