History Main / TheBGrade

* ''TheAdventuresOfPeteAndPete'': Ellen gets a B in Driver's Ed, and spends the episode kissing up to the instructor. She eventually gets an A-.

* On an episode of ''ADifferentWorld'', Kim is stressed because she received a B on a midterm. This leads her to believe that she will not be able to get into medical school and has nightmares about it, complete with Walter and Freddie dressed as Killer Bees.

* Inverted in ''Webcomic/{{Misfile}}'' when the bookworm Emily got a B-. At first she was disappointed she didn't automatically get an A grade in one of her tests, her friend Rachel pointing out she'd kill to be able to get a B. After that, she started to get over it. Also, she'd already aced the class during the two years she'd lost, and wanted to have a life outside of studying this go-round, but her EducationMama went berserk.

* ''ThePowerpuffGirls'': In "Him Diddle Riddle," one of Him's tasks to the girls is to take their SATs and get a score of 100. Buttercup scores a 25, Blossom (to her confused anger) scores a 10, but Bubbles--whose SAT sheet was done up with a drawing of a flower--scored ''1075''.
-->'''Him:''' ''(in complete shock)'' "Well I'll be darned."

TruthInTelevision, as anyone who has seen high school honor students receiving their grades can attest. With the onset of the Internet and teachers posting grade updates online, this usually happens well before the report card actually arrives.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewSchool'' episode "Girls Behaving Oddly", Malina got an A-, causing her to be kicked out of the cheer leading squad and behaved oddly after she joined some girl gang. It turns out that [[spoiler:the teacher was about to give her an A+, but ran pen ran out of ink.]]

Compare ThePerfectionist and SecondPlaceIsForLosers. [[FelonyMisdemeanor What Do You Mean, It's Not Heinous?]] is often the character's response to "It's just a 'B.'" If your character isn't bright enough to be traumatized by this trope, then perhaps they'll balk at their FMinusMinus.

* Topanga Lawrence-Matthews in ''BoyMeetsWorld'' is a definite example of a straight-A student who will go berserk if anything threatens to tarnish her perfect academic record.

* ''{{Castle}}'' gently mocks his daughter who is studying for an exam on ''TheScarletLetter'': "Ironically, you will be ashamed if you ''don't'' get a big red A."

* A variation of this was used as the focus of an episode of ''StarkRavingMad'': Maddie announces that as her last college assignment, she has to write a book report about Ian. Ian and Henry write it for her and the former is shocked when the report is awarded a "B". Ian goes to her professor to complain and slips out that he wrote the paper causing the professor to immediately fail Maddie. Henry manages to get the decision reversed by meeting the professor and telling a made up story about how the "Ian Stark" that visited him was an impostor. The professor believes him and all seems resolved...until the professor reveals that he examined the report further and decided to change the grade to a "C" due to its "[[WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma childish use of commas]]". Henry (who [[BrickJoke at the beginning of the episode]] was arguing with Ian over the proper usage of commas) then claims "all those commas were justified" once again rising the professor's suspicion. The episode ends with Henry telling Maddie that she's "going to summer school", hinting that the professor failed her again.

** That is to say, "An A minus, MINUS!" Apparently Wernstrom has never even ''heard'' of a grade outside the "A" range. Which thanks to FridgeLogic you realise as a teacher himself has never given a student anything less than an A.
* In ''StaticShock'', honor roll student Thomas Kim (who turned out to be the MonsterOfTheWeek a sort of Hulk-like guy whose parents would take nothing less than perfection) got a 99% on a test, and immediately complained that the teacher got his grade wrong (he later attacked the teacher at the parking lot, Hulked out and repeating "wrong"). It wasn't his fault though, as described above. When he complained, Richie (who wasn't exactly high on school achievements before becoming Gear - this was a season 1 episode) immediately asked if he could trade grades.

* Similarly, one of the villains on ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' was a kid whose mother wouldn't tolerate him being second in anything... Which prompted him to try to kill Max when she got a perfect score on a test that he got a ''very nearly'' perfect score on. Highest Score? Perfect 2400. The loser kid who's never going anywhere in life? 2397.

** In "The Baljeetles", Baljeet is worried about getting a failing grade in a rock-and-roll music camp. He's actually disappointed, even ''angry'', when he finds out they're not being graded at all... which actually inspires him to channel his nerd rage into [[http://phineasandferb.wikia.com/wiki/Gimme_a_Grade a heavy metal anthem about his desire to be a conformist over-achiever.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewSchool'' episode "Girls Behaving Oddly", Malina got an A-, causing her to be kicked out of the cheer leading squad and behaved oddly after she joined some girl gang. It turns out that [[spoiler:the teacher was about to give her an A+, but ran out of pen.]]

* In the first ''[[JimmyNeutron Jimmy]] / [[WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents Timmy]] [[CrossOver Power Hour]]'', when everyone is mistaking Jimmy for a big-headed Timmy (and vice-versa), Mr. Crocker gives Jimmy an F ([[DontExplainTheJoke Y'know, since Fs are the only grade Timmy usually gets]])...and the F starts ''burning his hand''!

* ''ThePowerpuffGirls'': In "Him Diddle Riddle," one of Him's tasks to the girls is to take their SATs. Buttercup scores a 25, Blossom (to her confused anger) scores a 10, but Bubbles--whose SAT sheet was done up with a drawing of a flower--scored 1075.

** In most places in Canada, 80% and above *is* an A (with everything 90% and above being A+).

** At the University of Oxford, 70% is the grade boundary for a ''FIRST'' - this is much harder to achieve than you might think, and it is very easy to slip down the grades... anything less than 60% tends to get frowned upon.

** Due to the aforementioned increased difficulty of IB and AP, some schools now grade those classes on 4.5 or 5.0 scales--so a B is still a 4.0, possibly to put less stress on the students. This is referred to as a "weighted" grade, though, and your un-wieghted grades are still shown with it, since some colleges or other organizations only want the latter anyway.
** There's also the fact that while for AP exam a 3 is a pass, most colleges now only accept 4 or 5 for credit, and IB, which teaches half it's courses at "higher level" and half at "standard level" colleges usually only take the higher level passes as credits. You can pass or even get full marks on IB Calculus, but if it's "only" standard level a lot of schools won't count it and make you take college algebra anyway.

* Gordo deals with this in one episode of ''LizzieMcGuire''.

* It was (no pun intended) the B-plot ([[MonsterOfTheAesop complete with Killer Bee Monster]]) in an episode of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'', where Billy got upset over the first B he ever made on a test.

* Inverted in the genuinely touching ''[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Simpsons]]'' episode "Bart Gets an F", where Bart jumps up and down and celebrates after getting a D- on a history test at the end. He had actually failed the exam, but his reaction to his failing grade showed he had actually TRIED to study this time and even retained some of the content so the teacher bumped him up a point or two for the effort as a reward.

* In ''DrakeAndJosh'', [[spoiler: Mindy deconstructed Mrs. Heffer's car and reconstructed it in her classroom, framed Drake by hiding his stolen sweater in the trunk, and then served as Mrs. Heffer's lawyer in an elaborate scheme for revenge because [[DisproportionateRetribution Mrs. Heffer gave Mindy a B]] ]].
** [[spoiler: ''Several years previously.'']]

*** In fact, as I recall she didn't so much mind the grade as she was upset about the fact that the teacher did that to her.

* ''HeyArnold!'', "Olga Comes Home", [[PlayingWithATrope plays with this plot]] by having [[GenreSavvy Helga]] forge her titular big sister's report card, so that she ''thinks'' she got a B+. Which causes Olga to go catatonic and stay in her room crying until Helga breaks down and tells her she did get an A.

* ''Smallville'' has an early episode in which an honors student receives a c in shops class and proceeds to freak out because it could endanger his plans of getting into college early. When the teacher refuses to change the grade(and honestly that c was the best grade the boy could hope for,his project was so crappy)the student uses his meteor power to split himself in two and murder the teacher. Talk about overreacting!

* Similarly, one of the villains on ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' was a kid whose mother wouldn't tolerate him being second in anything... Which prompted him to try to kill Max when she got a perfect score on a test that he got a ''very nearly'' perfect score on.
* Highest Score? Perfect 2400. The loser kid who's never going anywhere in life? 2397.

** That is to say, "An A minus, MINUS!" Apparently Wernstrom has never even ''heard'' of a grade outside the "A" range.

* Appears to be what sent unstable Tuscon Arizona shooter [[http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-arizona-shooting-20110115,0,6932026.story Jared Lee Loughner]] off the deep end, with him having a FreakOut in class and later declaring his community college a [[GodwinsLaw "genocide school"]].

* Many New England private schools (including the Winsor School which the troper attended) are extremely competitive to the point that it is not uncommon for middle school students to cry for getting an A-

*** Harry's B-equivalent grade in Potions makes him worry that he won't be able to join the Dark-magic-fighting Aurors, and by extension, his defeating Voldemort could be that much more difficult. To be fair, he's been told that Snape absolutely refuses to take students that didn't score the A-equivalent to NEWT level. Luckily for Harry, Snape became Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts (on which Harry DID get the A-equivalent) and the Potions replacement is happy to accept the B.

* When discussing Boggarts, shapeshifters which take the form of one's worst fear, in ''HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'', Ron sarcastically suggests that Hermione's Boggart would be a homework paper she got nine out of ten on.

*** Ironically, due to her failing to defeat said Boggart in the obstacle-course, she ends up getting a B-equivalent in Defence Against The Dark Arts - thus making it the only subject where HarryPotter beat her out. (He, of course, got a perfect score. This being the one subject he really excels in.)
** Plus, in ''HalfBloodPrince'' when the gang gets the results of their OWL Exams, Ron notes that Hermione got the top grade in everything ''except'' Defense Against the Dark Arts and, noting Hermione's not-so-pleased response asks "You're actually disappointed, aren't you?"