Students Respond to the New Plus/Minus Grading System

Now that the fall semester has come to an end, University of Maryland students have started to reflect on the new plus/minus grading policy that began in the fall.

The University adopted a new system in which GPA points will reflect the plus and minus components of the grade. The University Senate voted for the implementation of this policy back in the fall of 2005, but it was not until the fall of 2011 that the Senate made slight revisions and the President approved. Below is the chart from Testudo that outlines this new policy.

According to the outlined policy on Testudo, the new system does not affect the graduation requirement of a minimum overall GPA of 2.0, and it also does not affect any past grades or GPAs that were calculated prior to fall of 2012.

There were many critics of this policy when it first came up in the fall of 2011. In fact, some undergraduates created a Facebook page, University of Maryland Undergrads Against GPA Reform, which received 671 “likes.” Many students were very frustrated because they felt they did not have any say in this new implementation.

Now that the new policy has been put into effect for one semester, most students seem to show mixed feelings regarding the recent switch.

Sophomore Journalism major Sam Bortniker said that she can see both the pros and cons of the situation.

“If I put a lot of effort into a class and got an 82, I would be upset with the B-, but then again if I got an 89 I’d also be upset if I didn’t get a B+, so I think it depends on the professor, student, and situation.”

Similarly, another sophomore Journalism major, Shannon Atran, also shares mixed feelings regarding the new policy. “I like that a student who gets a B+ in a course earns a higher GPA than a student who gets a B- in a course. However, I think it is ridiculous that an A- is not a 4.0. It’s hard enough to earn a 90% in a college course. Students who get an A- deserve a 4.0.”

Despite the amount of students who have some contradictory opinions, there are many who fall on either extreme.

Sophomore Journalism and Government and Politics major Liz McKelvy does not seem to be worked up about the faults in the system like others have because she simply believes it will not make a huge change to her GPA.

“Honestly, I’m pretty much indifferent about the grading system, it just does not seem like that big of a deal…the system rewards you for the grade that you earned, which seems fair enough to me. I still would’ve come to UMD either way; a grading system does not really seem like it should or will affect that much.”

Sophomore Business major Vanessa Giovanini supports the new policy and thinks this is how it always should have been. “I personally like it because I think it’s bull**** that before someone who got an 80 could get the same GPA as someone who got an 89 and so on. I think if you want a 4.0 you should put in the effort to get an A not an A-.”

On the other hand, students like sophomore Biology major Laura Schwartz, strongly oppose the modified program.

Schwartz said, “I think the new grading system is horrible because it makes it way harder for students to get good GPAs. Especially since we’re not used to it, I think it’s overall unfavorable. It didn’t really affect my GPA, but I know people that were really upset by it.”

Sophomore Materials Science and Engineering major Michael Floccare seems to agree that the new policy is flawed. “I don’t like it because I would always make sure I had above an 80 but with the new system, an 80 and a 79 are very similar. The new system also makes getting A’s and 4.0’s even more unrealistic.”

The new policy will clearly take time for students to get accustomed to. It may be criticized so much because it is now causing students to focus not only on a letter grade but also the specific percentage. It can be viewed as either extra academic stress or an extra academic challenge to face head on, but at the end of the day it is your choice.

It will help some and hurt others, but it is up to the individual and his/her desire to work hard to strive for the highest grades.

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