Standards-based grading is an alternative grading system that gives students multiple opportunities to demonstrate proficiency in course standards or objectives. It has the potential to provide flexibility and reduce student anxiety, which are particularly important during difficult times such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, students in a Precalculus course using standards-based grading between Spring 2021 and Spring 2022 were surveyed about how the pandemic had affected their learning and the benefits and challenges of standards-based grading. The students who took the course in Spring 2021, whose previous learning was least affected by the pandemic, were most likely to find standards-based grading beneficial. However, in all three semesters, students on average reported that compared with exams in previous math courses, assessments in the standards-based graded course were lower stakes and would better help them understand the material and to know what to study.