I got 898 points out of 1000 points. You needed 900 to get an A-. Grades were already submitted(is it too late?) and I ended up with a B+, so the professor didn’t round up my grade. This is a GE class and known to be an “easy A”. The professor did know me but that is mainly because the class had only 20 people. With a class of 20 people, would the professor have known already that I got 898 points and chosen not round up? Do professors look at the actual score before assigning a grade or is it all computerized?
She teaches 5 sections of the same class so I think she has maybe around 170 students in total.
I rarely participated, even though participation was for a grade and worth 10%( I got 80 out of 100 points in the end still).
It sounds like these points are additive. You need 900 points earned in various ways to get an A. You are two points short. I don’t think there is any “rounding” to be done. You earned a B+. Why do you think the prof should change this? It seems that you are aware that you didn’t do all you could.
I have a feeling it is already too late since grades were already submitted and finalized, but it would not hurt to send a follow up email. Some profs seem to be offended with lack of participation and interpret it as lack of interest in their class
The syllabus didn’t mention anything at all about rounding or not. All it said was there will be 1000 points total in the class and my grade will be however many points I earn out of 1000. Then it listed the generic copy/paste grading scale ie. 90%-94% A-
86-89%=B+…
It did list all of the test/assignments and the points for each.
Aren’t all classes additive though?
Honestly, I know the professor didn’t like me. I don’t want to beg for it. All I really want to know is if the professor actually saw that I had 898 out of 1000 and chose not to round. Or did she just computerized everything.
Grades were submitted a while ago, it would be a huge hassle for a professor to change it wouldn’t it, especially since it is not a calculation error? Should have emailed earlier. I guess I shouldn’t even bother
You got the grade your earned. It seems to me that it would be unfair to the other 169 or so students the professor taught to bump your grade for no reason. Next time put some more effort into class participation (especially when it is a significant part of your grade).
“The syllabus didn’t mention anything at all about rounding or not. All it said was there will be 1000 points total in the class and my grade will be however many points I earn out of 1000.”
You earned 898 points. You did not earn 900. I don’t think asking for a rounding up will work, especially since you lost 20 of those missing points from participation - the easiest points to earn in a class of only 20 people.
If you will be taking more classes with this professor, I think it will do you more harm than good to ask for a change in grades.
The professor is in the humanities department so I will never have a class with her again since I’m a STEM major and completed my GEs already with this class. Still, I just don’t want to sound rude for asking for a round up for a class that I didn’t care or participate in. I don’t have a true reason to tell her for the grade bump, my only reason I wanted to ask was because I was just so close to that A- it’s just frustrating. But I’m just going to leave it as a B+ and move on… Thanks for all the advice everyone!
As teachers, we report grades. We don’t make them up.
You earned 898 out of 1000 points. You did not earn 900 points.
Please don’t be a “grade grubber.” You were close to an A, but chose not to put in the effort to get that A… .and in a class that’s known to be an “easy A” at that.
Life is all about choices. You chose to earn a B+. Now, please don’t choose to ask your prof to sacrifice his professional integrity to give you a grade you didn’t earn.
^Don’t rub it in; they already said they wouldn’t bother asking.
But I agree; there has to be a cutoff somewhere and this should stand as a cautionary tale for people who don’t put in maximum effort, but who also want (and even expect) good grades. And to be honest, if you chose not to participate even knowing that participation was 10% of your grade (about the same as high school final exams), then you were asking for trouble.
No. Back away from the issue and your recent investment of time and worry in the class. Have a longer term vision of who you are and what you are trying to do. In your academic, professional, and personal life whether you earned an A- or a B+ in a single class won’t matter at all. Even if you are striving for grad school at Harvard or Stanford, it won’t matter as selection will hinge on your real individual accomplishments that truly stand out (research, leadership, initiative) as well as evidence of your potential. I say all this as someone with famous school graduate degrees who also hires and fires lots of people. So, take the B+, learn what you can and move on to the next challenge. You and your aspirations are much, much bigger than B+ vs A-.
