Yes, only whole grades. It's not that easy to get a 4.0 if you are taking APs and honors classes. There may be a benefit to the A- grades but that gets cancelled out by the downside on a B+. Happened to my kid last semester. .1 short of an A so got a B. but I think it actually works well.

No + or - in MCPS. an A is an A.

Is it true that grades at montgomery county high schools are only A,B,C, etc. and that there are no + or - grades? I was recently on the website and that's what it seemed to be saying, but I was very surprised by this as I have never seen that before at a school. Is this correct, and if so, wouldn't that make it much easier for a student to achieve a 4.0 GPA (anything that would otherwise be an A- would instead go in as an A)?