BJA operates on a semester basis. Grades for a particular course are not averaged to create a final yearlong grade for that course; instead, each semester’s grade is final at the end of that semester. Most courses are for 50 minutes per day for five days each week; a student who passes a one-semester daily course earns one-half credit. Four years of Bible (grades 9 through 12) meet two days each week, and chapel meets the other three days each week. A student earns one-quarter credit when he passes a semester of Bible.
Certain courses build in such a way that unless the student passes the first semester of the course, he is not likely to be adequately prepared to pass the second semester of that course. A student who fails first semester does not continue into the second semester of the following courses: Physical Science, Chemistry, Physics, Algebra I, Geometry (with some exceptions), Algebra II, Precalculus and Keyboarding. If the class is required, the student repeats the first semester the following year or during summer school and then takes the second semester of the course.
BJA’s official grading scale is an unweighted grading scale. In this scale, a B-, B and B+ all receive a 3.0. For South Carolina scholarship purposes, the S.C. Uniform Grading Policy (SC UGP) scale is also calculated. In this weighted scale, while a B- is a 3.0, a B is slightly higher, and a B+ is higher than that; honors courses receive an additional .5 point value (a B- is calculated as a 3.5); and dual-credit courses receive 1 additional point in value (a B- is calculated as a 4.0). BJA’s class rank uses the SC UGP calculations.