(NewsNation) — New research shows teachers are giving higher grades for work that would have scored lower in years past, a practice known as “grade inflation.”

For students, it’s a practice that can cause trouble down the line.

During the pandemic, many schools took a more lenient approach to grading, eliminating zeros and penalties for late work. But while students have returned to in-person learning, grading practice hasn’t returned to its pre-pandemic normal.

Overall grades have risen, even as test scores and attendance rates have fallen. College counselor Laurie Kopp Weingarten said the practice can cause some rude awakenings for students when they graduate from K-12 education and head to college.

“So right now, we do have high schools, where you can retest until you get an ‘A,’ or if you don’t hand something in, you can you’ll get a 50% instead of a zero,” she said. “So what happens is they get to college, and some of these students are wondering, well, I didn’t get an ‘A’ on my test. Can I retest? Or, yeah, I’m two weeks late handing it in, but the teacher will let me still hand it in late and won’t really deduct.”

Weingarten said those students may struggle when they reach college and find out the expectations for quality work are much different.

Grade inflation is also affecting college admissions. When all students are “A” students, colleges have to figure out other ways to sort through applicants. Many have turned back to standardized test scores, something many colleges eliminated during the pandemic.

“There’s been a return to standardized testing among some colleges because they’re looking at thousands of transcripts with straight ‘As,'” Weingarten said.