Plus: Grading Systems

When I was in school, A+ was the best grade one could get. 90 was an A-, 95, an A and 100 = A+. Of course, grading systems vary depending on where you grow up. Here are some interesting facts about grading systems used around the world.

Denmark

In 2007, Denmark replaced its age-old 13-scale grading system with a simpler, 7-step-scale system. They did this to begin to conform to a European standard called the ECTS scale, but also because, hey, 13 possible grades makes for a lot more work for teachers. Here's how the old 13-scale used to work:

13 - given for the exceptionally independent and excellent performance. 11 - given for the independent and excellent performance 10 - given for the excellent but not particularly independent performance 9 - given for the good performance, a little above average 8 - given for the average performance 7 - given for the mediocre performance, slightly below average 6 - given for the just acceptable performance 5 - given for the hesitant and not satisfactory performance 03 - given for the very hesitant, very insufficient and unsatisfactory performance 00 - given for the completely unacceptable performance

Those gaps you see between 00 & 03, 03 & 5 and 11 & 13 help signify variations between those grades. Anything under a 6 is a failing grade, while a 13 is rarely given. 00 is just about impossible to achieve, reserved for truly incompetent performance. At exams, 00 is given to students attending, but who cannot answer a single question. According to this post, "one of the reasons why the 13 scale was replaced with the 7 scale was because of the grade 13. 13s are only given to the students that have gone above and beyond the stated curriculum. To gain it you needed to know more than what was taught in class. It required truly independent study. As none other EU countries used grades above perfect understanding of the curriculum, 13 were untranslatable to other grading systems."

Ukraine

In the Ukraine, they've gone in the opposite direction. Whereas they used to use a simple Russian 5-step grading system, in 2000, they introduced the 12-step grading system which goes like this:

12- given only for significant achievements or exceptionally creative work
11- the equivalent of an 'A' in the U.S.
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1 - complete fail

Australia

In the land down under, many schools and universities use a "band" grading system which looks like this:

90–99.95%BAND 6
80–89%BAND 5
70–79%BAND 4
60–69%BAND 3
50–59%BAND 2
0–49%BAND 1

How about where you live? What kind of grading system is common? Regardless of what marks you got in school, all you _flossers are A+s in our book! Have a great weekend.