PSAT Math Multiple-Choice Question 572: Answer and Explanation

Question: 572

The school administrators have decided that too much grade inflation occurs at the school. They believe the average GPA is skewed too high by teachers giving too many A's and B's and by not enough students receiving C's, D's, and F's. If the administrators want to ensure that grade inflation is minimized, which of these quantities would be important to bring close to 2.0

• A. Median only
• B. Mean only
• C. Both mean and median
• D. Neither mean nor median

Correct Answer: C

Explanation:

(C) The median is the middle value of all the GPAs. If the middle value was much above 2.0,
it would be a strong indication that there was grade inflation. The mean is the arithmetic
average of the GPAs, so if it was much above 2.0, it would also indicate grade inflation. So both the median and mean should be close to 2.0 in order to minimize grade inflation.