High School Grades in USA

HIGH SCHOOL GRADES in USA | Grade names

Education is compulsory for the students till 16 or 18 (depending on the state).Orderly education system has number distinct stages. Usually students enter to the education at the age of 5 or 6. Students are admitted to the High School grades in term of their age. The students continue studies for one long year. The on successfully passing the grade, he promotes to the next grade. A student starts his education with pre-kindergarten, kindergarten or with first grade. Gradually he completes up to 12th grade & then he is considered to be eligible to attend the admission of higher education.

High school grading system

Once a student completes his primary school, he is considered to be completely ready for the secondary school level. The overall secondary school consists of two programs; first one is “junior high school” or “middle school” and the second one is “high school”.

In high school, students take a large variety of subjects with no specialization on a particular subject/ field. But vocational schools are different in this regard. Students take a number of additional (elective) subjects in addition with the compulsory one to complete the required learning hours. The students’ official transcript will add the high school grade for admission purpose.

The importance of High school grades

High school education is the vital place to enrich with knowledge & to get the guidance of growing as a good human. The grades/ marks reflect how much a student has learned from the concerned class/level.

High school system is the ultimate place where the kid grows to a young adult through continuous learning process. In addition to bookish knowledge, the high schools teach her students how to interact with people, how to deal with social responsibility, how to become a functional adult in the society. It basically creates the base of further career field.

High school learning improves ones thinking sphere. The courses you take help you to enhance problem solving skill by critical thinking. You will learn persistence which will help you to make positive change in life.

Good grades in high school days will boost up the student. It will help him to nourish his potentials more efficiently.

Good grades are also important to get admitted in a reputed college/ university for graduate or professional study. Moreover a good grade can help you to get a good scholarship as well.

High school diploma is of immense importance. It simply indicates that you have got much knowledge on fundamental courses as well as optional & are skilled enough to purse higher education.

The high school diploma is a ruling factor to get a job as well. A student with high school diploma gets preference over the one with no diploma on selecting for a job. In fact the diploma holder has more opportunity to prove himself/herself & to get promotion on the basis of performance.

High school grade names

High school starts after completing the 8th grade. Students are usually of 14 years old then. High school continues for four years. Nearly at 18 years, the student completes his high school education.

Level Age
9th  grade 14-15
10th grade 15-16
11th grade 16-17
12th grade 17-18

What are the grades in high school called

The different grade students are named with four distinct names.

Level Grade term Student
9th  grade Freshman year Freshman
10th grade Sophomore year Sophomore
11th grade Junior year Junior
12th grade Senior  year Senior

Junior together with senior year is considered as A level. On completing A level the student receives International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma as reward.

High school grades in USA

Mostly high schools in USA are of comprehensive school in pattern. In such public high schools, admission exams are taken to sort the students in different school.

Usually high schools of the states have specialization in different category like remedial instruction, vocational instruction. There are schools specially approved for the academic preparation of University-preparatory school. Ordinarily the high school gets specialization in more than one field; preparation for the college and a scientific/vocational course.

Central government doesn’t deal with high school administration. The local school districts are the supreme authority of the school.

Students have the opportunity to take core courses though this independence depends & vary from state to state.

A typical high school curriculum starts on mid-August like Virginia and West Virginia , Missouri, Texas, Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, Kansas City to late September, and ends in the mid-May to late June (northern districts is exceptional in snow days ,snow can shift the routine push this into July sometimes). Excluding extra curriculum activity hours, the high school often takes place for 7/8 hours with a lunch break. Saturday & Sunday are two holidays with working days of rest five days.

Opportunity of High School in USA

USA takes care of every level student. Schools like Boston Latin School or Alexandria, Virginia’s Thomas Jefferson High School offer admission test get admitted to these high schools only for the students with excellent results.

Those who lag behind in this competition get preference to take admission in other high schools, no worry! To give equal opportunity to the students of special group like LGBT, schools like Harvey Milk High School are there too. Blind, deaf & highly gifted children get opportunity to get admission state’s residential school as well.

To sum up USA ensures education for students from every sphere irrespective of the race & caliber as well.

Unlike Americans, British education terms the 16 to 18 years course as sixth grade or college as well. The junior year (age 16 to 17) is equivalent with lower sixth/ year 12. And the senior one (age 17 to 18) is equivalent to the upper sixth / year 13.

Final words

After the student graduates from high school, a diploma or certificate is awarded to him/her. Then on graduating the high school (12th grade), U.S. student would go on to university or college.

The University or College study is termed as “higher education.”  As a matter of fact High school education is must prior to entering to the higher education.

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