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Grading scale at SFU
  • goliath
    Posts: 16
    Hey guys I have been trying to look all over the place to see what a certain percentage constitutes as a letter grade at sfu but I can't seem to find anything. They give you how much each grade is worth in regards to GPA but nothing for how much a percent is worth as a grade. Anyone have any info on this?
  • Malakaiii
    Posts: 1,401
    It depends on the faculty and the prof. The prof will give you this information on the outline at the beginning of the term, but you can also search for course outlines on the SFU website (if you'd like to know before signing up for a class, for example).
  • goliath
    Posts: 16
    I looked on the course outline nothing there. Even on the website couldn't find anything there I guess I'll just try calling tommorow morning and asking them.
  • Malakaiii
    Posts: 1,401
    Which course is it for?
  • gawdawaful
    Posts: 174
    Depends on faculty. If not by distribution (ie. top w/e % gets As, then Bs, then Cs,)
    95-100 = A+
    90-94 = A
    85-89 = A-
    80-84 = B+
    75-79 = B
    70-74 = B-
    65-69 = C+
    60-64 = C
    55-59 = C-
    50-54 = D
    GPA goes down by 0.33 starting from 4.33 for A+. Gap between C- (1.66) and D (1) is bigger.
  • goliath
    Posts: 16
    its for psyc 201 with jodi vljoen...thanks for the info gawdawaful
  • Insatiable
    Posts: 753
    gawdawaful said:
    Depends on faculty. If not by distribution (ie. top w/e % gets As, then Bs, then Cs,)
    95-100 = A+
    90-94 = A
    85-89 = A-
    80-84 = B+
    75-79 = B
    70-74 = B-
    65-69 = C+
    60-64 = C
    55-59 = C-
    50-54 = D
    GPA goes down by 0.33 starting from 4.33 for A+. Gap between C- (1.66) and D (1) is bigger.


    Wrong, that's either the scale for criminology or something you took from a college. For psychology at SFU, the scale is different:

    90+ = A+
    85-89 = A
    80-84 = A-

    and I forget the rest, but I think it goes like this:

    78-79 = B+
    75-77 = B
    70-74 = B-

    and the rest is the same. What gawdawaful stated is for the School of Criminology and as you can see, it's tougher to do well given that there is less room for error (us criminology majors have it TOUGH, trust me!). It is also the scale that most colleges use.

    What I stated applies to most of the social sciences including psychology. Political science is a bit different--a bit harder to do well, but there is slightly more room for error than for criminology (I think the cut-off for an A- is 82%).
  • Insatiable
    Posts: 753
    goliath said:
    its for psyc 201 with jodi vljoen...thanks for the info gawdawaful


    Buddy, I took Psyc 201 last semseter. Read my earlier post, I can assure you that it's that.
  • Malakaiii
    Posts: 1,401
    From Viljoen's outline Fall 2006:

    "Approximately 18% of the class will receive grades in the A range, 38% in the B range, 32% in the C range, 8% in the D range and 4% in the F range"
  • gawdawaful
    Posts: 174
    Psyc is always on a distribution. Besides my two intro psych courses, nothing is written solid. Hence where I said depends on your faculty.

    What I provided as far as I know, what was used in all of my crim, SA, Eng, and Hist that I've taken.
    And yah, poli-sci cut off is lower for As and such.
  • Goonish
    Posts: 36
    Malakaiii said:
    From Viljoen's outline Fall 2006:

    "Approximately 18% of the class will receive grades in the A range, 38% in the B range, 32% in the C range, 8% in the D range and 4% in the F range"

    4% of the class will fail it and 12% will have to retake the course if it's a prerequisite? Whoa, that is one EASY class. I've taken courses with 60% failure rates...
  • NukeChem
    Posts: 1,108
    In science classes the grades one gets are usually normalized by this magic black box of a computer program, and in doing so the marks are then re-binned to some sort of standard.

    So although the department might say 86% is an A- cutoff, your real mark might have been 67% and then curved to hell and back to change it magically to an 86% because compared to the rest of your classmates your work was A- worthy.

    It really is a lot murkier in university and it's easy to see why so many students play games with their professors to try and get extra marks.
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