#uk grades

Keeping in mind that generically in the US (not including honors programs or curves):

90-100% = A. 80-89% = B. 70-79% = C. 60-69% = D.  Below 60 = F.

Naturally one can see why I was confused when one of my friends was thrilled to say "I got a 64%" in  a hard class.

Here's what I don't understand, though... If you're only getting 64% of stuff correct, then....  are you REALLY studying well or being taught well?  Is it my American Ignorance that makes me not understand?  Because.... that's retention of just over half the material.  Does this mean that American studyabroads do REALLY well if they're used to scoring in the 80%s and/or that the UK studyabroads do really poorly in the US if they're used to getting 75%s? 

It pisses me off so much because its like they are saying "HEY LOOK AT THIS YOUR QUALIFICATIONS ARE MEANINGLESS BECAUSE OF GRADES".

Like seriously, there is no "standard grading system" in the UK because it changes every year. More than that, it changes within the year. That's why you're given "projected" grades. Which is a combination of your work and your teacher/school guessing at what the grade boundaries will be.

Grades change, one year yes, you may easily get an A* with 85 marks on an English paper, but you could get 85 marks on a maths paper and get a C and get a B on a science paper. ALL with 85 marks. Then the following year the same marks might be completely different grades altogether. 

Nothing is so rigid here. I was explaining this to my mother (who was a teacher for 20 years) and now she's ranting about how it works too, she brought up that there are different exam bodies who have different criteria for grades too. 

Here it's A,B,C,D,F