"Bad Grades" in Japan

[Mike Cash]

renren wrote:
for english exams yea but not math, science etc exams unless the teacher is crazy lol. also they prob check for punctuatoin and capitalization on english related exams like sociology....maybe im not entirely sure. hope that helped

Nice to see that America isn't the only country in which English skills have gone to hell in a handbasket.

[paul_b]

Infidel wrote:
I must admit, a certian dependence on [...]

Actually, just today, I was noticing an increased propensity for doubling consonants when not necessary. Brittish was another error that was pointed out to me. I'm not sure where this came from, but it is a new bad habit.

What about reversing vowel pairs?

Well seeing as I've been mean I should confess to my words bad habit - apostrophes. It's not so much my understanding of what is correct but a bad typing habit. My fingers insert 's where 's should not be inserted. If I read my text after posting it it usually sticks out like a sore thumb but by then it may be too late.

I also 'Google spellcheck' words I'm not sure of all the time. It's a lot faster than using a real dictionary site.

[Infidel]

What about reversing vowel pairs?

That's an old mental blind spot and I think part of the reason they told me I was dyslexic when I was in 1st grade. The right way looks wrong and the wrong way looks right. When I spell the word correctly is when I get this overpowering feeling on wrongness. I was put in special reading classes and put through all sorts of corrective programs until 3rd grade. There are certainly some serious blindspots that I have when writing that makes me almost an invalid without a spellcheck.

As an adult, I've never gone in for confirmation that I'm dyslexic. If I was ever diagnosed as dyslexic I don't remember it, only my parents and teachers telling me I was. I feel functional enough, and seeking confirmation now would feel more like I was fishing for some sort of excuse for my weaknesses. I don't feel crippled, but I've never been able to remember spelling memnonics. I is before e except after z or e or something... Someone always tells me, and I always forget 15 minutes later. The only spelling memnonic I remember was given to me in 3rd grade. Spell wednesday as Wed nes day. I can even hear my teacher saying it still.

I don't get upset at corrections. It's always my goal to be better every day than the one before, and having someone point out my mistakes always seems to make the corrections stick better, so I'll never take offense at corrections. Unfortunatly, all to often, I'll still forget.

Hopefully, there are now 2 words I will spell correctly more often now.

[Kagemaru]

Here is how I evaluate pupil scores at senior high school.

4 semesters for 高校２年
3 semesters for 高校３年

Each semester has a 1 mid term, 1 final term examination with 2 pop quizes.

Mid terms 中間 and final terms 期末 are scored out of 70 points, 20 points allocated for quiz scores, 10 points for homework completion (inclusive of assignments)平叙点. All scores as a maximum.

All as point scores. None stressed as a percentage.

Therefore:

Mid term score + final term score / 2 x 0.7 + quiz score and homework score.

For the final year score multiply all scores x 4

3 semesters for ３年 due to University entrance exams.

[tanuki]

Homework had also a pretty big impact on our notes in my school. And you would get in trouble if you didn't go to classes or weren't punctual too many times.

Now, in university, it pretty much depends on the professor.

[Yudan Taiteki]

Firefox 2.0 has an automatic spellchecker for forms, which comes in handy in forum posting.

(Unfortunately it also seems to have a 100% CPU bug but not everyone has that problem.)

[Chris Hart]

Where I went to school, the only part of the grades that was set by the school was the scale. IIRC, 93+ = A, 85+=B, 78+=C, 70+=D, <70=F. Attendance was not part of the grade directly, but if you had an unexcused absence, or were tardy too much, you would have detention, or be suspended, depending on severity of the problem. If a student was suspended, the couldn't make up any of the work for while they were out. A suspension usually would last for a week. Most classes had graded homework due daily, and a test every other week. Excused absences (Funeral, illness) generally resulted in due dates being pushed back for the same duration as the absense. (a week off for chicken pox resulted in a week later due date for what was assigned before the absence, and what was assigned durring it.) Most teachers would try to find another student (either a sibling or a neighbor) to bring the work to the student, so they wouldn't be too far behind.

[Infidel]

Yes firefox 2 does. But firefox 2 doesn't have a port for flash drives yet. I use firefox off my flash drive, and right now the only portable version of firefox is 1.5x

[flammable hippo]

Hw for me definately depends on the class. For global history, hw counts MORE than tests. Our teacher grades on a point system where everything is assigned a certain amount of points and at the end of the quarter she tallies them up and divides it by the total number of points you could have gotten and that percentage is our grade. Hw is usually between 100-150 a piece while tests and essays are always 100. Quizes are usually around 20. Plus, tests are infrequent while hw is practically constantly assigned. It pretty much works in our favor.

But for my chem class, tests count for the vast majority of my grade. I almost NEVER do my chem homework but I get 90's and above on tests all the time so I'm set for that class.

For math hw only counts for about 20 percent of my grade and quizes another 20. Tests take up the remaining 60 percent and they are usually challenging. Honors math is tough...Normally I range somewhere between 60-85 percent right which believe it or not is usually above average (he tells us this stuff). Luckily, the class is curved so while I should be getting probably a B-/C+ I am actually getting an A- .

All my other classes are fairly balanced between h.w and tests except maybe orchestra and gym which basically all you have to do is show up and pay attention (well we do have playing exams in orchestra and we do have to attend extra lessions during free periods...)

[Kdar]

In japan do they use letter grading system? like A, B, C, D, F... etc.. Like in America?

Or is it 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.. etc...?

----

Oh also.. Another question about Japanese High School..

I was chatting with someone from Japan on Skype.

And that person is going to some school.. only on Tuesdays and Fridays for 8 hours each day?

Whats up with this?

[Mike Cash]

Kdar wrote:
In japan do they use letter grading system? like A, B, C, D, F... etc.. Like in America?

Or is it 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.. etc...?

It's 1-5, but that doesn't begin to tell the tale.

Students are evaluated on a curve, based on how well they did compared with their classmates.

I recall a junior high teacher once telling me she broke it down like this:

10% of the class gets a 5
20% of the class gets a 4
40% of the class gets a 3
20% of the class gets a 2
10% of the class gets a 1

I'm not saying that was universal, just the way one teacher told me she did it.

So the grades are based on a relative scale, not an absolute scale. Understand this and you'll understand why Japan makes such a honking big deal out of what school a kid goes to.

To illustrate:

Imagine two schools and imagine that they give their students the same tests. You attend School "A" and your friend attends School "B".

In your class, as luck would have it, are a bunch of super brainiacs who always score near 100% on all their tests. You always bring up the rear, but still turn in scores of 90%+.

You get a 1.

In your friend's class are a bunch of dumbasses who have to be reminded to breathe. They're lucky if they get 20-30% on their tests. Your friend, on the other hand, is a bit brighter and always gets 40%.

He gets a 5.

Despite the fact that you've been running circles around him academically, he has a far better looking transcript than you do. As a tool for objective evaluation of the sort of education either of you has received, the transcript is rendered worthless. That's how the reputation of the school becomes so important.

[Kdar]

Ah.. interesting.

Oh also.. Another question about Japanese High School..

I was chatting with someone from Japan on Skype.

And that person is going to some school.. only on Tuesdays and Fridays for 8 hours each day?

Whats up with this?

Is it usual? or why it just two days a week?

[suhui]

How about universities?

[Dehitay]

Kdar wrote:
In japan do they use letter grading system? like A, B, C, D, F... etc.. Like in America?

Or is it 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.. etc...?

----

Oh also.. Another question about Japanese High School..

I was chatting with someone from Japan on Skype.

And that person is going to some school.. only on Tuesdays and Fridays for 8 hours each day?

Whats up with this?

2 things pop into my mind.
1) he goes to a university and purposely scheduled all his classes on 2 days like a lot of students do here at Texas Tech
2) he goes to a trade school, language school, tutoring school, or something like that

[Kdar]

Dehitay wrote:

Kdar wrote:
In japan do they use letter grading system? like A, B, C, D, F... etc.. Like in America?

Or is it 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.. etc...?

----

Oh also.. Another question about Japanese High School..

I was chatting with someone from Japan on Skype.

And that person is going to some school.. only on Tuesdays and Fridays for 8 hours each day?

Whats up with this?

2 things pop into my mind.
1) he goes to a university and purposely scheduled all his classes on 2 days like a lot of students do here at Texas Tech
2) he goes to a trade school, language school, tutoring school, or something like that

she is in High School. Not in college or in university yet.
I guess it some kind of specialized school then.