<p>So our TA tells us we can hand in our performance critiques early to her and she will grade them and hand them back to us so we can make any necessary changes. I handed in 3 out of the 4 early and supposedly I get A+, A+, A. I thought, great! I'm set, I don't need to make any changes. </p>
<p>But a couple days ago, she sent an e-mail saying that the grades on those papers may not be what we actually get. I guess they regraded all of them. And last night I checked my grade on MyUCLA and apparently I got 3 Bs and an A-. </p>
<p>I receieved an A- in the class, but I think that may have been an A if the grades were what she said they would be. I think it's pretty unfair that she misled me (not to mention other people in her discussions) and made me think that I didn't need to make any changes. </p>
<p>Am I alone here in thinking this was unfair? Or does anyone else have a similar experience?</p>
<p>I didn’t turn my reports in early (probably had a different TA), and I was fine with the grade that somehow did come out. But my grades on those reports were among the lowest I received this quarter in three classes I took with some level of writing, even with the wdydwyd boost and even with experience in writing about art. I was rather surprised by them and even more surprised by the class distribution; what probably should have been a grade inflater for the (trivia-laden) exams turned out, for some, to be a deflater! </p>
<p>When I was up on stage at the end of the course, I saw that a TA had graded reports very generously and thought that was a good sign for final grades. Turns out, it wasn’t. I have a feeling that the “calibration” described in the final class email may have been a lecture-wide downshifting of report grades to establish a better class curve and to avoid general complaints that one TA is more fair than another (obviously did not work well). My TA had mentioned that her colleagues and Professor Winter all get together to discuss and reach a consensus on final grades at the end of the course. </p>
<p>I believe that my constant concern over grades in this class, certainly more than it should have been and possibly more than in the other classes I took, unfortunately decreased my enjoyment of it. I hope in the future that Professor Winter can fully address the grade concerns of students well BEFORE the day that they are due to the registrar. That way, perhaps more students will focus on appreciating the performing arts rather than inappreciatively staring at a few unexpected marks on assignments at the end.</p>
<p>Totally unfair. I think what they did was ridiculous and so full of BS. I received As on all of my “critiques” as well when I turned them in earlier for my TA to review, and I started getting a bit worried when they sent that email about the sudden change in grading the essays. They really, really shouldn’t do crap like that. I ended up with 3 B+'s and one A. The A was (I find this pretty amusing) for a UCLA Live event that featured the band They Might Be Giants, which wasn’t even on Winter’s “recommendation list.” And yeah, his MacJournal gave very vague instructions on what was expected from the essays.</p>
<p>I was also expecting an A+ in participation but I just got an A. I don’t get it.</p>
<p>But an A+ on the final is probably what saved me (I received an ordinary ol’ A). I would like to argue it out but not enough motivation right now.</p>
<p>This shady, inconsistent grading system for this sort of artsy (eugh, not my thing) class is my worst nightmare. So are the random-as-hell tests. I seriously sat there thinking, “What is this crap?!” </p>
<p>I would have taken another class had I known the grading would be this flimsy. Oh, and I didn’t do the extra credit… some of those performances were honestly cringe-worthy. Oh Winter, maybe you should have stuck to physics… Glad to have one GE out of the way, though!</p>
<p>Dude I know how you feel. I thought I was going to get As on my reports too and instead I got 3 Bs and 1 B-. What the heck right? Who’d you have anyways? Tanitra was my TA. Oh and I also got an A- in the class.</p>
<p>lol ucla_ftw were you in hsing an’s discussion? cause i was and what you described is exactly what happened. I had a feeling that she would grade them all as As for the most part, but then winter cussed her out for grading too easily so she downed them all or let him grade them. I got rank 1/580 or whatever on the midterm, 60/67 on the final, A in participation, but got a B-/B+/B/A- on the essays and ended up with an A- instead of an A lol. </p>
<p>It’s worse than I wanted but w/e I wrote the essays the night before they were due and didn’t study for the final or midterm at all so I guess I shouldn’t complain.</p>
<p>imrightuarewrong, no actually I was in Tanitra’s discussion like notaznguy.</p>
<p>I agree with you TWSA50, I think they realized too many people had As and they needed to bring people’s grades down somehow.</p>
<p>I still think its bogus. I don’t really think we can blame the TAs though, this one is on Winter for at the last minute deciding to do this. Quite frustrating. And sadly I doubt there is anything we can do about it.</p>
<p>If I got an A at the end of the day, I would be quietly giggling in the corner while laughing at others anguished at the system, and I especially would not take the time to write some long, drawn out list of grievances about the non-existent grading system the class has.</p>
<p>It wasn’t targeted at you, chill out. I got an A- too but I’m glad with my grade because I barely did any work for this class all quarter. I was that guy who came to every class but never went on stage and didn’t do what was more than required.</p>
<p>these things occur…it’s already happened with dma10. people are flocking to these kinds of classes from the “extremely easy” word of mouth and the prof+ta’s realize they gotta do something about all those As. stop crying about a B+, it’s not high school anymore. s*** happens alright? deal with it because plenty more have it worse than you</p>