Meaning & use
straight A's student
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Meanings
nouncountableinformal
A student who regularly earns the highest possible grades in all their classes.
Grammar: Countable: say "a straight A's student" for one person and "straight A's students" for more than one.
Patterns
- a straight A's student
- be a straight A's student in something
My cousin was a straight A's student all through high school and never missed a day.
She wants to be a straight A's student in college, so she studies every evening.
Teachers often ask what a straight A's student does differently from everyone else.
nouncountableinformalfigurative
Used more loosely, someone who does extremely well in a course, test, or task.
Grammar: Still countable and usually singular after "a"; the comparison is to perfect school grades rather than real ones.
Patterns
- a straight A's student in something
- be a straight A's student at something
When it comes to cooking, he is a straight A's student — every dish comes out perfect.
She was a straight A's student in the training program and finished first in her group.
Word forms
| plural | straight A's students |
|---|
Common combinations
- a straight A's student
- Everyone assumed he would become a straight A's student once he settled in.
- be a straight A's student
- Her dream was to be a straight A's student by the time she graduated.
- a straight A's student in math
- He was a straight A's student in math but struggled with history.
- a straight A's student throughout school
- She stayed a straight A's student throughout school without much effort.
- become a straight A's student
- With a better tutor, he became a straight A's student within a year.
Synonyms and how they differ
- top student
- More neutral and common in writing; it says the person is among the best without promising a perfect record.
- high achiever
- Focuses on effort and results in general, not only on grades, and is used in work contexts too.
- honor student
- Used in American schools for someone on an official honors list, which may not require all A's.
Opposites
Word family
- straight-A adjective
- Used before a noun, as in "a straight-A report card."
- grade point average noun
- The number that summarizes a student's grades.
- honor roll noun
- An official list of students with high grades.
Commonly confused: straight A's student or straight As? straight A's student or A student?
straight A's student vs straight As
Without the apostrophe this can read as the letter A repeated; the apostrophe in "A's" makes the plural clear.
straight A's student vs A student
"An A student" means someone who usually gets A grades, but it does not say they get them in every subject.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
The phrase is a countable noun, so it needs the article "a": "a straight A's student." Option 2 is missing the article, option 3 wrongly uses the plural after "a," and option 4 uses "the," which would suggest there is only one such student in the school.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “straight A's student”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.