letter grade

[cutemina1211]

Many student organizations made a proposal that a student be allowed to choose whether to take a course for a letter grade or for Pass/Fail.


In this sentence , I don't know the meaning of 'for a letter grade or for Pass/Fail'


Thank you.

[Jamgirl]

I'm not sure either, but here's my guess.

When you take a course in England, you either get a 'letter grade' or you 'pass or fail'.

A letter grade means that you can pass the course at a number of levels. The levels run from A - G in most cases (especially GSCE courses), A = excellent, B = good, C = above average D = average E = below average and so on.

Pass or fail simply means that there is a mark that the student must achieve to pass the exam or course, for example 30 out of 40. If a person gets 29 out of 40, they fail the course and have to try it again to succeed. If they get 30 or more, the pass the course.

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by cutemina1211

Many student organizations made a proposal that a student be allowed to choose whether to take a course for a letter grade or for Pass/Fail.


In this sentence , I don't know the meaning of 'for a letter grade or for Pass/Fail'


Thank you.

In the US, schools have traditionally given letter (or number) grades for courses. For a time, there was a movement to reduce competition among students by replacing grades with a pass/fail system. So students who would have received an A, B, C, or D received a P and those who would have received an F received an F. In many cases, the P/F system has been dropped because students no longer had a grade point average and couldn't compete for places in graduate schools or some jobs.