Jule made the Honor Roll!

I received Jule's grades last week as well and attended my first "parent-teacher conference" at Jule's school.  I am happy to report that I have an HONOR ROLL STUDENT!

Making the "honor roll" is a big deal in American schools.  This means that Jule is one of the top students in the school and has over a 3.5 grade point average.  Usually students get special recognition at the end of the year and their names printed in the newspaper!  This is also something that they place on college/university applications.  See below for an explanation of American school grading.

In America, we have only four passing grades.
A = 90% to 100% = 4 points
B = 80% to 89.9 % = 3 points
C = 70% to 79.9% = 2 points
D = 60% to 69.9% = 1 point
F = 0% to 59.9% (this is a failing grade) = 0 points

So Jule has seven classes.  She made six A's (24 points) and one C (2 points).  Her GPA (grade point average) is therefore (24 + 2) / 7 classes = 3.7 grade point average.

Why did Jule get a C in a class?  Well, first let me say that her grade was 79.2% -- so ALMOST a B if you look at the chart above.  However, you should know that this class is a 12th grade Anatomy class and is VERY hard.  Her "C" grade was exceptional considering the difficulty + the issues with translating medical terms.

Jule has told me that she's doing better in school here than in Germany as far as grades are concerned.  You may think that American school is just easy, but you should ask her about the differences between our schools and German studies.  Jule's books are HUGE in comparison to her German books.  She reads quite a bit.  She also has many tests (sometimes one test per week in each class) as well as big class projects and quizzes and writing assignments.  In addition, she has each class every day.  Usually when an assignment is given, it is due the next day.  So, perhaps American school is NOT that easy!  She is doing VERY well!