Abstract
COVID-19 has had a number of significant effects on academic affairs at College of Science and Technology, Nihon University, one of which was an observable change in students’ GPAs, occurring alongside a change in teaching methods from face-to-face to online. This paper details the changes in GPA scores during these years, as assessed under the absolute grading system. Based on the results of the previous studies, two groups are introduced in the data analyses of the pre-COVID and pandemic years: the students who had taken the entrance examination before the turn of the year and those after the turn. The former group, who had showed lower overall GPA scores than the latter group in pre-COVID years, were also found to have achieved better GPAs in pandemic years. One hypothesis to explain this is that they may have benefitted from the nature of online classes, including facets such as “on-demand” learning and a greater tendency towards repetitive learning methods in general.
