Throughout the day, students wait impatiently for a bright notification to appear on their phones. The letter that shows up will determine what grade they got, and in the students’ minds, how well they understand the topic they just took a test on. Depending on the grade, the student may be overjoyed, or devastated, feeling the countless hours they spent studying were wasted.

Every year, students go through many units and chapters in all the classes they take. They are constantly assessed in a variety of ways, which is primarily reflected in their grades. In today’s world, it seems like GPA and standardized test scores are what define how much a student understands.

Although grades play a part in showing what students know, it isn’t always the best indicator. The constant flow of information they learn is often quickly shoved aside to make room for new topics. Because of this, some students are not able to retain the information in the long term, which is the goal of education.

Even though high schoolers are forced to revisit topics for midterms and finals, it can be easy to forget what is learned from previous years.

Nikhil Srivastava, a Junior who is currently enrolled in four advanced placement classes and is self-studying one, said: “I believe that in analytical and definitive subjects such as maths and sciences, students including myself tend to forget past information. Considering when we move onto different and more advanced topics yearly for example, biology to chemistry, applications of the knowledge we have acquired tend to fade, and therefore our memory of it as well.”

Students may have a decent understanding of what they have learned at the time, but after a while, many agree that it is easy to forget. Information from topics that are no longer relevant and aren’t revisited frequently can be forgotten without having an effect on grades.

Grades do reflect hard-workers, but may not display the entirety of a student’s intelligence.

Srivastava said: “Grades are but a part of the process. While letters on a transcript do not define the entirety of a student’s potential, they speak greatly about their work ethic as well as their comprehension skills.”

The grading system is dependent on what the teacher decides to include on tests and quizzes. Not all aspects of certain units or chapters end up on assessments, meaning a student who focused on studying that part won’t have a grade based on everything they remember.

Hailey Gaeta, a freshman, said: “It depends on how the teacher assesses the students, if they don’t retain information long term, their test scores will reflect that.”

Overall, the current grading system is relatively effective, but it still has flaws. Letter grades are unable to represent the full extent of what a student remembers or understands.