Now I know why nobody ever gets a 4.0 at my school ...

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I was looking through a syllabus for one of my classes (worth 900 points total). This is the grading scale

A = 899.07-900 points

A- = 810-899.06 points

B+ = 787.5-809.99 points

B = 742.5-787.49 points

.. I'm not even going to post the rest of the scale. But as you can see, it is damn near impossible to get an A. A's count as 4 points on the GPA scale, A-'s count as 3.75, B+ as 3.3, B as 3.0

Keep in mind that this a pharmacology course! We all know that it is not a walk in the park. Isn't that bizarre??

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Specializes in ICU + Infection Prevention.

That is an asinine grading scale.

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It totally is! There are no bonus points or curves, either. Not that I would expect it in NS, but I would for a grading scale like that!

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That's ridiculous, something should be done about that. As far as bonus points in nursing school, our instructors are allowed to give up to 12, (out of 504 points), and most of them use them all.

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Specializes in Hospitalist Medicine.

Wow, and I thought our Pharm class was tough with 92-100 being an A. (They don't do A- at our school. But they do give a B+ for a 3.5 and a B for a 3.0, etc.) They do not allow rounding of grades in nursing courses, so if you had a 91.9, it was a 3.5 and not a 4.0.

Math courses at our school have 94-100 for an A. It nearly impossible to get an A in math unless you ace every exam.

I can't believe they only give less than 1 point as a buffer for a 4.0. 899.07-900 for a 4.0??? How can anyone be that perfect??? Especially in Pharm!

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it is possible to earn an A in Pharm...Just a'int easy

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So you basically can never miss anything ever...most questions are worth at least 1 point, so just missing 1 question from all tests combined...yeah, ok! Wonder what their reasoning is in making the A almost impossible to achieve?!

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Come to think of it, each question is worth 2 points. What my professor does is take the # of items on the exam and multiply it by 2. Partial credit isn't given, either. So you can't even miss one question! Say what?!

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Specializes in Hospitalist Medicine.
Come to think of it, each question is worth 2 points. What my professor does is take the # of items on the exam and multiply it by 2. Partial credit isn't given, either. So you can't even miss one question! Say what?!

I can't believe the administration allows this!

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Specializes in Hospice + Palliative.

I would follow up with the professor to make sure that isn't a typo or something. That's just not right.

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Specializes in ICU + Infection Prevention.
I would follow up with the professor to make sure that isn't a typo or something. That's just not right.

It is unlikely there was a double typo. Professors like this are typically arrogant power abusers. I would not bring anything up with this prof unless the overall course grade is 100% objective, ie multiple choice test grades account for everything, thus no chance for her to subjectively grade lower on a power trip after being questioned. Once all the grades are in, if you earn yourself a very high A-, say an 891/899, then go chat (which will be fruitless) and then file a formal grade appeal in accordance with your school's policies, which will likely be a futile enterprise too.

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810 points out of 900 means that a 90% is an A. That is normal grading scale.

I've never heard of A- vs A+ point split outside of highschool, but they must be doing it for competitive reasons.

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