Faced with Soaring Ds and Fs, Schools Are Ditching the Old Way of Grading

One of my favorite classes, Honors Government, actually worked like this - at the beginning of the term we were assigned 15 short essay prompts that were “due” in batches of 3 at equal intervals during the term. But, if we completed the essays early, we got (something like) +5 points out of a 25 possible points on each of the essays. You could also turn the essays in late and would get -5 points. Then there was a final exam with a total possible 50 points. I did all the essays the first 2 weeks of school, scored well, and didn’t have to take the final.

I will note that this was not a common grading scheme when I was in high-school; I graduated in 2000.

I have never seen this and I am from the US. I find it rather alarming. But, I would have abused such a system if it existed in my high school years. I might have gone on to a great college and failed out the first year as a result.

Yeah, there are almost as many variations on grade point breakdown as there are teachers coming up with them...

i had one class where homework was 20% of the grade and tests were 80%, i skipped all my homework and got an 80% from getting all my tests perfect.

in another class I had a 103% And the points system was set up such that by the time we got to the final I could fail and still get an A.

it's p crazy