The last writing assignment grade I earned in my French expression class was a 13 out of 20. That is equivalent to a 65 percent. If my mother knew that I had scored a 65 percent on a test at Boston University, she would have driven up to Boston and thoroughly yelled at me for not studying hard enough or not working hard enough. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not a bad student, the occasional Netflix binge aside. In fact, I am a perfectionist through and through, especially in the classroom. If I get a 99 percent on a test, I am that student who tries to figure out where that one point was lost instead of rejoicing in the amazing score. So the fact that I scored a 13 out of 20 should be giving me a heart attack and causing me to panic about my education, while in actuality I am content. Am I ecstatic? No, but I am not driving myself insane.
Getting a high score on an exam, whether it be a 90 percent or 100 percent, is usually the sign of utmost perfection and hard work both across the globe and in the United States. Even at BU, this sort of achievement is lauded for and pushed for through a competition for the highest GPA. But, of course, the French have their own way of doing things.
For the French, the goal of exams is not perfection, but rather the actual learning and improvement in skills. Instead of having grades out of 100 or in percentage format, they are presented out of 20. Over the course of the semester, the goal is to see the grades get higher and higher as you improve in the subject material and understand concepts better. If you start with a 12 out of 20 and by the end you are finishing with a 16 out of 20, there is obvious personal growth in the subject matter or skills. That is not too big of a deal unless you are a perfectionist American like me, who realizes that your grades are still an average of everything you have done. So those low scores in the beginning of the semester before your skills improved hold the same weight as the new higher scores. That 12 and 16 still average out to a 14 out of 20, which in the United States is the bare minimum to pass at 70 percent. In my eyes, that is far from where I want my grades to be.
Even so, 14 out of 20 is a very good score here in France. Students here are taught with a system scored out of 20, with scoring perfectly being an unattainable achievement. In fact, so are 19s and 18s. So to get a 17 out of 20 on a perfect A+ paper is entirely possible. As my French advisor in Grenoble, Christine Bortot, has told us, “For French professors, a 20 out of 20 is reserved for God. Then a 19 out of 20 is for the saints. And finally, an 18 out of 20 is for me, the professor.” With the possibilities of getting above a 17/20 being essentially impossible, a 15 or 16 out of 20 at the end of the semester is quite the achievement.
This is also helped by the fact that the failing threshold in France is lower than in the United States. The need to get at least a 70 percent as a final grade has made the phrase “C’s get degrees” very popular across the United States. In France, this statement doesn’t correlate very well. All you need to get a degree is at least a 10 out of 20 in all of the required classes. The translation for Americans: you can fail and receive your diploma as long as the score is at least 50 percent.
While I know that I only need a 10 out of 20 to pass my courses, I, the perfectionist, still have a minor heart attack every time I get back grades lower than I am used to, such as a 14 out of 20 for my last reading comprehension assignment. However, after being here for almost two months, I have come to realize that I am learning so much in the class. The growth I’m seeing in my grade is probably a better indicator of my abilities and success than getting a 20 out of 20 on every assignment. With about two months to go, anything is possible in terms of improvement, maybe even somehow pulling off the elusive 17 out of 20.
