Difficulties with Class/Professor/Anxiety disorder

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
1

Hello CC Community,

Hope everyone on here is having a great holiday break. I have across some issues that I hope you guys can help with. Warning: this is long.

This past semester, I took a course called SI 106. It is a coding course that focuses on the Python programming language. Despite taking EECS 183 last year, I took SI 106 to specifically learn Python. I did not do as well as I would’ve liked on the first two midterms in the course; however, the final had the ability to replace my first two exam scores with whatever I got on the final exam if it was 10% higher. I prepped a ton for this exam and received an A- on the practice final exam. However, some unfortunate events occurred the day of the exam and it went poorly - I got a 30%.

Here’s exactly what happened that morning. At around 6:00 AM, I sent my GSI, who led my discussion section, an email explaining that I was ill. I actually felt terrible this morning. She told me that the few students that have emailed previously saying they’re unable to take an exam wound up taking incompletes for the course until they make up the exam. There was no specification when the alternate exam would take place at all. I ultimately decided to go ahead and take the exam. I made this decision partially due to the ambiguity surrounding the alternative test, but mostly because I felt very prepared for this exam and didn’t want the thought of having to take an exam some arbitrary time after break lingering in my head as I really wanted to do my best to rest and prepare during this break. Next semester will be my hardest yet as I’ll be recruiting for investment banking.

Here’s what ended up happening with the actual exam. I was all prepared and ready to go to the exam on time. The only thing that I had left to complete was my 1 page cheat sheet that I could use on the exam. It was mostly typed out in a doc but all I had left to do with the cheat sheet was staple a few printouts of code screenshots I took from the textbook. Because I didn’t have immediate access to a stapler, tape, or similar apparatus, I was going to get a stapler on the way and staple the printouts just prior to starting the exam. Unfortunately, I ended up mistaking the building where my exam was for a different one with a similar name and walked there instead. I really do not know why; maybe because of stress caused by the illness, or having an overly stressful final’s week (I had 2 midterms the day before, and 1 more the day after; 4 in 3 days overall) or a combination of the two. I actually didn’t know where the building that the test was at actually was and had to ask someone on street, after which I sprinted to the building. I showed up to the exam late, but got the exam from the proctor (who happened to be my GSI) and sat down. I have anxiety disorder, was diagnosed a little before my freshman year. So, at this point my heart is pounding, I’m not thinking straight and I can’t focus on anything. Most importantly, my cheat sheet was half complete, and because of my anxiety/the fact that I was panicking, I was too afraid to ask my GSI if I could finish my cheatsheet before she handed me the exam. In retrospect, I should’ve finished my note sheet and showed up 10 minutes later than I did, or just asked my GSI if I could staple everything prior to her handing me the test. I knew the material I was going to staple was very valuable. Honestly, if I showed up an hour late to the exam with it complete I would’ve aced the exam. But again, my anxiety level was through the roof and I was not thinking straight.

It honestly took me an hour/hour and a half to settle down. Prior to that, I couldn’t do anything. I tried to tell myself to calm down, breathe deeply, and asked my GSI for permission to go to the bathroom just so I can walk around a little because it felt better than sitting. Nothing helped. And of course, knowing that the other half had very useful information also did not help.

This test held a lot of weight with my grade because I did not do as well as I would’ve liked on the first two exams and its ability to replace your first two exam scores. This final exam put me at a final grade of D+. I received a 3.74 GPA prior to this semester, so its not like I’m an irresponsible student. I prepped enough for the final SI 106 exam to get a high enough grade in the course to maintain that high GPA. The final exam, because of its ability to replace my first two exam scores, could’ve put me as high as A- for the final overall grade.

I reached out to the Professor of the course about what happened immediately after the exam. I pretty much wrote what I said so far. Not only was he unresponsive for 3 days/until I sent a follow up email, his reply almost hinted that he barely read my email. He concluded his email saying that he hopes that I take another programming course like EECS 183 because sometimes it takes “second exposure to the material for it to really click.” Funny enough, I literally told him I had already taken EECS 183 (I got a B+) prior to taking SI 106 in the first email.

He also thought that my final overall grade was reflective of my work the entire semester claiming that my attendance was spotty and that I missed a lot of reading preps. My attendance was not spotty. I missed the first 2 discussion sections because I wasn’t enrolled in the course. These should not be counted against me and I confirmed with my GSI that these were excused when I joined the course. From there I missed 7 discussion sections, 2 of which I was actually sick during, for which I emailed my GSI who told me that these were excused and that she will update my attendance grade. Both the first 2 discussions and the 2 discussions that I was sick for are 0’s on Canvas, and I don’t know why. However, since there are 26 total discussions worth 2.5 points each, you can miss 6 of these and still get the full 50 points. If you include the 2 discussions at the very beginning of the year, I missed 9 total. But 4 of these should be excused (2 at the beginning, 2 when I emailed my GSI), which means I should still get all 50 points for attendance.

Professor’s response to this: he claimed that in the first lecture slides (yes, the one that occurred before I enrolled in the course), it says there are not any more “excused” absences beyond the mulligans. Firstly, no one ever looks at these slide because he never taught anything in lecture. The whole class is self taught by reading the book and practice done during discussion. Secondly, I literally have an email from my GSI telling me that my absences for when I was sick were excused.

For the reading preps, again, I missed the first 3 because I was yet to be enrolled in the course. I made these up as soon as I could and personally spoke with my GSI, who told me that she will make sure everything will be reflected correctly in the final grade calculation. They are still 0’s on Canvas. After those first 3, I only missed 4 more. There were a total of 24 readings and thus you can miss 4 and still get full credit. I’ve literally read the book through and through, multiple times, in order to study and learn the material.

His response: He simply said that I did not make up all the reading assignments I missed at the beginning of the semester, which is simply false.

He hasn’t been receptive or helpful in any way. He’s practically ignoring my explanations for everything and all he has suggested is to retake the course or take EECS 183 to get “second exposure to the material.” Again, I literally told him I took EECS 183 (which is most definitely the harder course) and got a B+. I don’t really know what to do this point. I reached out to my advisor, who won’t respond until next semester. I think the only thing left that I could do is reach out to the student disabilities office. I’ve literally been diagnosed with anxiety and there is no question that it effected my performance in the final exam.

2

I am going to be blunt.

In your post I hear a lot of excuses and explanations. Your success would have improved if::

  1. You attended all classes/lectures without worrying about which ones you can be excused from or if anyone looks at the slides.
  2. Make your cheat sheet for exams the day prior.
  3. Make sure you know where the exam building is the day prior.

In short, be proactive in your behaviors leading to success. There really is something to that old Boy Scout motto “be prepared!” Good luck.

Personally I think you have to accept the outcome of the grade you earned in this class.

3

I agree with the above. Just because you have anxiety doesn’t mean it will be an advantage when things don’t go well. Talk with the disability office. Are you on a 504/Iep or have accomadations? Might want to look into that going forward.

But the one thing you said about not getting credit since you started later in the class doesn’t sound correct. I would look into that but remember everyone’s on vacation. Maybe a note to the head of the department.

My son’s first year he went to a test at the wrong time. He showed up but he wrote it down wrong. No excuse. He screwed up. He emailed the professor very worried and explained the situation. The professor couldn’t of been kinder and more helpful and they agreed upon a time for the makeup.

So the initial explanation is true,no mystery to it. If you couldn’t take the test you would get an incomplete until you were able to take the test. They never said you couldn’t take the test. Your gci, counselor or professor could of explained that to you or you could of just looked that up on the website. This is pretty well outlined https://ossa.engin.umich.edu/support-services/for-students-faqs/

https://www.uhs.umich.edu/tipssuccess

Worse case… You take the class over. I told my son to be prepared to take a class over if needed. So far in Junior year engineering and didn’t have to yet…

I wouldn’t worry so much about the GPA. Your a great student and crap happens. At this point college is about learning and not every grade is going to be what you expected… Also check out learning services. They are there for these exact reasons.

Also when not doing so well in a class your professor has hours to help you. If you went to him a few times he would of known who you are
This might of made a difference.

4

I’m sorry you faced so many challenges. Unfortunately, many were the result of your own choices.

You missed ~35% of class meeting times. It’s difficult to do well if you don’t go to class.

The professor provided lecture slides and you didn’t bother to read them even though you missed over 1/3 of the lectures. You’re responsible for everything in the slides whether you read them or not.

You didn’t complete 4 homework assignments and 3 more from the beginning of the semester seem to be missing, and you’re only just now alerting the professor. That’s 30% of the assignments. Even if the 3 are found, you didn’t do 25% of the assignments. How can you do well in a programming class if you don’t do the homework?

You didn’t have your note sheet ready to go before the exam. That’s not “all prepared and ready to go.” If you really “read the book through and through, multiple times, in order to study and learn the material” I don’t understand why you needed a note sheet during the final, but if you wanted one it should have been ready before the exam day.

What do you expect the professor and/or the disabities office to do? You didn’t do poorly in this class because of the final. You did poorly because you missed a lot of class time, you weren’t prepared, and you didn’t do well enough on the exams and other assignments to get a higher grade.

Can you retake the course? Some colleges allow grade replacement if you take a course a 2nd time. If you don’t need the course for your major maybe you need to write it off and learn from it.

5

I don’t want to rub salt in the wound but reread the above responses.

Go to the disability office and the health center. Be sure your anxiety is being well managed.

I think though this is a good life lesson. Doing the bare minimum and procrastinating is never a good idea. Stay on top of your mental health too.

My D has many classes where attendance wasn’t mandatory at all but professors did keep track and would often bump grades for those students who showed up for everything, did all the work, went to office hours and review sessions, and put in 110%.

6

FYI. At Michigan my son had a programming class that the quizz was super easy. Then the midterm was near impossible since he “thought” he knew the material… It’s only going to get harder.

Get this book on how to study with strategies. It’s a fun, fast book to read. The reviews speak for themselves.

How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less https://g.co/kgs/kcP3SX

7

Things wrong with just this sentence:

  1. You are responsible for learning material you missed - you are lucky they let you join the course late. Unless the course staff told you that you are not responsible for old material covered before you joined the class (which is unlikely, and quite frankly, unheard of), you do not have a case.
  2. You are responsible for knowing the information on the syllabus or slides, whether or not the professor goes over them in class. if the professor passed out the syllabus/information physically during class, but did not make them available later on the course website/Canvas, then you may have a case (although this is unlikely, since every professor I know makes sure that course information/syllabus documents are easily accessible online).
  3. The "you can miss this many classes without penalty" policy that many attendance-based classes at Michigan follow typically include sick absences as counting against the allowed allowance. These policies are NOT in place with the intention for students to use them as vacation days. If you have recurring/chronic health issues, you need to work with the professor and SSD to have the appropriate accommodations made. If the appropriate accommodations were not made despite you requesting them, then you may have a case.
  4. Does your email from your GSI just say that your absences were excused (which could be interpreted to mean that your allowance covers them), or does it imply that your absences would not count against your allowance? If the latter, you may have a case.

If you have a case, then feel free to reach out to the prof again clearly explaining the reasoning. If that does not work, the department chair and Ombuds Office are likely your best bets.

8

You can file a grade grievance if you wanted, but I’m not sure that would get you far. Most courses have a policy that if you decide to show up to an exam at the normal time, even if you were sick, then they will not factor in the fact that you were sick. So I think you are most likely out of luck there.

Also, if you are allowed to miss a certain number of classes without penalty (i.e., they drop your lowest X attendance scores), that isn’t an invitation to just blow them off. Usually they should be reserved for if you are actually sick or have some other legit issue. When I was a GSI before, my policy was that if you needed an additional dropped score, then you had to be able to provide a documented excuse for all of the default drops, plus the additional one. If you are very near a grade border or if you are borderline pass/fail, and they say they will look to see if there is justification to bump you up in those situations, then they are looking for extra effort. Just because you did the minimum to get full points does not constitute sufficient justification.

9

See if retaking the class will replace your bad grade. Sounds like you were counting on that final to make up for the mediocre semester and it didn’t work out.

10

Op- I won’t pile on, but I will give you a homework assignment to do over the break.

Why on earth would you be interviewing for roles in investment banking? I cannot think of a worse career path for someone with a diagnosed anxiety disorder, who also seems to have trouble with organization/preparation/sticking to a time table.

Do you know anyone in IBanking? The hours are long, the deadlines are brutal and the consequences for missing them are extreme. Preparation- things like working out a piece of analysis six different ways with different assumptions because you don’t know which scenario the MD wants to present- is key. Working endlessly to be prepared for a meeting even if you only have a 15 second piece to present- but that 15 seconds might take you a week to prep for.

None of this sounds like you to be honest. There are dozens of careers where your smarts and creativity and analytical skills will propel you, that will not drive you and everyone in your life insane.

Think about why on earth you want to interview with I banks! Your long post reveals a LOT about you and your attitudes and strengths and weaknesses, and does NOT scream “future banker” to me. You think the professor has been unhelpful with your explanations? Try explaining to an MD why you got lost getting to a meeting, or why you were late, or why you missed/skipped several sessions (note to yourself from here on out for the rest of your life- anything marked optional is actually required if you want to do well) or why you want leniency on an already lenient policy about missing a class.

11

At

At UMich, retaking a class does not replace your grade. They average all attempts when calculating your GPA.

12

@blossom

Great advice, but my experience with students drinking the investment banking kool-aid is that they will rarely change their mind until they are shut out from it. What you say about the brutality of the career is totally true. One of my best friends (1st year analyst) had to work on Christmas!