Academic Achievement Declines under Pass-Fail Grading

College students voluntarily took all their courses or one course on a pass-fail basis. The mean grade point average (GPA) before conversion to pass-fail for freshmen taking all their courses on a pass-fail basis was 1.67 (C-), which is significantly lower than the 2.26 (C+) for controls who wanted but were denied pass-fail grading. Even after returning to conventional grading the former pass-fail students continued to get significantly lower grades than controls. Juniors taking one course on a pass-fail basis received significantly lower grades, before conversion, in their pass-fail course (mean 2.07) than did controls who wanted but were denied pass-fail grading (mean 2.40). There was no compensatory improvement in the grades received in non-pass-fail courses.