Prep Pass/Fail Term Piloted

While seniors toiled away at their work this fall to achieve high grades and impress colleges, members of the newly-admitted Class of 2017 attended classes and completed assignments in hopes of a “pass.”

Last spring, Exeter’s Curriculum Committee proposed the pass/fail plan for all incoming preps as a method to alleviate stress and better ease the brand new Exonians into the rigorous academic lifestyle at the Academy. The Committee conducted a survey in 2010 of both preps and four-year seniors to delve into aspects of social, academic and health quandaries the students faced in their time at Exeter. After meeting with a counsel and consulting among themselves, the Committee offered the “Pass/Fail” proposal at faculty meeting, where it was narrowly approved 76-51, with 16 abstentions.

“The conversations I have had with a dozen preps leads me to believe that the pass/fail fall term initiative reduces the pressure they feel upon matriculation,” Academy psychologist Christopher Thurber, who served as a counsel to the Committee, said. “It is likely that this reduced academic pressure helps with the overall adjustment to Exeter.”

Although the decision was partially split among faculty members, many preps enjoyed the first pass/fail fall at Exeter.

“I thought pass/fail was really helpful because the transition period is always the hardest on grades,” prep Carissa Chen said. “It helps students transition smoothly by allowing them to branch out more, explore the school opportunities, get into clubs and meet more students.”

Prep Cameron Gruss also stressed the importance of pass/fail allowing him more time to take a look at the campus and become a better part of the community.

“Pass/Fail is a great system. Although my grades were better during winter term, I think it allowed me some time to adjust to the new environment that I was suddenly placed into,” Gruss said. “I just did not feel as much pressure with this structure in place. Pass/Fail allowed me to adjust and worry more about getting settled in and making more friends, than focusing all on grades.”

Prep John Wang added, “because of pass/fail, preps are not overwhelmed by the work and are given the chance to adapt to the new challenges that Exeter poses without the constant burden of schoolwork above their heads.”

Even faculty at Exeter did not notice a difference in prep work ethic towards the beginning of the term.

“I taught preps this fall, so I had a chance to observe it play out,” history instructor Giorgio Secondi said. “Initially, I cannot say I noticed much of a difference either way—new students are eager to do well and learn, so at the start of the term grades did not seem to play much of a role either way.”

But as fall progressed, and members of the Class of 2017 realized where their grades stood in each class, the diligence and perseverance of students seemed to diminish.

“Toward the end of the term, however, I had the distinct feeling that my fears about pass/fail reducing students’ incentives to do their best job were confirmed,” Secondi said. 

“Especially when we got to the research paper, more kids than usual seemed reluctant to invest that extra hour in the library or do the extra revision that would have improved their paper but done nothing to their grade.”

Secondi continued, noting the troubling manner in which preps reasoned their poor grades or lacking effort.

“I continue to believe that especially at times when students are busy or tired, grades can play a positive incentive role. A few preps in my dorm with whom I discussed academic problems they were having in the fall also seemed to take the problems lightly, with some saying, in so many words, ‘next term, when it matters, I’ll fix that,’” Secondi said. 

“At the end of the day I continue to think that the positives of pass/fail, mainly its stress-relieving effect, are trumped by the negatives, which include less learning in the first term and less urgency to address academic problems.”

Other faculty noticed an almost unfair aspect of the pass/fail system.

“It is silly, even to an extent unjust. It just postpones getting official grades to the dreaded winter term,” mathematics instructor Joseph Wolfson said. “As for being unjust, I taught a class of new lowers and new preps; why should those students be treated differently, and if a prep earns an A, it will not show up on his/her transcript.”

Surprisingly, even preps observed some pitfalls of pass/fail and the unnecessariness of the whole system.

“Some people would take advantage of pass/fail, slacking off in their classes because they knew that on their transcript they would still get the same marks as a straight A student,” prep Connie Cai said. “Personally, I do not think we need pass/fail fall term. We all know before coming to Exeter that Exeter is going to be hard, and that we're going to have to work really hard. That's why we chose to go to Exeter, because we wanted the challenge.”

Since several preps did not work as meticulously as they should have, and winter term came as a rude shock as to the true rigor of the Exeter workload. 

“I did not work as hard as I should have, especially towards the end of the term,” Wang said. “During winter term, I had to work much harder and struggled quite a bit.”

Even Thurber noted that pass/fail is only one aspect of successfully immersing a new prep into Exeter.

“All new students must learn to manage their time, reduce distractions and solidify their priorities,” he said. 

“No assessment system—be it pass/fail, numerical or lettered—will ever take the place of good old-fashioned study skills development. A combination of those skills, adequate sleep, balanced nutrition, social connections and physical activity is a recipe for success.”

Whether one is in favor of pass/fail or not, most faculty and students are expecting information that determines if the structure truly has an effect on students’ future performance in classes. After all, pass/fail is an impermanent experiment, and the faculty will determine in a few years if it should be here to say.

Mathematics instructor Gwyneth Coogan said, “I would like to see more data about the new prep grading system. I do hope that someone has a firm idea of how to tell if the new system helps our four-year students learn more and thrive better than they did in the standard system.”