<p>@justtotalk - This is course is curved…DOWN. The chem department mandates that the class average be a 68%, and my lab grade was actually curved down severely from a 95% to an 87% because it was too high. It’s an insane system, and this is why I am particularly upset with this 4 point-away thing.</p>
<p>@hyperjulie - I really don’t have anything to lose because I am transferring schools. I hate where I am, and I hate the people, so if they think I am a grade-grubber or whatever, I could not care less lol. I leave in a week and will never see my professor again. I have no respect for the school I am currently at, so my lack of ‘grace or dignity’ is negligible here.</p>
<p>^I transferred schools and am now having a hell of a time getting any recs because I can’t fit multiple courses with the same prof in my schedule and I have to work extra hard to make an impression with one crack at it. All of the internships and special honors I’ve gotten thus far have come from recs from my old school.</p>
<p>^I"ve only been here one year, and will be transferring as a sophomore this fall. I did not have the same professor for both semesters in any course, so I would never even bother asking anyone here for a rec. in the future.</p>
<p>Ask questions about how he graded something, try not to go for frivolous haggles. </p>
<p>But if you missed the question, you missed the question. Just hope there was a misgrade/some TA graded way too harshly on a question. It happens. Other than that, you’re SOL. Don’t haggle for one or two points, that’s just variance and the prof probably won’t care, haggle if you think something is pretty damn off.</p>
<p>I earned a 3.3 this semester in one of my most enjoyable yet challenging courses (modern standard Arabic). I was 1% from a 3.7 – this small discrepancy only points to the arbitrary nature of college grades and ultimately to its meaninglessness. I am walking away from this year-long course knowing that I learned an immense amount, and I don’t regret my decision to take the course. Do the same thing. Your life will be much easier – grade haggling isn’t worth it unless you were unfairly treated.</p>
<p>I have a friend that was a professor. A student asked for extra work for a higher grade. The professor granted this to the student who then told a few friends what happened. This wound up on RMP. Professors can get burned on grade adjustments too.</p>
<p>actually i made a mistake in my post, i was close to A- but i ended up with a B+, anyway, i didn’t talk to my professor because i knew it was my fault for screwing around during the school yr, and no ,i dont think my professor would give me that extra few points. It’s not fair for others, there’s at least 20 people in the course who are in the same situation as u, maybe they just need 1 pt instead of 4.
Now if there’s a question that’s ambiguous, that’s a different story. You can always try :)</p>
<p>My bio professor is willing to boost someone’s grade up a little if they are obviously putting in effort and going to class/review sessions. He’d push a B- to a B if someone were really close…as in one or maybe two tenths away from the next letter grade. At this point I’m kind of depending on that lol…do as well as I can on the final and hope hope hope.</p>
<p>@justtotalk - This is course is curved…DOWN. The chem department mandates that the class average be a 68%, and my lab grade was actually curved down severely from a 95% to an 87% because it was too high. It’s an insane system, and this is why I am particularly upset with this 4 point-away thing.</p>
<p>Lol, obviously it’s curved down. You weren’t in the top X% of the class that you needed to be in order to get a B. If he gave you a B, he’d have to lower someone else’s grade to maintain the curve–or ignore the chem department’s standards by giving too many people high grades. That’s why you shouldn’t complain, but study harder next semester.</p>
<p>My professor is going out of town until Thursday, which is when he has agreed to meet with me. He is a very strong-willed, but extremely personable man, so hopefully we can at least have a great discussion.</p>
<p>And I do have some questions about problems on the exams, as there were some problems that asked things that I had never even seen before lol - not on this semester’s midterms, his notes, heard during class lectures, or on the practice exam. So, if anything (even with no points given back), I want to learn how to solve the problems correctly. Chem is something that truly interests me, so I definitely want to make sure I get as much learning in as possible before the year ends.</p>
<p>^That is the attitude you should go into this meeting with.</p>
<p>In almost every single science class I’ve had, the regrade policy has been that the regraded exam score may go up or down, which generally discourages people from resubmitting their exams to see if they can get one or two extra points. The logic is that the couple of points you may have lost “unfairly” on one problem may be balanced out by a more generously graded problem elsewhere on the exam.</p>
<p>And while some people do manage to get 1 or 2 points back by pointing to ambiguously worded questions and the like, 4 points is a lot. That means you’ll have to go through at least four different questions and see if you can squeeze out an extra point from each. I think your professor would really lose patience after awhile.</p>
<p>Personally I’d just deal with it. But, I’ve seen people cry to the professor and that sometimes works, haha. 4 points seems a little too high, but if you have a good attitude and explain yourself it might work.</p>
<p>I had professor in college for a required digital photography class and he gave me a 70< on every single project (not just me, everyone in the class, except for some girl he liked). My adviser warned me about him and no one else taught the freaking class. I tried to do whatever I could for him to give me a better grade but he didn’t (always found a reason to give me a bad grade, ruined my GPA. Apparently he’s “just one of those guys.” Hopefully your professor is a little nicer.</p>
<p>I wonder how people who graduate as valedictorians deal with teachers who grade very subjectively and don’t give high grades out of habit. I mean it’d be kind of lame to just take classes with teachers who assign high grades.</p>
<p>Bingo. Usually the prof will give you the higher grade if you’re withing a half a point of it (i.e. 89.5% for the class will get you an A- unless you never go to class).</p>
<p>Just push him (verbally). HARD. Brute force sometimes works.</p>
<p>@stradmom - Lol, I love your question. If my actions or performance, whether in chemistry or medicine, ever caused harm to someone, I would be the first to take the blame. Thankfully, we’re only talking 4 points on a chemistry exam, and not about a wrongfully damaged aorta.</p>
<p>The biggest concern about those four points is with regard to my transferring. I have talked to people who transferred last year to the school I am going to, and they had to retake courses after getting a B- or lower at their old school, in particular the prereq courses. I can’t imagine being told to take gen. chem 2 again next year because of four points, and then be a semester behind because of it.</p>