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

LadyHam
Fri, 19 Oct 2012 11:28:33 +0000

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.