each country has its own system for school marks, can you explain me how does it work in yours?
In Italy marks are form 0 to 10:
0 – you don’t open your mouth
1 – you open your mouth but all you say is wrong
2 – you say something but you’re sleeping and you talk about the last football match
3 – seriously low
4 – less seriously low
5 – nearly pass mark
6 – pass mark
7 – fair
8 – good
9 – over every forecast (I took this one from “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”)
10 – excellent
usually teachers never give 0, 1 or 2
with this numbers, teachers use ½, + and –
½ means + 0.5. e.g. 8 ½ = 8.5
means + 0.1 e.g. 8+ = 8.1
8++ = 8.2
– means – 0.1 e.g. 8– = 7.9
8– – = 7.8
In Canada the system is left up to each individual school. My highschool was on a 5 point system for overall marks, but the standard letter system for individual marks. Colleges and universities can use either 4 or 5 point grade systems, and most still use the letter system as well. I know of a couple of universities that use a 7 or 9 point system. Even the letter grade system varies from school to school… so I guess there is no absolute standard
I think it was the traditional system in Germany, wasn’t it?
I know a little song that shows that a “4” was not so “genügend” :
Und der Fritz auf der Schule
Schrieb im Aufsatz 'ne Vier
Und da spielte ihm der Vater
Auf dem Südpol Klavier
(I can only translate it into French. Can you please translate it into English?)
“Et François à l’école
Eut un Quatre pour son devoir
Alors son père lui joua
Du piano sur le “Pôle Sud” (= le postérieur)”
