So this is a somewhat general question. Here are some things I’d like to know more about:
How do you approach your teachers when you ask them to bump up your grade?
What do you begin with?
If you have had any personal problems, would you talk to your guidance counselor or your teacher? I understand that these are often emotional subjects and not everyone is comfortable discussing them.
Most importantly: The “you deserve/earned this grade”, how would one refute this argument? (not all teachers are great)
You should receive the grade you earn. The best way to bump up your grade is to be sure grading is accurate on the day you receive the graded work back. If it seems low and you earned it, you can ask if you could do some of it over, do an extra assignment, etc. You need to worry about your grades on a day-by-day basis, and make it about learning the subject matter.
You cannot refute the “you earned this grade” argument. You must avoid it by earning a higher grade. If you are coming in because that B+ is ruining your GPA, that is YOUR problem, and does not reflect a desire to learn.
Why should the teacher GIVE you points to bump your grade and not give the same consideration to everyone? For your smile or pleading voice? I don’t think so. Bump your grade up week-by-week by caring, re-doing, and inquiring. Maybe you could re-do a poor assignment, or ask for an extra-credit assignment. Ask not what your teacher can do for you; ask what you can do for your teacher!
I have absolutely no problem with a kid pointing out a mathematical error. I grade fast, and I’m certainly not above the occasional error. If I’ve made one that works against you, by all means let me know.
And if there are extenuating circumstances at home, by all means let guidance know that as well. I was at a wake last night for the parent of one of my students. Another kid is recovering from a concussion. Guidance was, of course, informed and has let the teachers know. Even if it’s just “rough time at home right now”, guidance will let us know when a kid needs a bit of slack. When we get one of those messages we know that they’re not at liberty to say more.
But I teach high school. I don’t do extra credit-- that should have ended when you stopped gluing macaroni on to paper plates and calling it art. And the grade you’ve earned is the mathematical average of your tests, quizzes and homework, according to the formula in the school handbook.
As to the “not all teachers are great” argument-- it’s very relative. The vast majority of kids I teach would say I’m a very good teacher. Of course, it’s the end of May, and all of a sudden I have kids who haven’t worried all year, who are now very concerned about their grades. As they should be… some of them are in dire academic trouble. And I’ll give as much extra help as I can.
But realize that I’m no miracle worker. I teach close to 180 kids, in addition to the 38 in my homeroom. And I have 3 kids at home. And very frequently I have kids I don’t know stopping by for extra help as well. So, no, I’m not staying till 5 tonight, even if it’s the one day this week that you don’t have baseball/ track/ lacrosse/science Olympiad or whatever else. I’ve been around after school all year. I have to be out the door no later than 3:30 to get my son to an appointment at 4 pm.
Several other teachers won’t be around this afternoon for extra help, hoping to get to that same wake-- or one of 2 others (it’s been a rough week for wakes in my school) before going home.
So to the kid who will develop a conscience today, and expect to learn a year’s worth of math after school, I’ll be “not a great teacher” when I can only give half an hour of extra help. And I can live with that.
My question to the OP is this: It’s May. Why are you worried about “bumping up” a grade now? Were you at extra help in October and December and February?
I don’t GIVE grades. I record them.
Tell them that you feel you did a better job & make up a reason why and if they could look at your request to get that better status for your record.
Hmm, is the OP going to take the advice in post #2 or post #3? The answer will give us a feel for the OP’s maturity level, I would say.
Exactly per “I don’t GIVE grades. I record them.”.
What grade you “deserve” may be different from the grade you “earn”. What grade you earn is related to that particular quarter/semester/year, the work you did and the tests you took. Your grade may be no reflection of your IQ, ability, or effort - the only concern teachers and professors have is that when they grade a student’s work, they grade that student the exact same way they grade other students. And that concern is only addressed immediately after a test or quiz is graded, not the end of the school year.
MANY MANY students have personal and/or issues. Many of them try to “push through it” and use magical thinking to get through their classes. Needless to say, this is the wrong approach - if you don’t tell the school or college what is going on, they have no reason to give you any special consideration.
IF you have a SIGNIFICANT personal or medical situation that has affected one or more of your grades (and it is RARE that it would affect only one class), and you did not notify the school of this early, the ONLY way to address this is to retake any course that you did poorly in.
However, it would be unusual for a high school to allow this unless a) it is a private school and your family will pay for you to retake the course in the summer or the following year in addition to your other courses, or b) you get approval to retake the course outside of the high school and they will add the course retake to your transcript.
My son had to retake a course due to a significant and ongoing medical issue, that was accommodated by all of his teachers except that one. He could not retake it at the public high school, but after much discussion, he was allowed to take it over the summer at a private school and add it to his transcript.
That’s my suggestion for you - retake the course.
(and think about it this way - if I bump up your grade, I have to bump up everyone’s grade. One way I avoid this is if someone is within 1% of the cutoff, in college I can give them the higher grade. Someone 2% below the cutoff has no way to get “bumped up” unless I made a grading error. Other teachers and professors are more strict. Some teachers and professors will only give out A’s to the top 20% of students at most.)
As a student, I don’t think there is any problem in asking.
@bjkmom look, I know school is supposed to be about learning and trust me… I wish it was, but the rising competition and the pressure from our parents gets to us… after all, we’re just kids. Everyone wants to go to a good college and there’s nothing wrong with that and it’s natural for students not to care about small fluctuations in grades in thr middle of the year… Students won’t know what their final grade will be in feburary. I’ve had classes where I’ve gotten A’s and B’s on all my tests and did all my homework but ended up getting an 89.whatever in the class because maybe I made stupid mistakes on a final. I think I put in much more effort than somebody who got an 81… ofcourse the same argument can be made if I get bumped up to an A.
OP, it is the teachers decision if they want to bump you are not. I don’t think it will make a difference the way you approach them. Just tell the teacher you worked hard and ask her if there’s any possibility she can raise your grade. Don’t be dissapointed if they don’t bump you up… I’ve only gotten bumped up like twice out of about 5 borderline grades. There is no problem in asking but you can’t expect a yes.
@toesockshoe
When you say “I think I put in much more effort than somebody who got an 81”-- doesn’t the same thing apply to the kid who EARNED The grade you’re trying to be bumped up to??
And “we’re just kids”… really??? So we’re back at the macaroni on the paper plate, extra credit for anyone and everyone stage?? Is “just a kid” going on that college application?
If you had a clear A in February-- a 97 or a 98-- I’m hoping you had the mathematical strength to realize it. Likewise, if you were anywhere near the border between an A and a B, you should have realized that as well. THAT was the time to worry, not the end of the school year.
Ask what you can do to bring up your grade, to do better on the final. Go to extra help. EARN that extra grade, don’t grub it… “just kids” or not.
I once had a teacher that gave me a B with a 92.3% (an A is 92.5% and above, but it’s changing to 89.5 next year!). I’m sure she did it intentionally too.
Best of luck in getting your grade bump. Some teachers bump grades, others don’t.
Are you saying she LOWERED your grade, took away points you had earned?
There’s a lot of missing information here. A few questions:
- Are we talking about bumping up an 89 to a 90 or bumping a B to an A?
- Why do you deserve the grade change? I understand if you don't want to go into specific details, but it would be nice to get an idea.
- Do you want the teacher to literally move your grade up or to give you a chance to bring it back up?
At my school, an 89.5 and above average for the year equals an A on your transcript. Twice I had a year end average of 89.4. One teacher bumped it up to 89.5 which gave me the A for the year, another did not. Win some, lose some I guess.
@bjkmom im just saying… there’s no harm in asking. the worst that can happen is that a teacher says no…
Maybe try to do well on your final exam (come in during their office hours and ask questions) - talk about how you’re determined to get the grade necessary to get and A or B… if your grades are finalized and your teacher hasnt bumped you yet, i doubt he/she probably ever will. sorry 
I think the “harm” is in a loss of respect from your teacher.
I have had several teachers and professors over the year “bump” my grade, but I never asked them to. They all made the choice on their own, without me asking, based on my effort and improvement throughout the year/semester. I believe in the whole you earn the grade philosophy.
This begs the question - do you keep a straight face when you later ask the teacher to write you a recommendation? You do realize that while s/he might not use the term “grade grubber,” it’s bound to appear however subtly.
^ My 11th grade English teacher taught us all a lesson when, after several students were pressing her to raise their grades, she announced loudly to the class, “Don’t you all know how embarrassing this is?” Honestly, before that I never thought of it that way. Not sure if she meant embarrassing to the student or to the teacher, but point taken.
I think that depending upon the student, the situation, and the type of class, it can be okay to have a talk with the teacher.
For example, if it is a class that is quite subjective–say, an English class with a lot of essays–and the student is very close to the cut-off–then I think it might be okay to ask for a meeting. Just be prepared if the teacher takes a good look at all of the work and responds, “No, after reviewing your work I am confident that the grade should remain a B minus.”
Also, @skieurope I’m not sure I would view every student who asks as being somewhat of a grade grubber. If the grade is indeed an outlier, it could be a student who is advocating for themselves, trying to offer an alternative point of view. But for many cases, I do get your point.
Agreed.
The teachers can weigh in here, but IMO, the time to ask for an essay to be reevaluated in when said essay is returned, not at the end of qtr/semester, when the student realizes that if s/he had gotten an A- rather than a B+ on that essay that the final grade would be in the A range. I think it should aslo go without saying that the student not come with the entire semester’s worth of assignments to be reassessed.
Along the same lines, I’ve had many instructors state in the syllabus that a reevaluation of assignments could result in a decrease of grade instead on an increase.