# Score/scores, grade/grades or mark/marks?



## ch01_kelly

Hello everybody,

I am a bit confused by the usage of these three words referring to the results of an exam. 
Are these phrases correct?

You got a grade 10 in maths in April.
My marks at school are not very good this year.

Any other examples on the correct way of using these....? 

Thank you for any help......


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## panjandrum

Score:
A number correct out of a total.
Scoring is a fairly mechanical process.

Grade:
A general assessment based to an extent on subjective assessment, and perhaps involving a number of different aspects of performance.
Could be a number, a letter - to be honest, it could even be a colour as long as someone has set out the significance of each result.

Mark:
A number, typically xx%.
A pseudo-scientific version of grade 

Please do not regard any of these as being absolute truths - they are comments based on my personal experience.

_ You got a grade 10 in maths in April._
You got a B in maths in April.
You got 87% in maths in April.

_ My marks at school are not very good this year._
The sentence is fine, shame about the marks.


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## laurahya

A mark is something you get in a test or exam or even on your homework.

_I got a mark of 75% in the last exam._
_My marks are not very good because I haven't been reading enough._
_The teacher gave me a good mark for my last piece of homework._

A grade is - as far as I'm aware - used specifically for the letters that recognise particular levels of achievement. We use A-E for passes, F for a fail, N for the so-called "near miss" (if you nearly pass) and a U for something that's so bad it can't be corrected.

_He got an A grade in the exam._
_40% of pupils passed with grades A to C._

Of course this only applies to England and Wales, as I know usage is different in other English-speaking countries. Hope that helps!


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## ch01_kelly

Wonderful help, thank you very much to you both.....!


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## LV4-26

Hello

Be aware that the last post dates back from April 2007. I'm reviving his thread.

I've just seen the phrase _numerical grade_ here.
http://www.theachievementprogram.org/program/assessment-process
(paragraph "practical assessments", item 3)

I guess there would be no real difference between that and a _mark_ ?


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## PaulQ

It's a little ambiguous unless you know how they are graded. It might be marks out of 10 or 100 or there could be grades 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and e.g. to achieve a grade 1 you have a certain mark, say, over 80%


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## Egmont

It's interesting that all the English speakers who have discussed _marks_ are BE speakers. We hardly ever refer to a "mark" in AE. It's usually a _score_ on an exam if it's objective, a _grade_ on an exam if it's not, and a _grade_ in a course. (The verb "to mark" is still heard once in a while in this context, as in the statement "I'm marking exams.")

Also, "maths" is BE. In AE, the short form of "mathematics" is "math."


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## ribran

I use all three more or less interchangeably, but "mark" is the least common of the three in my neck of the woods.


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## Sun14

panjandrum said:


> Score:
> A number correct out of a total.
> Scoring is a fairly mechanical process.
> 
> Grade:
> A general assessment based to an extent on subjective assessment, and perhaps involving a number of different aspects of performance.
> Could be a number, a letter - to be honest, it could even be a colour as long as someone has set out the significance of each result.
> 
> Mark:
> A number, typically xx%.
> A pseudo-scientific version of grade
> 
> Please do not regard any of these as being absolute truths - they are comments based on my personal experience.
> 
> _ You got a grade 10 in maths in April._
> You got a B in maths in April.
> You got 87% in maths in April.
> 
> _ My *marks* at school are not very good this year._
> The sentence is fine, shame about the marks.



Is it natural to say my *grades* are not very good this year.


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## Sun14

panjandrum said:


> Score:
> A number correct out of a total.
> Scoring is a fairly mechanical process.
> 
> Grade:
> A general assessment based to an extent on subjective assessment, and perhaps involving a number of different aspects of performance.
> Could be a number, a letter - to be honest, it could even be a colour as long as someone has set out the significance of each result.
> 
> Mark:
> A number, typically xx%.
> A pseudo-scientific version of grade
> 
> Please do not regard any of these as being absolute truths - they are comments based on my personal experience.
> 
> _ You got a grade 10 in maths in April._
> You got a B in maths in April.
> You got 87% in maths in April.
> 
> _ My marks at school are not very good this year._
> The sentence is fine, shame about the marks.



Is there a difference between "My score is 80 in maths" and "My mark is 80 in maths"?


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## sound shift

When I was a (BrE) schoolboy, we never used the term "score".


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## Sun14

sound shift said:


> When I was a (BrE) schoolboy, we never used the term "score".



Do you mean it is natural to say "My mark is 80 in maths"?


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## sound shift

When I was a schoolboy, we never said "My mark is ...". We said, "I got 80 in maths."


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## Sun14

sound shift said:


> When I was a schoolboy, we never said "My mark is ...". We said, "I got 80 in maths."



Thank you. How to ask the performance of someone in maths. As you said, would you say "What did you get in maths" and never say how many marks you got?


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## sound shift

Yes, you would often hear "What did you get in maths?" at my school.


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## Sun14

Thank you very much.


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## felipenor

What if I want to say that the maximum score you can get on this exam is 50? Could I say the exam's score is 50? Or would I say grade (or a different word completely)?


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## DonnyB

I would say either "the top score in the exam is 50", or more probably, "the maximum number of marks is 50".  You can't say "The exam's score is 50": that sounds odd.

If the candidates in the exam get grades rather than marks, then you would say "the top grade is an A" (although in the UK some exams now have an A* grade).


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## felipenor

Thanks, DonnyB.

One more thing: if the passing grade for the course is 60%, could I say the top score is 50 and the average is 30? Or "average" is not used in this context?


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## Loob

Hi felipenor

If the maximum score is 50 and you need 60% to pass, I'd say "the pass mark is 30".

"Average" is something quite different.  If two people took the course and one scored 50 while the other scored 0, the average mark was (50+0)/2 ie 25.

----

Note: I'm a speaker of British English; so is DonnyB.  Given that you're from Brazil, I suspect you speak American English - so I hope some AmE-speakers will give you their comments soon.  As you'll see from some of the posts above, AmE usage in this area differs from BrE usage.


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## natkretep

If the maximum is 50 marks, I might also say that the test or exam is marked *out of 50*. I would not use _score_ in this context, but that's because I use BrE style English. I've heard AmE speakers use _score_ and also _points_.


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## felipenor

Thanks for the answers, guys.

I'm an English teacher in Brazil, and I need to write the header (I'm not sure that's the correct name) in English, so I nees a simple way to put this information.

As in:

English exam
Top score: 50
Pass score: 30

Would that be correct?


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## natkretep

I think maximum is better than top.  Top mark for me is the highest mark achieved. I say, 'The top mark is 82' for a test marked out of 100, for example.


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## felipenor

Thank you, natkretep.

So:

English exam
Maximum score: 50
Pass score: 30

Is that correct? Is it preferable if I use maximum mark and pass mark instead?


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## Loob

Given Egmont's post 7 and ribran's post 8, I think you should probably avoid "mark" - assuming, that is, you speak and teach American English.


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## Sun14

I was wondering whether it is natural to say my *grades* are not very good this year.


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## felipenor

One more question. Can I say:

English exam
Maximum score: 50 *points*
Pass score: 30 *points*


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## natkretep

As a BrE-style speaker, I use _points_ for competitions, quizzes or games but not for exams. Let's wait for an AmE speaker's response to this.


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## RM1(SS)

AmE speaker's response:


felipenor said:


> English exam
> Maximum score: 50 *points*
> Pass score: 30 *points*




That's how I'd do it.


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## DonnyB

Sun14 said:


> I was wondering whether it is natural to say my *grades* are not very good this year.


Yes, that's perfectly OK, assuming that the results of your exams are expressed as _grades_ rather than actual _marks_ (or _scores_).


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## Sun14

DonnyB said:


> Yes, that's perfectly OK, assuming that the results of your exams are expressed as _grades_ rather than actual _marks_ (or _scores_).



Got it. Thank you very much. < Off topic. >


Off-topic comment removed: Cagey, moderator.


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## felipenor

So 


DonnyB said:


> Yes, that's perfectly OK, assuming that the results of your exams are expressed as _grades_ rather than actual _marks_ (or _scores_).


So "My grades are not good" can't be said if your school uses points (0 to 100) to assess learning?


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## natkretep

In my experience in school, exam papers are returned with marks (0 to 100, 0 to 60, and so on), but the assumption is always that these marks 'translate' to some grade (distinction/merit/pass/fail, or A/B/C etc, or 1/2/3 etc), and because of that _grade _still works for me.


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## RM1(SS)

natkretep said:


> In my experience in school, exam papers are returned with marks (0 to 100, 0 to 60, and so on), but the assumption is always that these marks 'translate' to some grade (distinction/merit/pass/fail, or A/B/C etc, or 1/2/3 etc), and because of that _grade _still works for me.


And for me.


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## JackEliot

felipenor said:


> One more question. Can I say:
> 
> English exam
> Maximum score: 50 *points*
> Pass score: 30 *points*



State 'passing' score,  instead of 'pass'

Points is correct


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## JackEliot

felipenor said:


> So
> 
> So "My grades are not good" can't be said if your school uses points (0 to 100) to assess learning?



I assume they can be used interchangeably without confusing the listener/reader.


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## DonnyB

felipenor said:


> So "My grades are not good" can't be said if your school uses points (0 to 100) to assess learning?


Well, when I was at school, our exam "marks" were always expressed as percentages, so I'd say something like "I always got very good *marks* for French".

It wasn't until we took our GCEs (which were public exams), that bands of marks were 'translated' into grades.  So I'd then say "For French, I got an O level grade 1, and an A level grade A".


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## Wordsmyth

Sun14 said:


> I was wondering whether it is natural to say my *grades* are not very good this year.


That would sound very natural to me if said by an AmE speaker, and not at all natural from a BrE speaker. In my experience, as Donny said, we (BrE) don't talk about grades in the context of year-by-year performance at school (or indeed of performance throughout a given year): we'd say "marks". 

(_Disclaimer:_ Unless things have changed since my day! Actually, they have: there are now National Curriculum tests ('SATs') in primary schools, and they don't have 'marks', 'grades', 'scores', or 'points': they have 'levels'.)

Ws


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## Sun14

Wordsmyth said:


> That would sound very natural to me if said by an AmE speaker, and not at all natural from a BrE speaker. In my experience, as Donny said, we (BrE) don't talk about grades in the context of year-by-year performance at school (or indeed of performance throughout a given year): we'd say "marks".
> 
> (_Disclaimer:_ Unless things have changed since my day! Actually, they have: there are now National Curriculum tests ('SATs') in primary schools, and they don't have 'marks', 'grades', 'scores', or 'points': they have 'levels'.)
> 
> Ws



Got it. Thank you very much.


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## natkretep

Wordsmyth said:


> In my experience, as Donny said, we (BrE) don't talk about grades in the context of year-by-year performance at school (or indeed of performance throughout a given year): we'd say "marks".


But there are grades for GCSE and A level subjects, aren't there? ASA (the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance), for example has explanations about converting raw marks to UMS (uniform mark scale) marks, which can be converted to a grade. Because of that it doesn't sound totally un-British to talk about grades.


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## Wordsmyth

natkretep said:


> But there are grades for GCSE and A level subjects, aren't there? _[...] _Because of that it doesn't sound totally un-British to talk about grades.


 I quite agree, Nat. Donny had already made that point about GCEs (and therefore GCSEs) in #37, and I fully agree: there we do talk about grades.

I was picking up on Sun's particular question about "my grades are not very good this year", which is likely to refer to internal school assessments, either once a year or even throughout the year. The key words in my comment were the ones I've bolded below.


Wordsmyth said:


> Sun14 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was wondering whether it is natural to say my grades are not very good this year.
> 
> 
> 
> _ [...] _In my experience, as Donny said, we (BrE) don't talk about grades *in the context of year-by-year performance* at school (or indeed of *performance throughout a given year*): we'd say "marks".
Click to expand...


So "I got good grades in my A levels" is perfectly BrE; but I still reckon that "My grades aren't good this year" or "Johnny's getting poor grades this semester" would be pretty un-British statements.

Ws
_[Edit: typo]_​


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## TransatlanticReflections

Maybe the easier way to appreciate the distinction is to compare the processes:

*Marking*
Going through a paper to assign marks. 

*Scoring*
Adding up the marks to get a score for the paper.

*Grading*
Assigning the score to broad categories known as grades, e.g. A,B,C, 1,2,3 etc.

Although marks and scores can be used interchangeably in some cases, in others, there is a clear distinction. 

e.g. _I lost a mark for that wrong question. _But not... _*I lost a score for that wrong question. _


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## sb70012

*The exam is marked out of 50. *

The sentence above is British (also mentioned in post #21). How would Americans say the green sentence?

Thank you.


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## Cagey

I would say something like _"There are 50 points possible in this exam."  _

The students might say things like _"I got 45 [points] out of 50."_  This is commonly written on the exam paper as "45/50."


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## sb70012

Cagey said:


> I would say something like _"There are 50 points possible in this exam." _


Thank you.

What about "The exam is scored out of 50." ?


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## Cagey

I would not say 'scored out of 50', but perhaps someone else would.


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## Egmont

I would probably say "graded out of 50 points," but I'd consider "scored out of 50" to be an acceptable alternative.


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## FFFFaye_

This post and the following ones have been added to a previous thread covering the same topic.  Please read down from the top.  DonnyB - moderator.
Hi!
I'm confused about which of the following sentences is correct:
My grades have improved.
My scores have improved.
My marks have improved.

thx!


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## The Newt

In the US we would normally use "grades" for schoolwork, but "scores" for standardized tests like the SAT.


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## S.M Ahsanul Irfan

DonnyB said:


> I would say either "the top score in the exam is 50", or more probably, "the maximum number of marks is 50".  You can't say "The exam's score is 50": that sounds odd.
> 
> If the candidates in the exam get grades rather than marks, then you would say "the top grade is an A" (although in the UK some exams now have an A* grade).



My heart got broken into 10 pieces and 10 is also *the mark or score or number or point* that I had got in every subject?


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## Hermione Golightly

> My heart got broken into 10 pieces and 10 is also *the mark or score or number or point* that I had got in every subject?



I'm struggling to understand your question, in part because it is not clear what your question is.
You can say you 'got ten marks' or maybe 'a score of ten' in every subject. I associate 'score' more with games. You can't say 'I got a number of ten' because that isn't correct English. Saying 'I got ten points' is more usual for a game score than a school test or exam.
Mostly we don't specify a name for what we got. We usually answer a question, such as 
-"What did you get in the English test?"
- "I got (a) ten". 
- "That's awful! You failed!"
 -"No I didn't - the top mark is ten!"


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## S.M Ahsanul Irfan

Hermione Golightly said:


> I'm struggling to understand your question, in part because it is not clear what your question is.
> You can say you 'got ten marks' or maybe 'a score of ten' in every subject. I associate 'score' more with games. You can't say 'I got a number of ten' because that isn't correct English. Saying 'I got ten points' is more usual for a game score than a school test or exam.
> Mostly we don't specify a name for what we got. We usually answer a question, such as
> -"What did you get in the English test?"
> - "I got (a) ten".
> - "That's awful! You failed!"
> -"No I didn't - the top mark is ten!"



"My heart got broken into 10 pieces and 10 is also the mark that I had got in every subject." Is this sentence correct?


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## Hermione Golightly

Yes. it's grammatically correct and 'mark' is used correctly.


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