From what I've gathered from this website,everyone seems to get A's without any trouble; a day or two of studying is always enough.
Are americans really smart?
Is their grading system bullshit?
Is it easier for them to score an A?
Why do so many americans have really good test scores?
>>7750695
The american system is ridiculous but you have to take many things in to account.
In the UK university system, getting 70 % (a First) or above is seen as very good, 60 % to 69 % (a 2.1 / upper second class) as very respectable.
In the USA system, anything less than a 3.5/4.0 GPA is seen as fucking disgraceful and retarded. And then I found out that the 4.0 GPA wasn't some weird scale, it really does convert to a percentage! So anything less than 87.5 % (3.5/4.0) is seen as proof of retardedness!!
I also get the impression that anything less than 3.0/4.0, or 75 % at an American university means your degree is toilet paper, even if you went to Harvard. I struggle to figure out how easy American exams can be if any score lower than 75 % means you have pretty much failed.
Also you have to take in to account that in countries like the UK, every course has one exam at the end which usually constitutes most of the grade for the course. At my one it was usually 80 % one final exam / 20 % coursework. Sometimes 100 %, a few times 50 %, but never lower.
In the USA, even at MIT, it's usually some goody bag of 20 % homework (and they ignore your lowest marked problem set), 30 % final exam, 10 % each from two mid terms, 20 % attendance, 20 % putting your hand up in class. Yeah, that does add up to 110 %, but most American teachers are "new age inspired by hollywood teachers" so they'll give students that sort of leeway.
>>7750714
4.0 scale does not convert to a percentage except for introductory classes and high school.
>>7750714
Not how my school works at all. We do 30% exams, 30% hw, and 20% for each midterm(at least in math department). Exam averages are normally between 40% and 60%. Granted, I'm at Purdue. And we're kinda infamous for not giving into the grade inflation bullshit.
>>7750714
Here in Mexico is similar. We always use a base 10 grading. So 6 is sufficient to pass a course, 7 is good, and if you get an average of 8 in each course on every semester you get a scholarship which is very helpful for people that come from very far away or from a poor family.
The smallest percentage for an exam in my school is 50% but it's CE so homework is always about projects or tons of equations (if it's calculus or discrete math).
>>7750744
in the UK science is normall 100% exam apart from third year on when it will be 40% thesis 60% exam
>>7750714
>In the USA, even at MIT, it's usually some goody bag of 20 % homework (and they ignore your lowest marked problem set), 30 % final exam, 10 % each from two mid terms, 20 % attendance, 20 % putting your hand up in class.
Try taking that last 40% and distributing it to the mid term and final and you have something accurate. Attendance/hand raising is never more than 5% total and only for a select few classes. Most graduate classes here are 70% problem sets and the last 30% are notes.
From where im from, 90% is an A, 60% is an F. Which was why i was a bit confused.
>>7750695
class averages at my state university are normally 60-70 range
>>7750765
>notes
I've never seen that. Graduate classes are consistently 100% problem sets.
1 People who do poorly don't get on the internet and brag about it.
2 a 70% in the US is what's required to pass most courses
>>7750731
Tell that to my friends applying for US for Erasmus year where they need 8/10 to even consider applying when it's barely attainable.
>>7750744
>two midterms
wouldn't it be a thirdterm and a two-thirdsterm
>>7750830
this lol
>study maths
>get consistent 60-90% grades depending on the classes
>average 75%
>look at options to do a year abroad
>lol fuck you you retard straight A students only
if someone told me this before maybe i'd have put in an effort
>>7752366
http://www.mccme.ru/mathinmoscow/
>70% is good
What kind of retarded grading system would pat you on the back for only knowing 2/3rds of the material?
>>7750695
People who get bad grades are normies
Normies don't post here
Therefore we get good grades
>>7752381
>>7752381
I currently have a 1.93 GPA in chemical engineering because all I did in my freshman year was get high and party, so I'm a normie.
Dunno about the US, but grades are definitely not that high in engineering programs in Canada. Our average for chem eng is around a 2.7 and that's after curving courses as well (some final exams are fucking pissening and the profs usually scrap them and just give everyone a free 50 or something). Shit is fucking hard, our pass is a mere 60%, anything above a 3.0 is considered good tier.
