Grading System//Grading Scheme//converting grade to marks

 

Grading in education refers to classification of students into categories according to their level of achievement in examination.

Grading system was developed by William Farish and first implemented by the University of Cambridge in 1792.

In India, following the introduction of CCE, CBSE started using the grading system with 9 point grading scale from the academic year 2010 -11 for standard 6^th to 10^th. Tamil Nadu government too is following the grading system from 2012-13 for standards l to VIII and from 2013-14 for standards 9^th and 10^th.

Grading Scheme:

Important features of the grading scheme followed by Tamil Nadu government are

• All the students will be awarded only grades and not marks in their certificates and school records of achievements.
• The practice of declaring pass or fail has been stopped.
• The result of candidates regarding their achievement is declared in 2 categories.
• Eligible for qualifying certificate 
• Advised to improve performance.
• There will be no mentioning like overall marks, only grade point, average [GPA] is mentioned.
• Marks obtained by students are to be transformed into a 9 point scale and the grade corresponding to level of achievement be marked.

Table illustrating the 9 point grading scale

Marks range	Grade	Grade Point	Verbal Discrimination of grades
91 -100	A1	10.0	Excellent
81 -90	A2	9.0	Very Good
71 -80	B1	8.0	Good
61 -70	B2	7.0	Good
51 -60	C1	6.0	Fair
41 -50	C2	5.0	Fair
31 -40	D1	4.0	Adequate Performance
21 -30	E1	No grade point	Inadequate Performance; needs improvement
0 -20	E2	No grade point	Poor Performance; needs huge improvement

 

• Students whose achievement level is below the grade ‘D’, in any one or in all   subjects, will now have 5 chances to improve their performance without wasting a year.

How to Calculate??

Calculating the percentage of mark for one subject

Formula:

Percentage of marks in a subject

      =Grade point in the subject X 9.5

Calculating Grade Point Average:

Cumulative Grade point average(CGPA)

= Cumulative grade points (CGP)

Total number of subjects

Note: CGP is the total of the grade points obtained in all the subjects.

Calculating the overall percentage:

Overall percentage of marks

= grade Point Average (CGPA) X 9.5

Uses of grading system

• It reduces the mental stress of students.
• A student’s grade does not get influenced by the achievement level of other students.
• Grades reduce the difference between the student’s attainments and place them all equally.
• It avoids competition among students. So they actively help each other in learning.
• Students who fail to achieve are given a chance to improve their performance and get admitted to next higher class without wasting and academic year.

Conclusion:

Thus grading system has numerous benefits that promote achievement of all students. It increases a teacher’s ability to communicate with student and parent about student’s success. It also provides parents with a detailed analysis of their student’s progress.