No data, just a scream of disbelief. 75% is a D?! 84% is a C?! That's lunatic. Some kind of weird grade-inflation deflation reaction?
OK, I looked up our (Canadian) Board (percents are only used in high school around here, and we're still elementary). While the numbers below seem fairly consistent with my long-ago memories of school, I note that "Students who achieve B or above have met the expectations for the course, and are prepared for the next course along the current pathway", suggesting that both C and D - anything below 70 - is a fail?
Is everybody's marking so bizarre these days? I am so not ready to deal with high school.
Achievement Level Percentage Marks
A+ 95-100
A 87-94
A- 80-86
B+ 77-79
B 73-76
B- 70-72
C+ 67-69
C 63-66
C- 60-62
D+ 57-59
D 53-56
D- 50-52
It's based on the belief that showing up and regurgitating what you've been taught is the best that you can do. It's pretty common in these systems to get 100% for an essay. In these systems where the top grade needs close to perfect scores there is usually a very different grade distribution. There's also a correlation with extra credit, so the stated percentage is often not actually the true percentage.
In my extensive experience an A is not nearly as valuable in the places where you have to get 94% as it is in places where you have to get 75%.
