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Grading System in Education
Dr. Sanjay Kumar Pandagale
INTRODUCTION
• Examination is the most crucial component of the 'teaching learning process.
• The general practice in the existing examinations is that the students are
assessed by assigning marks to their answer scripts.
• Assigning numerical marks to students suffers from various types of flaws
and need reforms.
• One of the reforms suggested is to use grading system instead of marking
system.
LIMITATIONS OF MARKING SYSTEM
• Examination system awards marks to the answer scripts.
• In a 100 marks test score from 0 to 100 is possible. Thus, 101 units of
measurement are theoretically possible.
• This type of scoring is often called as 101 point scale.
The marking system is
based on two
assumptions
Human qualities can be measured and therefore quantified
Mathematical precision is required for objective assessment of human
qualities
LIMITATIONS OF MARKING SYSTEM
• A score of 33 is superior to a score of 32.
• 33 is ‘pass’ score whereas 32 is ‘fail’.
• Such type of interpretation cannot be justified due to the following reasons:
Our natural perception about quality of any thing is qualitative rather than
quantitative and it is often represented in terms of adjectives like good, bad, excellent etc.
rather than 32 and 33.
Many of the human traits cannot and should not be measured in quantitative terms
and therefore all learning outcomes cannot be assessed by adopting marking system.
Though marks are considered as absolute and precise measure of a student’s
performance but in reality, they are merely an estimation of a student’s performance.
Point
01
• There is lot of variation in
marking by different
examiners. Empirical
studies point out that error
in marking of 55 percent of
examinees was between 5
to 7 percent and 'when
photocopies of the same
answer scripts were sent to
90 experienced examiners,
the average marks awarded
to the 10 scripts ranged
from 8 to 22 out of 50.
Explanation
• Marks in different subjects
are based on different
scales. Some subjects are
considered as high scoring
subjects whereas some are
not. It is quite possible to
award a score of 0 or even
100
in a script of Mathematics while
getting 100 marks in a test of a
language or social studies is
almost impossible and therefore
even if we adopt a 101 point
scale in all the subjects, the
actual scoring range for set of
one examinees may be 0 to 100
whereas for others it may be
only 20-80 or so. Therefore, the
scores are not equitable and
should not be added up to get an
overall index of a student's level
of achievement, otherwise it may
lead to various types of physical
and emotional problems/stresses
among the examinees.
• Marks obtained in different
years in the same courses of
study are also not the true
measure of students' level of
achievement or
Point
01
proficiency in the course
because of the varying
standard of question papers in
different years. In many of
the public examinations, there
is a provision of grace marks.
Grace marks are arbitrarily
decided quantum of marks,
which can be distributed to
one or more subjects to
change the status of a
student with the addition of
marks (from fail to
compartment, from
compartment to pass and so
on). Thus, grace marks benefit
the borderline cases by
changing their status. This
has been called as
'contamination of marks' and
this reduces them to the
• There are some strong
reservations to call marks as
a true measurement of the
level of performance of
students. It is merely an
estimation of the
performance and many times,
it becomes a fabricated and
false measure. Marking
cannot be considered as a
true and precise measure of
the levels of student's
performance.
WHAT IS GRADING?
• In grading, students are placed in ability bands that represent ranges of scores.
• Each ability band may be designated with a letter, which is called a 'grade.‘ It is
a process of classifying students into different categories based on pre-defined
standard and representing each category by a specific letter.
• Ex. In a group of 100 students, 10 of them got scores of 75 and above, 18 got
scores between 60 and 74, 20 obtained scores between 50 and 59, 34 students
scored between 30 and 49, and 18 obtained scores between 0 and 29. We may
assign grades A, B, C, D and E to these groups as given below:
Scores No. of Students Grades Category Description
75 and above 10 A Outstanding
60-74 14 B Very Good
50-59 24 C Good
30-49 34 D Average
0-29 18 E Below Average
DIRECT AND INDIRECT GRADING
Direct grading: In co-scholastic areas, learning outcome in terms of attitudes,
values, interests, etc. may not be assessed precisely in quantitative terms and thus
it is desirable to assess these qualitatively using observations and experiences
gathered through interaction with the students. If the assessment is reported by
assigning letter grades, like A for 'outstanding', B for 'very good', C for 'good', D
for 'satisfactory' and F for' unsatisfactory‘, the method is known as direct grading.
This method can be used for grading both cognitive and non-cognitive learning
outcomes. But normally used when the number of questions or testing situations
are few and the number of examinees are also few.
Merits:
• it minimizes the inter-examiner variability and
• it is easier to use when compared with other methods of grading.
However, direct grading lacks objectivity and precision and also diagnostic value.
DIRECT AND INDIRECT GRADING
Indirect grading: When we assess students' performance in test in quantitative
terms (i.e. in terms of marks) and then convert it into letter grades by using
different modes. This type of grading is known as 'indirect grading'.
It is generally used in the following situations:
• When the number of subjects (examinees) is large.
• Learning outcomes can be assessed in terms of marks.
• Subjects have appeared in a public examination.
ABSOLUTE GRADING
When grades are assigned based on predefined standard (level of performance)
and each grade is associated with a fixed performance regardless of the
distribution of grades ultimately assigned in the class it is known as absolute
grading.
Here the categories are made based on the existing conventional standard, which is
generally followed in our public examinations, and the criterion for making such
categories is arbitrary.
ABSOLUTE GRADING
Nine categories or nine-point grading:
ABSOLUTE GRADING
Limitations of Absolute Grading:
• Absolute grading cannot be used to know the comparative performance of a
student in different subjects. For example, the distribution of marks in
Mathematics may be 0 to 100 where as in English it may be 20 to 70 and
therefore in one subject many students may get very high grade whereas none
may get very high grade in another. Hence, when a student gets same grades in
two subjects they may not be equivalent.
• It is based on face value of measured scores and therefore ignores the error of
measurement.
• The cut-offs to define standard for making categories are arbitrarily decided,
therefore, they do not have any scientific basis.
ABSOLUTE GRADING
The criterion-referenced evaluation uses the following steps:
• Defining and delimiting the domain of learning tasks to be achieved.
• Defining the instructional objectives in behavioural terms.
• Identifying the standard of performance to be attained.
• Measuring the intended outcomes with a criterion referenced instrument.
Then the students' performance may be assigned letter grades in terms of the degree to which
the objectives have been attained.
Letter Grade Specification
A Outstanding: Student who has mastered all the major and minor objectives of the course.
B Very Good: Student who has mastered the entire major and most of the minor objectives.
C Satisfactory: Student who has mastered all the major objectives but only a few minor.
D Weak: Student who has mastered just a few major and minor objectives needed for next
higher level of instruction.
E Under satisfactory: Student who has failed to achieve any major instructional objectives.
RELATIVE GRADING
• Most of our decisions are based on the relative position of a student in terms of
his/her level of achievement in relation to others.
• This type of evaluation is often known as norm referenced evaluation.
• In this evaluation, we rank the student in a group based on his/her relative level
of achievement.
• The grades, generally known as relative grades or norm-referenced grades may
be assigned in such a situation.
• For this method of grading, a decision is made in advance about approximately
what percentage or proportion of students would be awarded a particular letter
grade based on their relative performance.
RELATIVE GRADING
For example, a decision may be made that top 10% to 20% of the students will be
assigned A grade and so on, as given below:
Grade Relative Performance
A Highest 10% to 20% of students
B Higher 20% to 30% of students
C Next 30% to 50% of students
D Lower 10% to 20% of students
E Lowest 0% to 10% of students
RELATIVE GRADING
Grading on the Curve: Norm Referenced Grading:
The most common method of grading is that of assigning grades based on a
normal curve. That is why this type of grading is often called as grading on the
curve. The normal curve has certain characteristics as follows:
• The curve is symmetrical around its vertical axis called ordinate and is
asymptotic (expends from - ∞ to + ∞).
• For the same distance above and below the mean, same percentage of cases lie
and it is always fixed if the distance is measured in standard deviation unit.
Keeping in view the above two characteristics we may divide the curve into a
desired number of parts each representing a specific category having relative
ranking in terms of level of achievement. For example, we may make the five
categories on the curve as shown below:
RELATIVE GRADING
Grading on the Curve: Norm Referenced Grading:
We may assign A. B, C, D, and E to these five categories as shown-
RELATIVE GRADING
Grading on the Curve: Norm Referenced Grading:
Similarly, the curve may be divided into seven or nine parts.
RELATIVE GRADING
Merits of Relative Grading:
• Relative system is based on the assumption that achievement is normally distributed
and a grade assigned to a particular student reflects his/her position in the group in
terms of his/her level of achievement. In one subject, he/she may be assigned D after
obtaining 35 marks where as in other subject he/she may be assigned E for scoring the
same and therefore no grade signifies the failure of a student. Thus, the negative effect
of pass and fail is completely eliminated by adopting this grading system.
• This grading provides the relative position of different students in a group that is why it
can be used for comparative judgments as required in norms referenced testing.
• Difficulty level of the test does not effect this type of grading because it is based on the
judgments of comparative performance.
• Since this grading is on the normal curve, comparability across the curricular areas is
easily possible.
• Undue emphasis on raw score is minimized.
• Inter examiner variations are also minimized through this grading.
RELATIVE GRADING
Limitations of Relative Grading:
• If the group is small, the assumption about normality of distribution of
achievement is an unrealistic assumption. In such a situation, it is better to
evolve other criteria for assigning grades. This may be done by evolving
consensus among teachers in a school or school complex.
• It fails to provide the level of achievement of any student in absolute term.
GRADING STUDENTS' PERFORMANCE IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF
QUESTIONS
1. Grading Performance in Objective Type Question (Fixed Response
Question):
When the question is objective type it has only two types of responses, one is
wholly correct whereas all others are completely wrong. Thus, it can be graded
only on two-point scale: 1 for correct and 0 (zero) for wrong response. The
combined grade in a test of such questions may be calculated by using the
following formula on a nine-point scale where scale value range from 0 to 8.
𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒 =
𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑙𝑦
Total number of questions of free response types
𝑥 8
Suppose, in a test, a student attempted 15 correct out of 20 questions then his/her
combined grade value will be 6 and grade assigned will be C.
Grade A B C D E F G H I
Grade Value 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
GRADING STUDENTS' PERFORMANCE IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF
QUESTIONS
2. Grading Performance in Free Response Questions):
2.1: Grading performance in essay type questions:
The combined grade in essay type questions may be calculated by using the
following formula:
𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒 =
Sum of the numerical values of the grades in different essay type questions
The total number of essay type questions
Suppose there are five essay type questions and a students get B, C, D, E, and A,
on a nine-point scale (scale value 0-8) in these questions. Then the grade value for
these five grades are 7,6,5,4 and 8 respectively.
𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒 =
7 + 6 + 5 + 4 + 8
5
=
30
5
= 6
GRADING STUDENTS' PERFORMANCE IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF
QUESTIONS
2.2: Grading performance in short answer type questions:
The performance in this type of questions is generally graded on five or three
point scale. The grade value and grade on a five-point scale may be as-
Grade Grade value Description
A 4 Outstanding
B 3 Very Good
C 2 Average
D 1 Marginal
E 0 Poor
𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒 =
Sum of the numerical grade value of short answer questions
Number of short answer questions
𝑥 2
GRADING STUDENTS' PERFORMANCE IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF
QUESTIONS
2.2: Grading performance in short answer type questions:
Suppose if there are 10 short answer questions and they are graded as B, A, C, D,
C, E, B, B, C, and E, their corresponding numerical grade value on a five point
scale (0-4) will be 3, 4, 2, 1, 2, 0, 3, 3, 2, and 0, respectively.
Combined grade value =
3 + 4 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 0 + 3 + 3 + 2 + 0
10
𝑥 2 =
20
10
𝑥 2 = 4
Therefore, the student will get a grade 'E' on a nine-point scale in the test having
10 short answer type questions.
CALCULATING OVERALL GRADES IN A SUBJECT
Type of questions Number of questions Combined grades
obtained by a student
Combined numerical
grade value
Essay type 5 C 6
Short answer type 10 E 4
Objective type 20 C 6
The overall grade obtained by the student in the question paper can be calculated by using the
following formula:
𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒 =
Sum of combined numerical grade values of different question types (on the same scale)
Number of grades to be obtained
CALCULATING OVERALL GRADES IN A SUBJECT
In the above example, we have three different types of questions and their grade
values are given. Now let us apply the above formula.
Overall grade =
6 + 4 + 6
3
=
16
3
= 5.33 = 5
The corresponding grade for numerical grade value of 5 on a nine-point scale (0-
8) is 'D'. Therefore, the overall grade in the test by the student is 'D'.
COMPARISON OF OVERALL PERFORMANCE
If we grade the students by adopting the relative grading method we can compare
the overall performance of the students in different subjects simply by calculating
a new measure known as 'Grade Point Average' (GPA).
The grades obtained by two students in five different subjects on a nine-point scale
(0-8) are shown in the table.
Student Grades awarded in different subjects
Sanskrit Hindi Soc. Studies Science Maths
X A A B C E
Y A B A B B
The numerical grade values for A to I on a nine-point scale (0-8) are given below:
Grade A B C D E F G H I
Grade Value 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
COMPARISON OF OVERALL PERFORMANCE
The GPA can be calculated by using the following formula:
GPA =
Sum of the numerical grade values of different subjects
Number of grades/subjects
By applying this formula, you will get GPA of X and Y students.
GPA of X =
8 + 8 + 7 + 6 + 4
5
=
33
5
= 6.6
GPA of Y =
8 + 7 + 8 + 7 + 7
5
=
37
5
= 7.4
Since the GPA obtained by Y is greater than that obtained by X, the overall
performance of Y is better than that of X.