This is taken from a report entitled Grade Inflation at UNC - Chapel Hill, A Report to the Faculty Council Prepared byThe Educational Policy Committee, February 2, 2000 ( link ). I liked the descriptions of letter grades (A-F) and it hopefully reflects the final grading policies I use in my courses. By the way these are effectively the meanings each of these grades have had for years although some folks think there is some thing called grade inflation (a good search term on Google if you would like to find out how prevalent grade inflation has become).

A
Outstanding mastery of course material. Students earning an A have exhibited performance far above that required for credit in the course and far above that usually seen in the course. The A grade should be awarded sparingly and should identify student pe rformance that is relatively unusual in the course. The A grade states clearly that the student has shown such outstanding promise in the aspect of the discipline under study that he/she may be strongly encouraged to continue.

B
Superior mastery of course material. Students earning a B have exhibited mastery clearly above that required for credit in the course. The B grade should represent student performance that is strong and very clearly above performance that is generally hel d to be satisfactory. The B grade states that the student has shown solid promise in the aspect of the discipline under study.

C
Satisfactory mastery of course material. Students earning a C have exhibited satisfactory mastery of course material. The C grade should reflect performance that is satisfactory on all counts and that clearly deserves full credit for the course. The C gra de states that, while not yet showing any unusual promise, the student may continue to study in the discipline with reasonable hope of intellectual development.

D
Mastery of course material that is unsatisfactory or poor along one or more dimensions. Students achieving a D have exhibited incomplete mastery of course material but have achieved enough to earn credit for the course. The D grade states that the student has given no evidence of prospective growth in the discipline; an accumulation of D grades should be taken to mean that the student would be well advised not to continue in the academic field.

F
Unsatisfactory mastery of course material. Students earning an F have not demonstrated sufficient mastery of course material to earn credit for the course. The F grade indicates that the student's performance in the required exercises has revealed almost no understanding of the course content. A grade of F should warrant an adviser's questioning whether the student may suitably register for further study in the discipline before remedial work is undertaken.