Friday, December 21, 2007

I need an academic advisor to point the way

I really don't like the grading system. It's totally arbitrary and depends not only on the teacher, but also on the school and geographic location! There is no universal system you would think you'd learn after 17 years in school. Just because it says A on the assignment worth 10% and B+ on something worth 20% doesn't mean I know the exact formula. Of course, this would be easier if I aced everything, but I'm not perfect.

In Texas, all of our grades were "92" or "73". Our teachers had this nifty little slide rule thing that did the math for them. If we got 18 questions right on a 20 point quiz, we had a 90. It made sense.

Then, in Utah, we would just report that we got an 18/20, and we'd have to keep track of our percentages. Usually, the smaller assignments were only worth 10 points and the tests 100, or whatever, so, even if weighted assignments, it was pretty easy to know where you were for the class. We would just As or Bs on our report cards.

I don't remember what I did in undergrad, but it was more confusing than that. Now? I just get an A on the assignment worth 15% and I have no idea what that means toward my final grade. Sure, I could probably figure out the math, but that's too much work.

So, yesterday, when I saw all my assignments and tests were finally graded, but no final grade was posted, I was a wee bit antsy.

The grades were finally posted today.

I currently have a 4.0 on my grad school transcript! Yay!

2 comments:

Nancy said...

Yay for Amanda!

Hey, only 3 semesters left :)

AmandaStretch said...

Actually, it's more like 3 semesters and 4 terms. But thanks!!