How is Class Rank determined at your child's school? - Page 4

ucbalumnus · 10-19-2012, 12:57 AM

University of Florida recalculates high school GPAs.

UChalpz1 · 10-19-2012, 12:58 AM

I like how no one reply to my comment even though I was the one that bumped this thread =/

romanigypsyeyes · 10-19-2012, 01:01 AM

ucb, I clarified. Yes, individual universities do. But not the state itself (or very rarely).

romanigypsyeyes · 10-19-2012, 01:03 AM

UC, people rarely look to see when things are bumped. If you want an answer to a specific question, it's often better to start a new thread rather than bump an old one.

ucbalumnus · 10-19-2012, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UChalpz1

I like how no one reply to my comment even though I was the one that bumped this thread =/

If you are in California, you may want to see if the dropping of the 9th grade course grades is due to the high school using the UC / CSU GPA calculation.

UChalpz1 · 10-19-2012, 01:42 AM

Yea I am from California. I was just wondering if it was normal for California high schools to rank with only 10-12

cromette · 10-19-2012, 10:11 AM

UChalpz1: I hear it's pretty common. We don't do it at my kids' school though (in Texas).

cromette · 10-19-2012, 10:17 AM

Our school shows only UNWEIGHTED gpa on transcripts, but the class rank is very weighted.

Class rank is based on an average of all the classes taken. Value is assigned for number grade. For a grade of 100:

Pre-AP/AP/Dual = 8
Advanced = 7
Regular = 6
Modified = 5

The value goes down 1/10 of a point for every number grade down from 100.

I should say that it does no good, as far as class rank to pile up on non-academic dual or AP classes.

"Only courses taken in the core subject areas of English, mathematics, science, and social studies shall be counted as Advanced, Pre-AP, AP, or dual courses for purposes of class rank and GPA."

austinareadad · 10-19-2012, 10:57 AM

In my S's Texas public high school, only academic classes count, and they count beginning in 9th grade. There are four kinds of academics classes -- regular, pre-AP, Community College, and AP. On the transcripts, all one sees are the number grades for each class, e.g. a 95. But to calculate class rank, the number grades are weighted, as the pre-AP and Community College class grades are multiplied by 1.15 (e.g., 95 * 1.15) and the AP class grades are multiplied by 1.17 (e.g., 95 * 1.17).

I don't have a problem with the idea of weighting the different kinds of classes, but I think the specific weightings used are flawed. The difficulty of the Pre-AP classes is probably only halfway between that of regular classes and that of AP classes. Also, the Community College classes appear to be between the pre-AP and AP classes. If I were to weight them, I would use a factor of 1.1 for pre-AP, 1.15 for Community College, and 1.2 for AP (not a perfect system of course, but I believe better). As it is, because the classes are weighted improperly, the kids who try to game the system to maximize class rank (class rank is critical in Texas) take as many pre-AP's as possible, take some Community College classes in place of AP's, and take few if any AP's. If the administrators would see this, maybe they would adjust the weighting.

cap · 10-19-2012, 10:58 AM

It gets even more confusing when you move, such as we did DD's senior year. She had two B+'s on her transcript, each a 93 in an honors an AP course not even offered at the new school. A 93 was an A at the new school. The new school left them as B+'s when calculating GPA, so those two grades and the B she earned in a college calculus class, which no one else even took, were enough to keep her out of the top 10%. But she got her acceptances weeks before others who applied at the same colleges, with higher rankings, did and I am sure that is because she had taken much harder courses all four years so it worked out fine for her.

LadyHam · 10-19-2012, 11:28 AM

My daughter's high school uses all the classes that the students have taken to calculate GPA and class rank. For honors classes they give and extra .5 of a point to the GPA and for an AP class they give an extra point. In a regular class, an A+ would be a 4.3, and A would be a 4.0, and an A- would be a 3.7. The same goes for a B, C, and a D. A B+ would be a 3.3, a B would be a 3.0, and a B-would be a 2.7. For honors classes, an A+ would be a 4.8 (4.3 + .5 = 4.8), an A would be a 4.5 (4.0 + .5 = 4.5) and an A- would be a 4.2 (3.7 + .5 = 4.2). For AP classes, an A + would be 5.3 (4.3 + 1 = 5.3), an A would be a 5.0 (4.0 + 1 = 5.0) and an A- would be a 4.7 (3.7 + 1 = 4.7).

On the transcripts, they show both a weighted GPA and an unweighted GPA. They take away all the extra points for honors/AP classes and calculate all the classes like they are regular classes for the unweighted GPA. For class rank, they do use the weighted GPA though. And all classes are calculated into the equation, not just core classes. So PE and any electives are calculated into both the weighted GPA and the unweighted GPA.

I think the way my daughter's high school does it is extremely fair. She has taken a lot of honors and AP classes and not only is the subject matter a lot harder than regular classes, there is also so much more work for those types of classes well. I think doing it this way really accurately ranks the students and gives a true picture of what students are at the top of the class.

ucbalumnus · 10-19-2012, 11:50 AM

Re: #56

That system may discourage students from taking additional non-honors/AP courses if they are competing for rank. For example, if two students have the same course load of honors/AP courses and get the same grades in them, but one also had an additional course like PE/sports, auto shop, arts, etc., then the one with the additional course would be penalized in the weighted GPA calculation.

For class rank, it would be better if grade points, not grade point average were used, with weightings assigned appropriately (e.g. more weight for more difficult courses, reduced weight for non-academic courses). That way, additional courses will help, not hurt, a student in class rank.

bovertine · 10-19-2012, 12:41 PM

I've got to say a lot of this bewilders me. My own kid is a mediocre student and his school didn't rank so I don't have experience from that angle.

But IIRC from my own youth, if you were the type of kid who was earning all or mostly As in your classes they would almost automatically recommend you for all the honors and AP (well, it was 1974, we had one AP class at our school but a lot of honors classes). I know my school ranked (no weighting) because it is on an old transcript my mom saved. But they never told us about it and I am pretty sure nobody strategized about it.

Why would a kid who had a 4.0 unweighted not be taking mainly honors and AP classes? I don't get it.

cromette · 10-19-2012, 02:19 PM

bovertine,

Some kids are capable of making straight A's in Advanced or Regular classes, but would really struggle in AP.

cromette · 10-19-2012, 02:23 PM

ucbalumnus: I hear what you're saying...but why WOULDN'T you give more academic credit to a kid that chooses AP Physics as an elective over Art I? That seems fair to me, actually.

At our school, the children have very limited opportunity for electives. Most kids take them - it pretty much levels the field. I think even the val and sal have non-academic electives.