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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"A-minus?! My life is flashing before my eyes!"''
|'''Gretchen Grundler''', ''[[Recess]]''}}
A straight A student has just received a report card... along with some distressing news: There is a B in one subject. This makes the student disappointed at having his/her perfect record tarnished, while others wonder what the big deal is, since they'd usually be content to get a B. When they truly understand how upset the person in question is, there usually is a pep talk reminding how great they are and an occasional stumble is nothing to be ashamed of.
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Compare [[Second Place Is for Losers]]. [[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 [[F Minus Minus]].
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Ojamajo Doremi]] Sharp'': In the very first scene of this season, Hazuki has a terrible reaction to getting exactly ''one'' "Try harder" mark. This doesn't affect the overall plot, however.
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* This is Ami's great fear in ''[[Sailor Moon]]''. Aliens coming to take all the energy out of their bodies? Ami's on it. [[Yandere]] not quite over the heroine's [[Love Interest]] and will stop at nothing to [[Murder the Hypotenuse]] ? Not a problem. [[Mad Oracle]] from the future manipulating a prince into doing his bidding, and eventually goes after Crystal Tokyo's princess? No problem. An A-minus on her final? Ami's crushed.
* [[The World God Only Knows|Keima Katsuragi]] gets upset on the very rare occasions when he gets less than a perfect score; not because he cares about the test itself, but because he has a deal with his teachers that let him play his [[Dating Sim]] games in class so long as he aces his tests.
* ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'' offers something of an inversion - during his time under the influence of the Dark Seed, Ken Ichijouji was an excellent student who regularly topped his class in tests. After undergoing a [[Heel Face Turn]], his test results drop somewhat, and while he himself is quite shocked if aware of what's going on, his classmates are
* ''[[Time Guardian|Toki No Shugomono]]'' has Miu get a bad grade on a psychics test because she was adjusting her watch. This sets off the whole plot of the story.
* In ''[[Silver Spoon]]'', Yuugo Hachiken managed to be the best student of his agricultural school. He is not happy about it because he achieved that by ''consistently'' being the ''second best student'' in every subject - his classmates all are [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]]s that [[Crippling Overspecialisation|ace on one area]] and fail on everything else.
== Film ==
* In the classic [[John Hughes]] film, ''[[The Breakfast Club]]'', Brian panics pretty severely (
* Played straight in the comedy ''[[Choke]]''.
* This is one of the reasons behind the rivalry Chatur feels towards Rancho in ''[[3 Idiots]]'', as Chatur is constantly the second place behind Rancho no matter how much he tries. Not helped by Rancho being a genius that gets his high grades despite his highly unconventional, pranking, blithe nature compared with Chatur being a more conventional student by the Indian educative system parameters.
== Literature ==
* When discussing Boggarts, shapeshifters which take the form of one's worst fear, in ''[[Harry Potter and
** This is, in fact, paid off when she has trouble on a Defense Against The Dark Arts "obstacle course", where a Boggart transformed into Professor McGonagall, who told her she ''failed'' everything. So at least she has some perspective.
*** Perhaps justified- after all, Hermione is Muggle-born and presumably Hogwarts is her only connection to the awesome world of magic. Wouldn't flunking out scare ''you''?
*** 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
** Plus, in ''[[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (novel)|Half-Blood Prince]]'' 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?"
*** 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 the professor for one of the classes required for certification won't accept people scoring below a certain (very high) level.
* One of the stories in ''[[Chicken Soup for the Soul|Chicken Soup for the Kid's Soul]]'' is based around this. Of course, the girl in question was upset because she knew [[Abusive Parents|her father]] was going to ''beat'' her when she brought home the straight A and 1 B report card. Yeah...
* In ''Dear Mr Henshaw'' Leigh gets an A minus on his dog assignment. His teacher says the minus is for not standing on both feet.
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpog1_NFd2Q "What Teachers Make"] by the teacher and poet Taylor Mali:
{{quote|
I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional Medal of Honor and I can make an A- feel like a slap in the face:
"How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best?" }}
* In ''[[Little House
* ''[[The Langoliers]]'': Toomy had a rather uncompromising father. It goes partway towards explaining why he's such a [[Complete Monster]].
== Live Action TV ==
* ''[[Saved
* ''[[Small Wonder]]''
* ''[[The Adventures of Pete and Pete]]'': Ellen gets a B in Driver's Ed, and spends the episode kissing up to the instructor. She eventually gets an A-.
* Paris from ''[[Gilmore Girls]]'' reacts badly to getting an ''A-minus!''
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* In ''[[Drake and Josh]]'', {{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 [[Disproportionate Retribution|Mrs. Heffer gave Mindy a B]] }}.
** {{spoiler|''Several years previously.''}}
* In an episode of ''[[
** Probably an [[Exaggerated Trope|exaggeration]], since the only reason Carly got a B+ was because she handed in her report on three hole paper, and the teacher doesn't like three hole paper.
*** 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.
*** Another reason it was so important to her is because if it weren't for that B+, she would have had her first all A report card.
* ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'', when George Michael got an A-. Both he and his dad were disappointed.
* Played ly in the ''[[
** Fred is also a bit taken aback in "Supersymetry" when her professor gives her an A- on her last paper. Granted, she didn't dwell on it too much.
* An episode of ''[[Family Ties]]'' revealed that Andy's kindergarten teacher was also Alex's more than a decade previously. Apparently Alex hasn't gotten over the fact that said teacher gave him a B in ''shoelace tying'' and his parents even told her he was "willing to take a make-up test".
** Alex thinks his girlfriend will leave him for the [[Romantic False Lead]], who got an A from a professor who "never" gives them out, while Alex got a B. He gets over it when she stays with him, pointing out that he has a romantic side that the other guy lacks.
* In one episode of ''[[Parker Lewis Can't Lose]]'' ("Senior Jerry") Jerry Steiner gets promoted to the next class and manages to get the first (non-A(+)) B+ of his life; out of devastation he quits school and wishes to become a mason.
* Topanga Lawrence-Matthews in ''[[Boy Meets World]]'' is a definite example of a straight-A student who will go berserk if anything threatens to tarnish her perfect academic record, to the point where Feeny could scare her back into her seat with two words: "A-minus."
* ''[[Castle]]'' gently mocks his daughter who is studying for an exam on ''[[The Scarlet Letter]]'': "Ironically, you will be ashamed if you ''don't'' get a big red A."
* It was (no pun intended) the B-plot ([[Monster of the Aesop|complete with Killer Bee Monster]]) in an ep of ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'', where Billy got upset over the first B he ever made on a test.
* A variation of this was used as the focus of an episode of ''[[Stark Raving Mad]]'': 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 it's "[[Wanton Cruelty to
* In an early episode of ''[[Family Matters]]'', Laura finds out on her progress report (not even her final grade for the semester!) was going to be a B in one course. She instantly declares ''herself'' grounded from everything until she can bring it back up.
{{quote|
** In a different episode of ''[[Family Matters]]'', Urkel, Laura and [[Cloudcuckoolander|Waldo]] all end up in the same Home Ec class. Urkel does not have the knack for it that he has for academics and ends up with a C, which causes him to freak out. Waldo, on the other hand, plays the trope backwards by getting an A and being shocked to the point of disbelief. It was his first A ever, see...
* Parodied in the British-Indian sketch comedy show ''[[Goodness Gracious Me]]'', in which a father rants about his son getting a B in A-Level Classical Studies despite having the grades to do medicine at Cambridge; he then rants that his son should be getting a PhD and doing his undergraduate degree in his spare time, but his son cannot because his spare time is taken up playing soccer for the Milwall first team. The father then becomes incensed that his son isn't playing for Liverpool. {{spoiler|His son is six years old}}.
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* One episode of ''[[Bones]]'' introduces Brennan's old mentor. Booth jokingly asks if he gave her an A- when she gets a stern talking-to from him, to which she replies, annoyed "I've never gotten an A- in my ''life''."
* In ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', Willow is extremely upset when she scores "only" 740 on the verbal section of the SAT.
{{quote|
'''Xander''': That's right. [[Sarcasm Mode|And the fact that your 740 verbal closely resembles my combined scores in no way compromises your position as the village idiot.]] }}
* In ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'' we get this piece of dialogue from Alex after they invite Ugh! to their school
{{quote|
* On ''[[Medium]]'', a [[Election|Tracy Flick]]-lookalike [[Disproportionate Retribution|frames her teacher for rape]] after he refuses to raise her grade from (I think) an A- to an A.
* In ''[[The West Wing]]'', the President mentions that he scored 790/800 (after someone suggested that he got 1600) and then retook the test just to get the exact same score again.
* In ''[[Community]]'', the prospect of receiving a 'zero' as part of a blanket punishment enforced on a class over a cheater's failure to come forward prompts chronic overachiever Annie to scream a [[Big No]] in front of everyone.
* ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody]]'' has Cody as one of these. In the episode where it comes up the most (where he's forced to take Wood Shop due to picking an elective that ''not even the teacher showed up to''. It's revealed that he has extremely unrealistic ideas of what will happen to him if he doesn't ace every class. In a nightmare sequence he's made to be the janitor of a "Big Snooty Ivy League College" due to not acing Wood Shop. As he hysterically claims to his mom when she thinks he's putting too much pressure on himself:
{{quote|
* [[Inverted Trope|Inverted]] on the "Subway Wars" episode of ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]''. Ted, who teaches an architecture class at college, finds out about a website that allows students to rate their teachers. He checks it out and sees dozens of glowing reviews. But the one he notices labels him as "boring".
* Exaggerated on ''[[Glee]]'', where Mike's [[Education Mama|strict Chinese father]] flips out over him getting an A- on a test (an "Asian F", providing the episode's title), and wants him to drop football, Glee Club, and dating Tina.
* Gordo deals with this in one episode of ''[[Lizzie
* ''[[Superhuman Samurai Syber
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== Western Animation ==
* In an episode of ''[[The Proud Family]]'', Dijonay exchanged families with the Chang Triplets, and their father immediately chewed her out for having a B in math. "'B' means 'better work harder to get an A'!"
* ''[[
* ''[[The Weekenders]]'' has subverted it, twice:
** "Imperfection": Tish shows her report card to the gang, and her straight A grades. She is then surprised to read a negative comment concerning her perfectionism, which, ironically as she points out, tarnishes her report card.
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* In ''[[Static Shock]]'', the [[Monster of the Week]] (a sort of Hulk-like guy whose parents would take nothing less than perfection) got a 99% on the test, and broke into tears. It wasn't his fault though, as described above. When he complained, the hero's [[Sidekick]] asked if he could trade grades.
** Actually, he got a 99% on an essay and only lost one point because he wrote "it's" instead of "its". Also worth nothing is later in the episode, when Virgil and Richie walk in on the student having a study session with his dad. His father is clearly setting the bar pretty high.
{{quote|
'''Father''': That attitude is the difference between a ninety-nine and a one hundred percent! }}
** In another episode, Richie getting a B- on an exam is the first sign that he's losing his superintelligence.
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** To make this more clear, the grade was not marked in percentage. It was marked as a 4 digit numerical score because it was a standardized test in the vein of the SAT's or the WASL. His mother railed on him for getting second highest.
*** Highest Score? perfect 2400, the loser kid whose never going anywhere in life? 2397.
* There's an episode of ''[[
** Then Dexter tells Dee Dee if she just stops bothering him all the time then they wouldn't even gone through all the trouble of transforming Dee Dee into their Mom.
* Parodied in ''[[
* In the ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' episode "Unfair Science Fair", [[Bollywood Nerd|Baljeet]] fears receiving an A-minus on his science project.
** When the entire group dresses up as their worst fears for a haunted house in "One Good Scare Ought to Do It!", Baljeet dresses up as a failed math test.
** 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekk_hKA2xXU a heavy metal anthem about his desire to be a conformist over-achiever.]
* In the ''[[The Emperor's New School
* In ''[[The Raccoons]]'', Bentley is recruited as a computer technician for Sneer Industries by the Pigs, only for them to sabotage his work when they get jealous at how well he's doing. Sure enough, Bentley is fired and is moaning how his career prospects are ruined while Bert and Cedric can't get a word in edgewise of how no future employer is going to pay attention to a mishap that happened to someone as a child. Regardless, Cyril finds out the truth and Bentley is exonerated with an even stronger lock on a job with Sneer Industries when he is older.
* In the first ''[[Jimmy Neutron|Jimmy]]/[[Fairly Oddparents|Timmy]] [[Crossover|Power Hour]]'', when everyone is mistaking Jimmy for a big-headed Timmy (and vice-versa), Mr. Crocker gives Jimmy an F ([[Don't Explain the Joke|Y'know, since Fs are the only grade Timmy usually gets]])...and the F starts ''burning his hand''!
* In "Breezing Listening Blues" on ''[[Arthur]]'', Brain gets a B+ on a test and becomes convinced that his mind is being weakened by the breezing listening music that his parents recently started playing at their ice cream shop.
* Inverted in the genuinely touching ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|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.
* [[Inverted Trope|Inversion]]: Roger in the ''[[Doug]]'' episode "Doug's Lucky Hat", after he steals Doug's lucky hat, gets a D- on a test and brags about it: "Look at this! A D minus! I actually passed the test! Doug! This hat has changed my life!!"
* In one of her earlier appearances, Azula in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' practices her [[Shock and Awe|lightning techniques]]. She gets the form practically perfect, with only one little hair out of place. Her response? Angrily sweeping the hair out of her eyes and returning to her practice, declaring that "''Almost'' isn't good enough!"
* This is the [[Start of Darkness]] for Earl P. Sidebottom. Once a straight A student at [[Flying Rhino Junior High]], his reaction to getting a D in shop class was to flee to the school's boiler room, build a reality-altering super computer, and terrorize the school as [[Big Bad|The Phantom.]]
* Not so much ''grades'', but in the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
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* In [http://365tomorrows.com/09/23/making-the-cut/ this] 365 Tomorrows' flash fiction story, the protagonist is concerned about his grades dropping to A-; he's concerned for a very good reason.
* In [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN7o2Iy89WQ yourchonny's video], while discussing the latest grades on his report card with his father.
{{quote|
* Inverted with [[
== Real Life ==
* Graduate school. Depending on the program, 3.0 out of 4.0 is often considered the lowest acceptable grade, and funding has been severely cut for grade point averages that would make undergrads very happy. Students can get lectured about receiving 3.5 out of 4.0. Does not help keep grad students sane.
* Believe it or not, in Korea a fourth grader
* The many, many, sad tales of kids who are grounded, beaten, or worse by overbearing parents who don't like it when their kids bring home B or C grades.
* [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Asian%20Grading%20Scale&defid=3403390 This]. While not as drastic, still pretty much captures the mentality.
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* 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 [[Freak-Out]] in class and later declaring his community college a [[Godwin's Law|"genocide school"]].
* The International Baccalaureate program is almost entirely composed of [[Asian and Nerdy|people]] who fit this trope, even though the IB program is notorious for being difficult.
* Go to any high school with an [[wikipedia:Advanced Placement|AP program]]. Talk to the teacher in charge of that program. Any teacher. They will all tell you stories of students freaking out for this exact reason. Makes you wonder why more schools don't have AP programs.
* Justified in the case of some scholarships; a B or C average could literally be synonymous with losing a scholarship and having to drop out due to being unable to pay for school.
* One of the biggest rivalries among America's tiny, academically-obsessed liberal arts colleges is the one between Williams and Amherst. One year, some Amherst students chemically burned an "A" into the Williams quad before the annual football game. The following year, some Williams students went down to Amherst and burned a "B+" into theirs.
* 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-
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
[[Category:School Tropes]]
[[Category:Truth in Television]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:B Grade, The}}
▲[[Category:Plots]]
▲[[Category:The B Grade]]
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