I’m in the UK. In secondary school (ages 11-18), we have graded results – F, E, D, C, B, A, A\* – for the qualifications you get at 16 and 18.
Batchelors degrees are graded as 1, 2:1, 2:2, 3. They equate to about (respectively) >70%, 60-70%, 50-60%, 40-50%.
I’m constantly confused when watching American TV shows when they talk about school grades etc! The only term I’ve ever heard used in tv is GPA.
How do the scoring systems work in the USA and what scores do they equate to?
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The letters used in the US grading system from best to worst are typically A, B, C, D, and F. These are then assigned a point score, typically 4.0 for A, 3.0 for B, 2.0 for C, and 1.0 for D. The mathematical mean of all the points will give you your GPA, or Grade Point Average.
That’s the simple version.
Here’s where it can get a little complicated. Most commonly, the grade scale is 90-100% is A, 80-89% is B, 70-79% is C, 60-69% is D, and 0-59% is F. However, that scale can vary. Sometimes a 93-100% is A, 85-92% is B, 75-84% is C, 67-74% is D, and 0-66% is F. Or whatever scale the instructor, program, school, or organization wants to use. Whatever the grading scale, the GPA still works the same way… A is still 4.0, B is still 3.0, and so on.
Then, you sometimes will have have an A, AB, B, BC, C, CD, D, and F scale. With this, most often, A is 4.0, AB is 3.5, B is 3.0, BC is 2.5, C is 2.0, CD is 1.5, and D is 1.0. GPA still works the same way, by taking the mean of all the points.
Other times, you might see a +/- version… A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, and so on. Sometimes the pluses and minuses are disregarded and only the major letters are used to get a point score, as in the first paragraph. Other times, it’ll be A+, 4.33; A, 4.0; A- 3.67; B+ 3.33, and so on.
Finally, the only other exception might be “honors” or “Advanced Placement” courses, which might be given a 0.5 point “bonus” because the courses are considerably harder. This will result in an A getting a 4.5, B at 3.5, and so on.
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