Pass or Fail Option: Advantage or Disadvantage?

Due to the exacerbating conditions of Coronavirus worldwide, AISG students have been undergoing online learning for the past 3 months. With less face-to-face lessons and lectures, students are having a hard time keeping up with all the content they are required to familiarize with. Conclusively, many expressed dissatisfaction over their grades when progress reports came out around the second week of April. Therefore, on April 22, AISG has announced to all HS students and their parents about the “Pass or Fail” option for students. Students and parents are required to submit a form requesting for this option, and which classes they would like to receive a pass or fail grade instead of the traditional letter grades.

One of the benefits of this “Pass or Fail” option is that it gives second chances to students who have inadequately performed when compared to previous semesters. Junior student Jennifer F. said, “It offers an opportunity to students that are struggling.” This potentially allows students to obsess less on what grade they are receiving, and focus more on accomplishing work with high quality—without being pressured with time constraints. Sophomore Alex K. also stated, “Pass or fail option lets quality education to continue while getting rid of the excess pressure students [feel].” Understanding lessons and assignments set by teachers should be students’ priorities, not whether they are receiving an A in their formative quizzes. Final grades can be improved after on-campus teaching resumes regularly again with more summative tests and tasks, and this improvement can only be achieved if students are fully comprehending material from the ongoing online learning session.

A downfall of this “Pass or Fail” option is that it reduces the motivation and incentive for students to hustle and put in their utmost effort. No matter how outstanding a student performs in a task, they will receive the same grade as a student who performed mediocrely, under the new “Pass or Fail” grading system. Senior student Elsie Z. said, “A student with a B+ and another with a C+ will both get a pass, so students might talk themselves out into not putting a lot of effort into studying.” As this could potentially become a bad habit among students, the “Pass or Fail” grading system is only an option for students, not mandatory.

Although the “Pass or Fail” option can potentially reduce stress and pressure, another downside of this option is that students will not get a clear vision of their areas of weaknesses. Freshman student Max J. said, “You do not know what sections you did good or bad on for a subject, which makes it hard to reflect on your performance.” Students will not be able to clarify their stronger and weaker courses and subjects, hindering them from efficiently prioritizing their study schedule for future final exams.

In my opinion, I believe that the main benefit of the “Pass or Fail” option is the potential reduction of stress and pressure to students. However, it is possible that the minimal pressure exerted on students can cause listlessness and procrastination. This can become a bad studying habit as students might only work minimally for a passing grade.

More information is required for students to finalize their decisions, especially as for Juniors who will be applying to universities next year, their choices may affect their college acceptance process.

What are your opinions on this “Pass or Fail” grading option? Would you choose it? Why, or why not?