Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Verified for the 2026 exam
Verified for the 2026 exam•Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Definition
Grades refer to the scores or evaluations given by teachers or instructors to assess students' academic performance in school subjects. They are usually represented by numerical values or letter grades.
Related terms
Grade Point Average (GPA): A numerical representation of a student's overall academic performance calculated by averaging their course grades over a certain period. GPA is often used for college admissions and scholarship eligibility.
A statistical measure that indicates the extent to which scores or grades vary from the average. It helps determine how dispersed the grades are within a group of students.
Bell Curve: Also known as a normal distribution, it is a graph that represents the distribution of grades in a population. It shows that most students fall around the average grade, with fewer students receiving extremely high or low grades.