#trending: 'Unreasonable' grading scale for NUS module sparks outrage; faculty calls it a 'miscommunication'

SINGAPORE — A recent Reddit post has some university students up in arms over an alleged grading scale for a psychology course offered at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Reddit user "No-Cry6243" had posted what seems like a screenshot of a document showing the grading system for the course PL3104: Developmental Psychology in the NUS subreddit on Sunday (Aug 13).

Listed under "Course Final Grading Scale", it states that only a score from 90 to 100 will earn an A grade for the course — specifically, students would have to obtain a score of 97 to 100 for an A+, 93 to 96 for an A and 90 to 92 for an A-.

Likewise, B grades would be assigned for scores from 80 to 89, C grades for scores from 70 to 79, and D grades for scores from 60 to 69. Anything below 60 would be a failing grade.

The notes in the document read: "Grades are not curved. There are no exceptions.

"There is absolutely no reason to come and argue for extra points — the posted grades are FINAL."

Referring to the document, Redditor "No-Cry6243" asked: "Is this even a reasonable grading scale? ... What is this, is everyone getting Cs and below this semester?"

As of Thursday evening, the post has garnered 434 upvotes and 105 comments.

Fellow students in the Reddit thread were similarly taken aback by the "extreme" and "unfair" grading criteria, since it is not common in NUS — or the Singapore education system in general, some said — to receive such high numerical scores.

A top comment read: "What is this madness... You sure the person who made this isn't drunk or trolling?"

Another joked: "Maybe y'all (are) part of her developmental psych experiment. Record how y'all react to this."

Others pointed out that the document did not make any sense because "there is no C- or D- on the actual NUS grading scale".

Information on the NUS Registar's Office website showed that an NUS student receives a letter grade for each course, which corresponds to a grade point. The weighted average grade point of all courses taken by the student then makes their Grade Point Average (GPA), formerly named Cumulative Average Point (CAP).

Under the university's 5.0 scale grading system, a GPA of 3.50 (B grade) and above would receive academic merit, while a GPA of below 3.00 (B- grade) would be subpar.

In response, a Reddit user named "No-Cry6243" said: "I don't think (the professor) discussed this grading scale with ANYONE in the (psychology) department at all prior to uploading this document. I'm hoping she gets some sense knocked into her and revises her grading scale because what the heck is she expecting?"

One Reddit user's estimated: "Almost everyone maximum can get B only, leh."

However, a sizeable portion of users also dismissed the criticisms, saying that the grading scale in question was "normal" and "standard" for students in the United States, from elementary school to college level.

One wrote: "This is literally the exact grading system we have in the US, lol. What's this fuss about?"

The reply was downvoted and students here quickly hit back.

In response to another comment from an American student, one Singaporean student said that it must be easy work for students in American universities. "We literally only come close to this sort of standard in Primary 1, seven years old, when even A was considered to be above 85, and A-star above 91.

"We must be having way harder classes."

Another remarked: "I thought this was normal for US schools then realised this subreddit was NUS. For Singapore, this is crazy, lah."

Still, some Singaporean students also suggested that in using the American grading scale, the professor would most likely also be "more lenient" in giving students higher numerical scores.

One NUS alumnus recalled that they had had an American professor who graded similarly, saying: "To be fair, his exams were really easy for a Level-4000 module and a lot of people got As and Bs."

At NUS, Level 4000 is considered the highest course level an undergraduate can pursue.

Thankfully, Redditor "No-Cry6243" mentioned in the thread on Monday that the matter had been "settled by the professor and (they) were relieved".

On Tuesday, the official Reddit account of the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), which oversees the department of psychology, responded to the post.

"The NUS department of psychology has clarified with students that the grading criteria in the document is incorrect and they should disregard the information in the document," it wrote.

"We apologise for any confusion or anxiety caused by this miscommunication."

A spokesperson from NUS FASS confirmed that they had met with the students to clarify the situation.

"There are university guidelines on grading schemes for all courses," added the spokesperson.