Students Maintain Similar Average Grades in Return to In-Person Learning
Marist College has reached the halfway point of the Fall 2021 semester, the first semester since the COVID pandemic and the first back in an all in-person format.
Average numbers for midterm grades this semester compared to averages of final grades for the Spring 2021 semester -- when Marist was operating with both in-person and online classes -- indicate students have comfortably transitioned back to in-person learning, with only slight fluctuations.
In the Spring 2021 semester, 37.8% of students earned an A grade, 35% received the same grade so far this semester. 19.3% of students got an A- last semester, 18.5% received an A- for their midterm grade this semester. 10.1% of students received a B+ in the Spring 2021 semester, which has increased to 10.6% so far this year.
In the Spring 2021 semester, 1.1% of students received a D grade, while 2.3% have received the same grade through the midterm point this semester. 2% of students received an F final grade last spring, 3.7% of students have earned that same mark so far this semester.
Midterm grades serve more as a checkpoint and represent a different point in the semester than final grades do, so they are not directly comparable. However, they can be used as a projection for student outcomes to understand how students are re-adjusting to a fully in-person semester.
Adam Siemionkowicz ‘24, a computer science major, said, “classes are not harder, but the workload is more.” Siemionkowicz also said going back to the all in-person format has made it easier to get help.
Nicole Briand ‘22, a biology major, said, “it was more difficult to switch between in-person and online, especially for science labs. It feels like my learning and projects are more cohesive and logical when all in person.”
Matthew Moraski ‘23, a journalism major, has felt his classes getting harder this semester. “I feel like me and many other students got so used to having only one class meeting per course and having a lot more free time,” said Moraski.
However, Moraski said his grades have not changed much. “I’ve definitely had to put in more work into the classes than before,” said Moraski. “Before when we were in COVID and online, there weren't a lot of miscellaneous assignments and there were a lot more assignments that actually mattered. But now that we’ve gone back, I feel like a lot of the assignments we do are very miscellaneous and are just to get grades.”
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