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What Is A Passing Grade In Middle School?

Proper education is the key to leading a fulfilling and happy life as it is more likely to contribute to job security, financial stability, and certain life skills that leave one feeling satisfied and healthy.

What Is A Passing Grade In Middle School

In countries such as the United States, there is an extensive public school system that begins in kindergarten at the age of 5 and continues until the student is in 12th grade at the age of 18.

Middle school students are typically between the ages of 10 and 15.

As there are no federal laws that require a certain grading system in schools, almost every institution will have its own rules and scales to calculate how well a student is performing. 

In this article, we are going to look at the general passing grade for a middle school student. 

When Do You Attend Middle School?

For those that need reminding, middle school refers to those attending school between the 5th and 9th grades.

Here, students are pre-adolescents and young adolescents that are learning and navigating their way through the world before they start high school. 

The Typical US Grading System 

In general, the U.S. grading system is split into numerical values and letter grades.

The letter grades are typically used for tests and coursework, whereas the numerical values contribute toward their overall grade point average or GPA.

Letter Grades

Starting with letter grades, these run from A to F and skip out the E. Grade A is the highest and demonstrates that the student is performing particularly well, achieving between 90-100% in tests and coursework projects. 

Numerical Grades

Numerical grades range between 0 and 100 and these are used to indicate how many questions a student has answered correctly.

These are displayed next to the letter grade and are used to convert your overall scores to a grade point average. 

What Is A Passing Grade?

On the whole, grade D is considered to be the lowest qualifying grade in American educational institutions. These grades can fluctuate between 59% to 69% depending on the percentile range. 

Some argue that a passing grade should be 65%, but that depends on the specific school. Certain schools may require you to have a GPA of 2.5 or higher, which is the equivalent of a ‘C’ average. 

A failing grade on the other hand can be considered anywhere between 0-59% and is awarded an ‘F’ grade.

No matter the percentage score you receive, an F grade always automatically presents a failing grade in any American school. 

Why It’s Important To Aim For High Grades

When a student shows hard work and determination to achieve higher grades in middle school, this work ethic will likely reflect the same grades in high school. Middle school is an important point of intervention for students. 

Research has found that students in eighth grade who have a GPA of 3.0, have a moderate chance of achieving this GPA in high school.

Those that do well in high school also have a higher chance of being accepted into a good college. 

How To Achieve Better Grades

Here are our top tips on how to improve your grades and go from merely passing your classes to excelling in your classes. 

Talk To Your Teachers

Talking to your teachers is the first step towards achieving better grades.

They harbor a wealth of information and useful tips on how to improve in their specific classes, this could be anything from extra reading to attending study groups. 

Making your teachers aware that you are doing everything possible to improve your grades shows your willingness to learn.

Developing a good relationship with your teachers is crucial to improving your grades. 

Pinpoint Areas That Need Work

Rather than focusing on every class equally, turn your attention to those that need improvement.

Everyone has particular strengths and subjects they find easier than others, focusing on the ones you find harder and generally score lower in will be beneficial for bringing up your overall grades. 

Get Organized

Organization is the key to success. Rather than leaving assignments to the last minute and not leaving enough time to study for tests at the weekend, make sure you plan your weekends around school work and ensure you have enough time to do a decent amount. 

Depending on your other responsibilities and commitments, maximize your free time after school too. One of the best ways to organize yourself is to obtain a planner or diary that you can refer to often. 

Keep a note of when your tests are, and which activities you have when, whilst allowing yourself to have some much-needed downtime too. 

What Learning Style Should You Use?

In order to make your life easier, it’s important to work smarter, not harder.

By identifying your learning style, you can learn class materials much more effectively and reduce the amount of time you waste trying to remember facts or work out problems. 

There are four main learning styles: 

  1. Visual learners
  2. Auditory learners
  3. Kinesthetic learners
  4. Reading/writing learners 

To find out which type of learner you are, you can ask a teacher to help you identify this or take a simple online test that will have you answer a few questions.

When you know which type of learner you are, you can adopt certain strategies to improve your grades. 

Make Use Of School Resources

Find out if there are any free school resources available that you can utilize. This could be anything from books, online learning portals, extra tutoring sessions, or after-school classes.

These resources will depend on the individual school as some receive better funding than others. 

The Bottom Line

Generally speaking, a D grade is considered to be a passing grade for most middle school students. Each state and school can set its own grade boundaries and pass grade levels as they please.C

heck with your institution to find out the grades you need to pass middle school.

Simon Lewis

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