<p>I am a current high school senior and am taking an AP Art History course this year. At the beginning of the year we were provided with a syllabus but it did not include a grading scale for the class only an exam grading scale and also states that if we score a 5 on the exam that both semester grades will be bumped to an A. The entire semester I had barely maintained An A with a 92 this class is very difficult she teaches lecture style and you have to pretty much read the text etc. on your own to do well. Anyways fast forward to the end of the semester some students aren’t doing too well (so she decides its a magnificent idea to give us a pop quiz to ‘raise our grades’ like really?) yeah so bye bye 92 and hello 88. I did okay on my final got a low 5 so 90 percent but only did okay on my research paper so I ended with an 88.43 which is an B+ but is on my transcript as a B and my gap is a 3.98 instead of a 4.0 now I worked hard for my B+ and I don’t think it’s fair for me to receive the same grade as someone who was skating bye and got a 82 percent ( I think an B is fine if that’s what you earned but I didn’t ) I have to sent in my fall semester grades for colleges and my gap and possibly rank have dropped as a result (every little point counts ) I went from 40/649 to 43/649 should I inquire about her grading scale or live with the grade ?</p>
<p>I did this from my phone and my auto correct changed gpa to gap and there are many other grammatical errors I’m aware of please excuse them.</p>
<p>If the teacher said that if you got a 5 on the final you’d get an A for the semester, and you did get a 5 on the final, I’d say yes you should ask her. Especially if it’s on the syllabus.</p>
<p>Sorry I meant if you get a 5 on the national exam. She has no grading scale but the one for my school is (100-92 A 91.99-90.00 A- 89.99-88.00B+ 87.99-82.00 B 81.99-80.00 B- 79.99-78.00 C+ 77.99-72.00 C 71.99-70.00 C- etc.) and I received an 88.43 which should be an B+ because if she has no scale I think it should be safe to assume that she’s going based off the standard scale. I know that some classes have set scales for example AP calc you need a 94+ to get an A but she did not provide a custom scale.</p>
<p>I think I’m not going to ask her to change my grade but ask her to clarify her grading scale (because maybe she doesn’t give minuses or pluses but I think that if this is the case it puts us at an unfair disadvantage if others at the school have the opportunity to receive an extra .3 of a point for a plus and someone who receives the same grade does not receive this advantage)</p>
<p>I don’t think 40 vs 43 out of 649 will make any difference, but I do understand that you’d rather have a B+ and feel you deserve one too. So ask your teacher about that - I think inquiring about the grading scale is a good approach. Sometime mistakes are made. </p>
<p>BTW, my son was one student away from being in the top 5% of his class. He did very well, even though he was in the top 6% like you are.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thank you mathmom I wasn’t sure if I should peruse this or not. It’s just so stressful applying to school, and a couple asked for fall semester grades so u want them to be as good as possible! (On the bright side they’ll see my overall gpa which is a 4.2 instead of the 3.95 I had to submit (I messed up sophomore year which killed my 10-12 gpa ))</p>
<p>Would the teacher allow you to do an extra credit project to bump your score just enough for an A since you are so close. It can’t hurt to ask.</p>
<p>There is no meaningful difference between a 3.98 GPA and a 4.0. Are you planning to be an Art major in college? If not, you’re stressing over nothing. No college is going to reject you for a non-Art major over one B+ in AP Art History. Forget this. You didn’t earn an A. Accept it and move on.</p>
<p>I never said I earned an A but I did earn a B+ I think there’s a pretty big difference between an 82 and an 88 and getting an 3.0 instead of a 3.3 does have an impact would you just ‘get over it’ if you earned something but were not given proper recognition. Anyways I already emailed her asking what the scale was if she doesn’t respond I’m just letting the matter go</p>
<p>If you have a problem now wait till you get into a college that gives straight letter grades. DD1 got an 89.5 in an English class and you guessed it, it’s a B, no B+ or what not. 3 points instead of 3.something. </p>
<p>Schools with +/- grades are easier to get a ‘better’ GPA but not a ‘super good’ GPA if you’re hitting low 90’s because all of a sudden the bar for a 4.0 is not a 90 but a 94. The last time I saw that was in elementary school when my kids were younger :)</p>
<p>I would have no problem if it was consistent I was at a high school that didn’t do the whole ± thing but I say either do it or don’t I don’t think it’s fair for some teachers to give them and others not to because if they see an A- and then they see a B then it will be assumed that I received less than an 88</p>