How the Grading of Test is done ?

[paksu]

Hi

I am facing some problems in grading and would like to know how the A B C D grades are decided.

When i was young 40% =passed

But now 50%=passed

some even have gone to 70%=passed ( i remembered my TESOL Dip test of Trinity College, London was this grade and put all of us in great presures)

Wishing you a good day.

Adam

[paksu]

All teachers have to conduct tests and no one knows why they have to give the passing mark at 40% or 50%.

?????

[Lorikeet]

I am not at all clear on your question, but as far as I know, the percentage for passing can vary widely. My son is in high school. The standard is 90%=A, 80%=B, 70%=C, 60%=D, below 60% is failing. That said, many teachers use a curve. For example, his AP Physics class is very difficult. It is possible to get an "A" with 80% if the class does poorly on the test and the teacher marks on a modified curve.

I have never heard of 40% or 50% being passing. That's less than half the material.

[woodcutter]

40 percent will pass you in a British university. Subtract 20 from Asian/American percentage scores to get the equivalent British ones, for essay material at uni level.

Marks are not to be taken too seriously. Especially the ones I give (I have to grade on a very silly curve).

[paksu]

From the websites of most universities, there stated 50% a pass. In short, there is no international standard of passing percentage, am I right.

When i was taking my O level 3 decades ago, i was told the passing mark was at 40% but to qualify for a credit, i need 50%.

Most commonwealth countries are using this standard if i am not mistaken.

A differ on the passing grading will cause lots of problems from one country to another. For example, it is 60% for a pass in China. Thus, this would be a high standard for the countries which are using 40% passing grade.

I always see the Chinese students from China scoring the 90% above but in actual fact the same topic ( using the test paper from Commonwealth countries) they fair badly.

What i am looking for is how the passing grade is decided. It is the individual school/university or the Ministry of Education.

[fluffyhamster]

In the UK, the grades for the A level exams (the exams that form the basis for selection to universities) seem to be awarded according to the performance of the average examinees for that year, so the exact percentage score for, say, the grade A band, will naturally vary from year to year (and in any case, only the grade you have been awarded, not your percentage score, is disclosed to you); the only thing that is fixed is the maximum number of people that year who can be awarded the highest grades (otherwise, there would be no way to minimize the effects of an exam that was too easy, and the universities might get swamped by people more than matching their grade offers for study places!).

Many people reckon that the government puts pressure on the examining boards to mark easier or harder according to the prevailing political pressures, opinions, needs and agendas. The general opinion seems to be that "the exams are getting easier and standards are deteriorating" (this is coming from adults who often can't operate a VCR, let alone a PC), though admittedly, sometimes it can seem as if the UK is trying to win a "Country with the most graduates" contest, irrespective of the level the graduates have actually attained.

I remember that in the "mock" exams that I took for O and A levels, we were aiming for at least 60%-70%, in order to get at least a C grade.

Universities are more autonomous (I don't think they mark according to bell curves so much, because they don't individually deal with quite the same volume of students as A level boards need to), and as woodcutter said, 40% may get you a pass (though not a very good one, more like a borderline pass/fail, in which case, you may be asked to do a "retake"! Certainly not an honours degree e.g. a first, a 2:1 or a 2:2). Again, exact passing percentage scores don't come into the picture much, people just say they got a 2:1 or whatever.

Numbers are only as good as the exam on which they are based, and even a good exam score is no sure indication that the student has learnt and come to appreciate all that was taught, simply because no final exam can cover everything that has gone before it! (That being said, a person with a first from Oxbridge is going to command attention!).