<p>Who do I contact ( beyond my instructor , who is a graduate student) to dispute a grade?
I need 0.2465% to get the grade I worked for. I feel some of the grading is way too subjective, among other problems with this first-time SPAN1060 instructor.</p>
<p>Do I contact a dean or my faculty advisor?</p>
<p>There’s a form you fill out. I had to do it once because my grade was put in wrong (a B- instead of an A+… yup). You would go to your dean if the request is denied.</p>
<p>First you contact your instructor and once you receive a response and you still want to dispute it then it is the department chair. </p>
<p>You worked for and earned the grade you actually received. You want them to ‘give’ you a rounded up version of that number. Welcome to college.</p>
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<p>Agreed. I understand your frustration, but .25% is what, 4 points across the semester? Should have gotten a couple more of those multiple choice questions right on the midterm.</p>
<p>OP, not sure what your final set-up was but you could ask your teacher if you could go over your graded final? Maybe you could find some points there?</p>
<p>The bigger question is why isn’t this spelled out in the grading scale? I have never seen a school that didn’t round to the nearest whole number (granted n=7) but all outcomes should be accounted for. If a B is up to 89, then a B is up to 89.0 unless the policy specifically says that anything with an 89 as the first two numbers is a B. </p>
<p>On the other hand, an 89.x isn’t a 90, so in essence you have a grading scale that technically gives no grade from 89.0000001 to 89.9999999</p>
<p>Her grading of partial credit ( accent marks) and participation was arbitrary, subjective and inconsistent throughout the semester.</p>
<p>One thing I am going to argue for is grade ambiguity. The SPAN grading scale does not account for the probable numbers falling between 89-90.</p>
<p>Besides my 89.7XX is greater than a 89 and therefore I surpassed the benchmark for a B+ and giving me a B+ would not reflect my work.</p>
<p>Another thing she did was go against the syllabus, which clearly states and italicizes that pop quizzes are to be given at the beginning of class, yet she gave her pop quizzes at the end of class.</p>
<p>I remember even in COMM the Syllabus at least clearly stated what would happen if your grade fell between these 2 numbers. However, the SPAN department takes no such measure leaving students in limbo about their grades. I do not understand why the University would allow the SPAN department to have such a mammoth hole in there curriculum. :(</p>
<p>I do not feel asking for less than 1 quarter of 1 percent in this qualitative class is asking for a handout. And the midterms were not multiple choice lol.</p>
<p>I agree with Woosah. You win some, you lose some. To the extent that grading in humanities courses is to some extent subjective (grading “participation,” for instance) you benefit from that as much as you are disadvantaged. In fact, you may benefit disproportionately, since grades trend higher in the languages/humanities than in math/hard sciences). Besides, the difference between a B+ and an A- just isn’t that big a deal.</p>
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<p>And yet your 89.7 doesn’t meet the minimum for an A-, so giving you an A- would not reflect your work. </p>
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<p>LOL you will just get rolled eyes if you mention this.</p>
<p>What knights said is true. In college, if you have not noticed yet, professors never follow the syllabus 100% for reasons that arise, and sometimes that could be good.</p>
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<p>Your remark implies that somehow taking a quiz at the end of the class is somehow a disadvantage; I see it as the opposite. Any information which might inadvertently be on the quiz might possibly be discussed during the class in which case it’s actually advantageous to have the quiz at the end rather than the beginning. </p>
<p>I agree with most of the comments already posted. I would encourage you to discuss the grading practices in some of the harder sciences and labs with pre-med majors and you’ll gain some perspective. (Grades are sometimes curved down to impose pre-determined distributions.) All this aside, it certainly won’t hurt to conference with your professor and see what she says – she may see your point. If the meeting doesn’t result in a higher grade, though, I’d drop it and chalk it up to a learning experience.</p>
<p>According to knight, if a 89.7 doesn’t reflect an A- (.3 difference) then moreover it cannot reflect a B+ (.7 difference).</p>
<p>From my experience most instructors follow the syllabus to a T. The only thing I am implying is that taking the quiz at the end of the class with this TA could be a lurking variable when comparing grade distributions to other TA’s who managed to follow the syllabus.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses, they help me know what holes to patch up in my argument.</p>
<p>To me a B+ and an A- is a big deal.</p>
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<p>You sound like a first year.</p>
<p>lol guilty >.<</p>
<p>There is a difference between an A- and a B+ though, GPA wise. It <em>does</em> add up. (Just sayin’).</p>
<p>No disrespect, but I think the “elders” commenting here are suggesting that if the difference between an A- and a B+ were so important to OP, he should have worked a little harder during the semester. If he had put the effort into the class that he is putting into trying to get the grade bumped up, he would likely have had the A-. </p>
<p>Most of us are sympathetic, but are suggesting he just put this into the “first-year lessons learned category.” He can make up that .4 next semester with his newfound insight that it is much harder to sweet-talk the instructor in college than it was in high school.</p>
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<p>No disrespect, but I think that is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard (well, maybe not quite, but you get my point). You have no idea if the OP worked hard or not. He/she might have given it 100% and gotten that grade; it wouldn’t fundamentally change the fact that there is a gap in the policy if grades between 89.0 and 89.9999 aren’t addressed. </p>
<p>Like I said earlier: I have never heard of a school that didn’t round to the nearest whole number (even though I am sure there are many), but I am sure that if they do, they address it in their policies. Apparently even UVA does in its Comm school, but not others??</p>
<p>TV – I think I have gleaned from your posts that your first is going off to college this year. Buckle up for a wild ride. College is way different from high school. Being sweet; attentive in class, sucking up to the teacher is not going to get the grade anymore. </p>
<p>In college, if you want an A-, shoot for a 91. Don’t count on rounding, etc. I don’t share your outrage over a so called “gap” in the grading scale. Again, no disrespect, and I really mean that, how many college’s and university’s grading policies have you studied?</p>
<p>^^^No, my kid is going off to college. I have been around higher education for many decades.</p>
<p>I appreciate all of your comments and I will definitely learn from this experience. I recognize that if I received 1 point here or 1 point there I would be at a 90. I have kicked my self in the face over this many times lol. </p>
<p>At this point it is not about me. I want to help the NEXT student who ends up in my position. The Spanish department should address clearly in their syllabi what happens from 69-70,79-80,89-90. Whether they decide to leave it up to teachers discretion or round-- it NEEDS to be explicitly stated and instructors should adhere to their statements.</p>
<p>My problem is that when I brought up this grading ambiguity during the course of the semester, my instructor assured me multiple times that grades would be rounded up. In an email she gave the example of a “B- to a B, etc.” This implies that grades within one mark of each other are eligible to be rounded. This is what threw me off when I received my grade. I am NOT calling her a liar but I feel her statements were extremely misleading.</p>
<p>I have my summer to look forward to and I do not want to dwell on this. I just want this to be cleared up so no first year has to go through the mix of emotions I felt when I received this grade.</p>
<p>And to be clear I am less than .25% away.</p>
<p>Do I feel wronged? Yes.
Have I moved on? Slowly but surely!</p>
<p>Echolswtb –</p>
<p>“Have I moved on? Slowly but surely!” Good attitude. This lesson will likely pay you dividends for years to come – probably more than the A- would have. </p>
<p>For an additional perspective on the importance of being able to move on from disappointment, see the following story on Katie Couric’s speech to UVa graduates yesterday: [Be</a> ‘Travel Mugs,’ Not ‘Teacups,’ Couric Advises 2012 Grads](<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=18533]Be”>http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=18533)
Ms. Couric’s “three R’s,” truly good advice to all.</p>
<p>If you are successful in getting the Spanish Dept. to clarify its policy going forward, good for you, too. </p>
<p>Enjoy your summer!</p>