One important change that has been included in the K-12 Program which a lot of teachers are still trying to grasp is the way grades are reflected on the report card. Under the new grading scheme, the passing grade is reduced to 60% from the traditionally used 75% mark. While this is easy to understand, the problem is that teachers are tasked to give a mark of 75 when the student gets a computed grade of 60. While DepEd on its related memoranda have not cited the exact benefit regarding this scheme, one plausible explanation is that it is to avoid parents from complaining if their child gets a mark that is below 60 on their report card. It is also helpful in order to provide students the ability to cope with a failure from the previous quarter. This process of shifting the passing grade is something most teachers are not yet able to grasp completely. Transmutation of grade is not actually difficult. You need not to repeatedly rely on a transmutation table just to compute the grades of all your students. Here is a quick guide to the math behind the transmutation of grade.
What is Grade Transmutation?
Transmutation of Grades is an essential part of the K-12 Program of the Department of Education of the Philippines. Under this, student’s academic standing is reflected on a 60-100 scheme on their report card (60 is the lowest possible grade and 100 is the highest possible grade; descriptive marks are also given) while a 0-100 grading scheme is actually applied in the classroom with 60% as the passing mark. The process involves shifting of the Actual Grade (the one computed based on the student’s academic performance) to the Transmuted Grade.
What is a Transmutation Table?
A transmutation table contains the range of the Actual Grades and their equivalences of Transmuted Grades. The transmutation table below converts the passing rate of 60% to its equivalent grade of 75. The range for the Actual grade is 0-100 while the range for the transmuted grade is 60-100.
Is there a formula to convert Actual Grade to Transmuted Grade?
The answer is a big YES. You can actually compute the transmuted grade using the formula below.
In excel, you can do this with the help of some built-in functions.
=FLOOR(IF(A1<60,60+(A1/4),75+(A1-60)/1.6),1)
Where,
A1 is the address of the Actual Grade.
ISNUMBER checks whether the cell reference contains a number (TRUE) or not (FALSE).
FLOOR rounds down the number to the nearest integer.
IF checks whether a condition is satisfied. Executes the second argument if TRUE or the third argument if FALSE.
Does this formula work? How did we arrive with the formula?
Yes, it does work. You can actually try and check if it does work. We arrived with the formula by following the steps below.
- Determine the range of the AG (Actual Grade). That is LAG (Lowest Actual Grade) and HAG (Highest Actual Grade).
- Determine the range of the TG (Transmuted Grade). That is LTG (Lowest Transmuted Grade) and HTG (Highest Transmuted Grade).
- Determine the Actual Passing Grade (PAG) and the Transmuted Passing Grade (PTG).
· The general formula of transmutation can then be used.
For our case,
- The Actual Grade (AG) range is 0-100. So, LAG=0 and HAG=100.
- The Transmuted Grade (TG) range is 60-100. So, LTG=60 and HTG=100.
- The Actual Passing Grade is 60 and the Transmuted Passing Grade is 75. So, PAG=60 and PTG=75.
- We also want to round down to the nearest integer.
Does the general formula work on all cases of transmutation of scores?
Yes, it does. There might be times when you need to tweak it a little bit in order for it to do what you want it to do.
Okay, I have gone through the guide and somehow understand the mechanism of how it works. What else can you offer me?
Well, I have for you a really nice excel file which contains a sheet where you can input grades and have it transmuted. It can also generates you the formula and you just copy and paste it to your excel workbooks where you want to transmute grades. Aside from this, it also creates the transmutation table for you based on your given input. You can print it and have it anytime specially if you don’t have your own computer or simply don’t trust them.
Thanks po!
ReplyDeleteThanks! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you. This is very helpful. The formula however applies to actual grade or raw score 65-100. If the formula is applied to raw score range 60 or lower, the formula does not apply. Can you help me? I need to transmute a raw score 60 and below. Thanks
ReplyDeleteI think the actual grade is achieved by (raw score)/(total items) x 100.
ReplyDeleteSo first get your actual grades for raw scores 59 and below, then apply the formula above to get the transmuted grade.
Yes, that is correct. The formula =FLOOR(IF(A1<60,60+(A1/4),75+(A1-60)/1.6),1) should work for transmutation of Actual Grades (0-100) to the Transmuted Grades (75-100) and not for RAW scores. Nevertheless, the excel file mentioned above can do that for you as there are options on the said spreadsheet which would allow you to modify the range of the AG and the TG.
DeleteNice.
DeleteThe passing grade was NOT reduced to 60% from 75%. On the contrary, it was RAISED to 60% from the previous passing grade of 50%. Previously, in public schools, a grade of 50 was transmuted to 75%.
ReplyDeletePlease see Deped Order 33 series of 2004. http://www.deped.gov.ph/sites/default/files/order/2004/DO_s2004_033.pdf
DeleteIt was stated there that “grades shall not be transmuted”. There were a few changes in 2010 during the transition from BEC to SEC for Secondary but the 0-100 based performance remained.
Hi evening tanong ko lang if may alam din po kayo kung paano kinocompute ng civil service commission ang rating sa per area of competency ng exam nila? Transmuted grade din po ba? Please show kung papaano
ReplyDeleteSalamat po sa idea
Hi Alfore! This is really useful and the effort you exerted in doing this needs commendation! I was about to make something like this for transmutation from a 50% passing grade to a 60% passing grade in the school card. Good thing I tried to search the web and found your post! You did an excellent job on this one!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Salute!
Bernard
Thank u...It helps a lot
ReplyDeleteHi! This is really helpful! But may I know the source of the general formula for the transmutation? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi Patricia, sorry for the late response as I rarely monitor this blog. I did derive the formula on my own.
DeleteThank you for the excel sheet formula for transmuting grades! It was really helpful! :) More power!
ReplyDeleteHi! I am a parent po. I want to know this... If a school is asking for the GWA of my daughter, would I refer to her actual average (based from computing the average of her actual grades) or her transmuted average (based from catual average being converted to transmuted average). Example, her actual average is 93.01 and her transmuted average is 95. Which is her GWA, 93.01 or 95?
ReplyDeleteHi Flor, the grades reflected on the report card are already the transmuted grades. The GWA should be computed using these values. GWA is computed as: First, multiply final grade for each subject times its corresponding weight. Then get the sum of these products.Finally, divide the sum by the total weight.
DeleteHope this helps and apologies for the late response. I have been busy in the past month.
So in my daughter's case her GWA is 95, right? BTW, their report card reflects both actual and transmuted grades. If her GWA is 95, she should be awarded "With High Honors". But in her case, she was only awarded "With Honors" because the school is basing it in the actual average. But I think you are right. . Because if not, what's the use of the transmuted grade if it won't be used anyway. It's really confusing.
DeleteHi Alfore! May I know if it is possible that I just manipulate the variables in the formula you made to compute for 70% passing for raw scores? I am a College Instructor and our University follows 70% passing rate. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteVery Informative. Thank You so much.
ReplyDeleteToo many ads.
ReplyDeleteApologies for the late response. I have updated the settings and it should be limited to a single ad now. Thank you for letting me know about this.
DeleteI have updated the link and you should now be able to download the file. Sorry for delayed response.
ReplyDeletehow to change the constant of the transmutation generator
ReplyDeleteYou can modify the parameters/values on the first tab of the excel workbook. Sorry for the late response.
Deletegood evening sir, did you come up with the formula on your own? or if not who or what's your reference?
ReplyDeleteI did derive the formula on my own but I was using the transmutation tables provided by DepEd as reference. I was able to validate that the values generated by the formula satisfies the tables they have provided. Sorry for the late response. :)
Deletehi i have a question for actual grade how does it computed it could be a quiz, exam, exercises does it mean we have to implement the 60 transmutation?
ReplyDeleteIs there domino effect when you are applying transmutation of grades?
ReplyDeleteThank you for the blog post, Sir/Ma'am. As a student, I find it useful to roughly predict my transmuted grade, so I won't be surprised at the outcome. The blog is direct, precise, and clear.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sir! This is very useful. The formula =FLOOR(IF(A1<60,60+(A1/4),75+(A1-60)/1.6),1) is validated and the results are matched with the transmuted table.
ReplyDelete=FLOOR(IF(A1<50,60+(A1/4),75+(A1-50)/2),1)
ReplyDeleteformula for 50% passing grade
noong 1st try ko ganitong formula yung tig type ko. pinalaitan ko lang yung mga 60 to 50
=FLOOR(IF(A1<50,60+(A1/4),75+(A1-50)/1),1)
okay sya noong tig try na 50 kunwari yung percentage at 75 yun lumabas. pero nang itry ko perfect or 100, 106 na ahahahah
buti na lang na may computation sa post na ito
2 pala dapat idivide sa (A1-50)/2)
nakuha ko yung 2 sa (100-50) ÷ (100-75)
nasa solution yan sa post, pinalitan ko lang yung 60 nang 50
mas maganda ata nito ganito yung formula
=FLOOR(IF(AX7<50,60+(AX7/4),75+(AX7-50)/((100-50) / (100-75))),1)
yung mga 50 na values yan yun papalitan depende kung anong gusto mong passing na percentage
BTW Thank you po sir for sharing how to calculate the transmutation table. kanina pa ako nito naghahanap sa yt hehe