High School vs. College:
A Comparison of What to Expect
Part IV: Grades and Testing
Grades
High School
College
Professors may
Grades are given for
assign work and
most, if not all,
expect it to be
assigned work.
completed but never
collect or grade it.
High School
College
Homework, quizzes,
Test grades usually
projects, and extra
carry a great amount of
credit often raise a
weight in the final
student’s overall grade grade. Homework may
when test grades are be ungraded and extra
low because many
credit is rarely
assignments are
available. Tests or
averaged into the final papers are often the
grade.
only grades students
get in a class.
High School
College
Teachers inform
students when they Professors expect
are doing poorly and students to keep up
often provide
with their own
opportunities to
grades.
catch up.
High School
College
Putting forth good
effort is important in
Effort often counts,
regard to the
and students who put
professor’s willingness
forth good effort may
to help a student
get a higher grade even
achieve a better grade,
if their performance
but effort will not
does not meet the
substitute for
teacher’s standards.
performance in the
grading process.
High School
College
Report cards and
progress reports are
The university will
sent home to inform
not inform parents
parents or guardians
of grades.
of a student’s
grades.
High School
College
Students with poor
grades must seek
help from the
Teachers will usually professor and other
try to help students in
resources.
many ways to keep
their grades up.
Students can be put
on academic
probation for poor
grades.
High School
College
Students can
Students can
graduate only if their
graduate as long as
grade point average
they have passed all
meets the
required courses
departmental
with a grade of D or
standard (usually a
higher.
2.0 or C).
Testing
High School
College
Tests are generally
infrequent and cover large
amounts of material. A
course might only have 2
or 3 tests in a semester.
Tests are usually frequent
and cover small amounts
of material.
Tests may also be
cumulative, meaning that
students are asked about
material from the entire
semester (even if it has
already been addressed on
an earlier test).
High School
College
Professors put test
Teachers tell
dates on the
students when a test
syllabus and may
is coming up and
never mention it
remind them
again until the day of
frequently.
the test.
High School
College
Professors may or may
not give students a
Teachers almost always study guide and will
tell students what they probably not tell them
need to study for the exactly what to study.
test and often conduct
review sessions to
If a professor offers a
point out the most
review opportunity,
important material.
students are expected
to come prepared with
questions.
High School
College
Professors usually
schedule tests and
assignments without
Teachers often
regard to the
rearrange test dates
demands of other
to avoid conflicts with
courses or outside
school events or tests
activities and are
in other classes.
unlikely to reschedule
a test date due to a
student conflict.
High School
College
Makeup tests are
often available.
Makeup tests are
not usually given. If
they are, the student
needs to request
them.
High School
A low grade on the
first test may not
have a significant
impact on the
student’s final grade.
College
A low grade on the
first test may
substantially impact a
student’s final grade.
Performing well on
the first test may be
very important to
succeeding in the
class.
High School
College
Students are often
expected to reproduce
what they were taught
Students are often
in the same way it was expected to apply what
presented to them.
they have learned to
new situations or to
When taking a test,
solve new kinds of
students must usually problems when taking
solve the same kinds
a test.
of problems they were
shown how to solve.
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