Transcript question re: GPA & college-entrance exams

[Michelle in MO]

I made up transcripts and report cards for all three girls in June; we've enrolled them in a private school beginning in August. I've already sent the paperwork off to the school, but I do have a question re: college-entrance exams like the ACT and the PSAT and GPA's.

 

Is there a website that shows an approximation of a student's GPA in school and what type of ACT/PSAT/SAT score would be expected---or vice-versa (in other words, if a student received a certain score on the ACT, what GPA range would that student typically be in).

 

I don't believe in grade inflation, so I've tended to grade everything with a strict percentage. I didn't give them a stellar grade for Latin, either. So, my overall calculations gave my oldest a good GPA, but not "tops". However, she tends to do well on standardized tests. I didn't "weight" any grades, but simply graded everything on a 4.0 scale. (As an aside, I honestly don't understand our local p.s.'s grading system---the valedictorian and salutatorian graduating with a 16.3-something GPA. What does that mean?). I put a ** by the Omnibus class for this year only as a possible honors class and left it up to the school we're enrolling them in, whether or not they want to weight that grade.

 

I don't know if I'm making sense. I've always thought---the grade they get is the grade they get; no inflation. My question may sound strange, but am I doing the oldest, in particular, a disservice if her test scores are better than what her GPA reflects? (She didn't score through the roof or anything, but did pretty good.)

 

Like I said, I've already sent off the paperwork. I'm wondering, though, how much colleges look at GPA's and how much they look at test scores. She'll obviously have a couple years at the private school, and they'll take over calculating her GPA from there. I'm not looking to inflate her grade; I'm just wondering if I was pretty much "on track" with how I calculated her GPA or not, compared to the test scores. The scale I used was like the scale used by the private, Catholic school they'll be attending: A=100-94 (or 93?), etc.

 

Or---should I just call the school counselor and ask her?

[Chris in VA]

I've never heard of a website that does that--I think it might be impossible, because the GPA is not standardized as the tests are.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Also, courses aren't the same across the board. Some are going to be tougher than others even with the same name. ANd then there is all the AP, Honors, Reg, whatever designations, but and A is an A even though obviously someone in an AP course had to work a lot harder than someone in the "stars" program (student retention program) to get an A. My sister enjoyed her easy A's. I enjoyed my slightly harder to get A's. But in the end, we both had A's...And test scores? well, those just really depend. I don't think they correspond to A's....or not.

[Michelle in MO]

that's the reason for these strange-looking GPA's I see coming out of our high school. I really don't know what a GPA of 16.4 means! I'm used to the standard 4.0 scale, which is what colleges use, and it's the same scale that the private school that our girls will be attending uses. I know on my dd's transcript that I didn't give her any weighted grades, and there was honestly only the one class that I felt we had done sufficient work to make it merit an honors-level course, and even that I'm leaving up to the h.s. for their decision/designation.

 

Thank you both for this information; it makes total sense. GPA's couldn't be standardized, because not all schools and classes are equivalent. I guess I was just wondering if I was in the ballpark when I gave my oldest her grades for 9th and 10th grade. I think I'll call the school counselor today, just to double-check.

[outtamyshell]

I've wondered about the same thing. I feel like the grades I give are so arbitrary. Sometimes I don't feel the grade she ends up with reflects her level of learning or work. Everything I've been reading lately says that gpa is a better indicator of college success than test scores. That was the rationale for Wake Forest, etc to stop using test scores. So I worry about being too difficult a grader and making her look bad. I have decided to treat college level classes as honors and weight her gpa accordingly. But the college we are considering doesn't count weighted grades. I don't know if that's normal or not.

 

I did find a chart with gpa's and corresponding ACT scores. Maybe this will help.

http://www.powerprep.com/schools/actdemo/actimpro.htm

 

ACT Scores by High School GPAHigh School GPAAverage ACT Score2.1162.4172.6192.7202.8213.0223.1233.2243.3253.4263.6273.7283.8303.9314.032

[outtamyshell]

Well, the chart didn't paste into the message very well. But I did include the link.

[JFSinIL]

I think the test scores are to show if the kid lives up to the GPA or not - some school/classes may be heavy on the "A"s...but will those kids do as well on the ACT etc. as the kid who took hard courses and only got "B"s or "C"s??? ;)

 

GPA is no predictor of test results. I was a low "C" student in high school (I HATED school) yet aced the language portion of the SAT (average on math bit...although I took only one semester of remedial math in high school! This was waaaay back before you had to take three years of math to graduate!!!). Later I got a perfect score on the GRE.

 

A friend I have did not even go to high school yet got a 32 on the ACT.

 

Both of us were, and still are, voracious readers.

[Michelle in MO]

in Minnesota--St. Olaf--and they adjusted weighted scores for a regular grade based on a 4.0 score. When I made up my dd's transcript, I didn't weight any scores; I just put a couple of asterisks by one class (Omnibus II) that I felt we had really done an outstanding job with, along with a note to the guidance counselor that I would leave the decision whether or not to count this as a weighted grade up to her discretion.

 

I guess that was my worry: am I being too hard on her grades and not giving her due credit??

 

Outtamyshell, according to the link you provided, I've graded my dd too low! Thanks for giving us the link!