Term "akademicheskaya zadolzhennost"-A survey of Russian Grading System

[Edward Dumanis]

яшятущыНуЦшяА ЙятъэФуччъЦДХ is Incomplete.
It is not correct that ЛшЙящуч is usually graded on the 5-point scale.
This normally takes place in elementary and secondary education only. In
higher education, the scale is 4-point which is always expressed in words:
"ЪДэыНчъ/Excellent," "ЬъБъКъ/Good," "╬тъГэуДГъБыДуэХчъ/Satisfactory," and
"ЧуЕтъГэуДГъБыДуэХчъ/Unsatisfactory." They are often abbreviated as "ЪДэ,"
"ЬъБ," "╬т," and the last one is abbreviated and nicknamed as " ЧуЕт."
These grades correspond to A, B, C and F. As you can see "D" is missing.

In the Russian academic tradition of higher education, there are two types of
courses:
lectures only and lectures accompanied by regular practice sessions called
"seminars" which are very similar to recitations. (The difference is that the
homework is not given on lecturers but by the faculty that teach practice
sessions,and a course is actually taught as 2 parallel courses: on thery,
and  on practice skills.) In the latter type of courses the exam is split
into two parts: ЙяН│Д/test (test of skills learned during practice sessions)
and ЛшЙящуч/exam  (test of the material taught on lectures, i.e, the theory
of the subject). °яН│Д/test is usually graded on Pass/Fail scale, and it is
mandatory to pass it before being admitted to take ЛшЙящуч/exam. However,
sometimes some courses (in which, usually, the theory and the skills are
closely intertwined) have so called "тыжжуБучсыБъГяччИз ЙяН│Д/differential
test" which means that they they test both skills and theory at the same
time, and the grade is given using the aforementioned 4-point scale.

In elementary and secondary education, the grade scale is FORMALLY 5-point.
However, normally only 5, 4, 3, 2 are used where 2 is always "failed."
So, they would correspond to A, B, C and F, similarly to the 4-point scale
for higher education with the difference nevertheless in interpretation.
1 is used exclusively for expression of an outrage towards the dismal
results. (A kind of punishment).
5 correspond to A.
4 correspond to B.
However, 3 does not actually mean C. It is C- because C would correspond to
the average level grade while 3 in Russia means passing grade, i.e. only
minimal required knowledge/skill is present. Thus, C is rather 3+ something
between 3+ and 4-, and D is 3-. However, it makes it very difficult to
translate the documents if we try to be very pedantic, and taking into
account that grading has some built-in tollerance, the normal practice is to
keep 4-point scale similar to the higher education scale, i.e., translating
5, 4, 3 as A, B, C.
Since the absence of 2's is a regular condition in Russia of getting any
formal education document, one would never have a chance to convert 2 into
our scale, even it is very easy to do.

Sincerely,

Edward Dumanis <dumanis at buffalo.edu>


"Paul B. Gallagher" wrote:

> On a grade transcript (┐ЮБяГшя ър ыДъвяь ЦтяНы ЛшЙящучъГ ы ЙяНуДъГ) from
> Ukraine, written entirely in Russian, for the academic years 1989/90
> through 1991/92, we see the usual columns: course title, grade, number
> of hours, etc.
>
> However, I also have what is for me an unusual column that reads
>
>               ┐Бъш эышГытясыы
>         яшятущыНуЦшъз ЙятъэФуччъЦДы,
>               уЦэы ъчя ыщууДЦА
>
> Could someone explain to me what is meant here? Are we talking about a
> financial debt, or is it rather some kind of lag by the student in
> passing courses on schedule that must be made up? And ideally, how do
> you say this in English?
>
> On a related note, I am always interested in the academics' view of the
> contrast between ЛшЙящуч and ЙяНуД. The former is usually graded on the
> 5-point scale, whereas the latter is usually pass/fail, with "pass"
> called -- you guessed it -- "ЙяНуД." :-) Any recommendations?
>
> TIA
>
> --
> War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
> --
> Paul B. Gallagher
> pbg translations, inc.
> "Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
> http://pbg-translations.com
>
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