Definitely against the plus and minus system. I got all As and one -A last semester and it wasn't a 4.0 ):
The +/- system is a two-edged sword, but in general I am against it.
I feel that the systems has more disadvantages than advantages. There now can be such a small window in certain classes to get the grade.
The problem is that most people shoot for the lowest possible grade they can get to still get the same letter grade. For example, most people aim to get a 90% in normal 10 point scale courses. These people (myself included) are the ones who feel like they are being penalized by the +/- system.
Minus's definitely hurt, besides you can get an A-(3.7) but not an A+(4.3).
I'm against the +/- system. I understand its usefulness in adding greater differentiation between people, but we could take this to the extreme and give percentages rather than letter grades. Furthermore, it seems that more often than not the grade we get in a class has a degree of arbitrarity to it due to the presence of curves--which I think are great, don't get me wrong. It simply seems wrong to become so rigorous and precise in our description of something that is, by its very nature, vague and somewhat arbitrary. I also agree with the last remark regarding A- and A+; I see the value of a B+ weighing out a B-, but what is the purpose of getting an A+? What does it balance out? Is the essential message is that there is no point in trying very hard in a class? -BD
I dislike it as well, do you know what triggered the switch? I was perfectly fine with the old system.
I also dislike it and would rather have no pluses and minuses. In general it seems to hurt more than help. Also, it makes it harder to calculate your own grade.
I feel that the +/- grade system hurts the students GPA. This damage will reflect on the university GPA average, and it will make Purdue look less elite.
I don't know if it would make us that less elite. Other big Ten schools such as Ohio State also have the +/-. Also, the admission standards have been on the rise, making it harder to get in to Purdue.
In a lot of the different classes (or at least in a lot of the classes I have encountered in Engineering) there is a quota that the professors shoot for. If the students are doing a lot worse than expected, the professor will curve the class so more people can pass and get A's and B's.
I think what triggered the switch of the system is that we now use banner instead of ssinfo. The software upgrade now allows the plus/minus grades to happen. As already pointed out with the many disadvantages and advantages, I don't know if I'm for or against this system but I just wish that every professor was consistent. I think either every professor should follow the +/- or none should. GPAs are becoming more dependent on what professor a student had instead of how the student actually did in that class.
