<p>My current situation is a messy one. I'm a roughly 3.7 unweight, 4.2 weighted GPA student.</p>
<p>In this last year, one of my science classes, an AP science class, I am receiving a D, bordering F grade. Although this is my fault I would ever be in this position because my test scores were not high enough, the main reason I have this low grade is due to the teacher accusing me of cheating on a test, and then giving me a 0. There are few tests in this semester, and this test (calculated) takes off roughly 15% of my cumulative grade. (It was previously a 77%).</p>
<p>This situation I fear is going to make it pointless for me to even apply to Common App schools, and cause me to get to basically get rejected/rescinded at most schools I am applying to, save my safeties. (Which I fear too)</p>
<p>Is there anything I can do? Any advice from someone who's been in this situation? Anything I can write under the "Extenuating Circumstances" section in the application to explain? (I am not sure if it's a good idea to just blame the teacher)</p>
<p>File a formal complaint with the district. Keep it professional. If possible try to find faults with the teacher like professional misconduct. Basically you have think like a lawyer and build your own case against the teacher. I’m 23 so I kinda know my way around the system and what to say and not say. It might be kinda hard for a 14-18 yr older tho.</p>
<p>Seriously? Professional misconduct? You want to get a teacher fired over catching a kid cheating? </p>
<p>When I caught kids cheating, it’s amazing how they all claimed they weren’t. No one ever fessed up, despite having the answers to Version 2 of the test on their Version 1 answer sheet. I guess they were all just remarkably bad guessers. Even on the calculation and essay sections.</p>
<p>Students always claim they weren’t cheating. That’s why your claim went nowhere.If you were caught cheating, that’s it. You should be happy it was a zero for the paper, not a zero for the quarter, or (as can happen in college) a F* indicating F for cheating.
So now all you have to do is work very hard, offer to do extra credit, and bring that science grade up to a C while keeping up good grades.
BTW blaming it on the teacher is the surest way to get denied.
However I disagree that that situation is going to bar you from applying/getting into CommApp schools. It’s up to you to make sure the mid-year report doesn’t include an F. If odds are high that you’ll get an F, drop the class and replace it with something else (another science, the “regular” version of the class, any elective still open…) make sure not to turn it into a free period since that looks bad.</p>
<p>Seriously? You come to this thread to accuse me of cheating? Why would I come to the internet to plead innocent? Also, perhaps you should know that I actually aced the free response and screwed up on the multiple choice. If you believe that a student who has never cheated, and takes the most advanced courses the school can offer cheats so he can obtain a 70-80% score, then it scares me that you are an educator.</p>
<p>Also you don’t know the specifics, the evidence against me is actually incredibly circumstantial and might as well be an assumption.</p>
<p>@MYOS1634</p>
<p>I’m not sure though, for an engineering major at schools like Columbia etc. or privates like USC I feel that having a C/D is basically game breaker… I mean I guess my standardized test scores are “okay”, not sure if those compensate though.</p>
<p>Also what if the circumstances for being “caught” was pretty…not conclusive at all. In fact I wasn’t even really “caught” in the action, the main premise of the accusation is “you could have been”.</p>
<p>@MrMom62. A) I’ve met a fair share of bad teachers during my time as a student, likewise I’ve met poor students as well. All I am saying is IF he is innocent, I would file a formal complaint. B) I never said try to get the teacher fired. That is up to the district. I would simply focus on getting the grade changed.</p>
<p>@JustLee
“Also what if the circumstances for being “caught” was pretty…not conclusive at all. In fact I wasn’t even really “caught” in the action, the main premise of the accusation is “you could have been”.”
Remember what I said about being professional. If it sounds emotional or wishy-washy (like it sounds above) it won’t work.</p>
<p>Ok then, if the circumstances weren’t clear, you weren’t caught, the teacher thought you cheated. To me, “I was caught” = the teacher grabbed the cheat sheet, saw me with my phone in hand using google/texting a friend who has the book, I had the textbook open on my lap (true story, happened three days ago, but kid didn’t try to claim it wasn’t cheating at least. Just asked for no consequences if she stopped using it during the test… :p)
Involve your parents <em>and</em> offer to take the test again, or another test about the content (perhaps same class content but another section or teacher?) proctored by anyone of their choice, to clear your name.</p>
<p>A C/D is a dealbreaker for Columbia and such schools, but that leaves at least 380 CommonAPp schools to which to apply - especially if you bring it up by the end of the semester.</p>
<p>Bottom line: if you truly were not cheating, don’t let this go; do whatever you can to get the grade that you deserve. However, try not to attack the teacher too much- he/she was just trying to do his/her job.</p>
<p>I don’t see why several have to accuse the OP of cheating. Yes, without knowing his current situation, there’s a high probability that he actually cheated; I see it all the time myself. That’s chance and has nothing to do with whether he actually cheated, and it’s pretty rude to assume he was cheating and bash him based on that. The most logically valid point in your arguments are essentially versions of “you probably cheated, so deal with it”.</p>
<p>If you weren’t cheating, you have a right to make a formal complaint. As no one will give you the benefit of the doubt, you have to be able to explain completely neutrally everything that happened leading up to the discovery of this circumstantial evidence. Obviously, you should be very careful in that you should make sure that you actually didn’t do anything wrong.</p>
<p>Hm, well part of the question I posed was: what if they turned down my complaint? I talked to the VP and the P, and I’m not sure. The VP gave some attitude and didn’t want to hear it, and well the P listened to everything I had to say but seems to have misunderstood me…</p>
<p>The one thing you haven’t done is tell us what exactly happened. I’m quite willing to listen to your explanation, but many of us have seen it all before, so be very, very honest in your explanation.</p>
<p>FWIW, I was only a teacher for a very short time, but every time I caught someone cheating, it was with circumstantial evidence, not them in the act. I taught 6-7 years ago, when the school actually allowed kids to use phones as calculators as school policy, so they wouldn’t have to buy a calculator, not realizing how much cheating that would allow. I even gave tests where they were provided a formula sheet, so it’s not like they needed a crib sheet - but they still cheated left and right. I might have caught 10% of it. And when you did catch them, you better have evidence, the administration always took the kid’s side, once the parents got involved. “Punishment” was letting them take the test over, with the implication that it would be a lot easier on everybody if you just looked the other way.</p>
<p>So go ahead, make your case - if it’s good, I’ll tell you. But if it stinks to high heaven that you’re guilty, I’ll tell you that too.</p>
<p>As a student who has bad a lot of experience arguing with teachers my experience is kinda the opposite of MrMom62. </p>
<p>From my experience you have to be pretty forceful with administration / teachers. By default they won’t give a damn about you, basically they ain’t your friends and they ain’t looking to take care of you. You have to construct your own case in lawyer fashion. I would highly recommend watching some old episodes of Law & Order; it’s a TV show aka dramatized but it does give good insights on the legal system. Once you have a decent case you’ll need to geri t heard. Like I said by default the administration and securities won’t be helpful. You’ll have to be very firm with them and tell explicitly “I want to file a formal complaint, here is my list of grievances and a typed copy of my complaint”. </p>
<p>on a side-note. This kind of situation is a very good life experience. </p>
<p>After you get that far usually they will send you an email or actually take you seriously. Basically like MrMom62 said, if you win, the result will be that they’ll let you retake the test. And yes usually it is easier for the administration to allow a retest then deal with the drama or headache of a formal complaint. </p>
<p>but ya that’s how the system works and if you ever plan on going into business or dealing with people I highly rec. you learn how to grease the wheels so to speak and get that ball rolling.</p>
<p>I would go to the school board if the school won’t address. We had two similar incidents, one with each kid. The cheating accusation was on a paper and we finally had them submit it to someone else for a check for plagiarism and they determined it wasn’t and there was no apology…The other kid had someone cheating off of him and he got suspended when the kid was trying to lean in to see better and my son pushed him. We tried to work with the school and they wouldn’t rescind the suspension because of ‘zero tolerance’ for touching other students (really). One email to the school board and it was dropped. I know the schools try to have a one size fits all, but honest students sometimes get caught when they are doing the right thing, and you have to push back to correct.</p>
<p>As a general rule, if your parents raise a stink at a high enough level, most schools will cave, even if you are guilty. You doing it on your own - not much hope.</p>
<p>If your parents are not backing you on this, that’s telling in the eyes of the school, because they know you better than anyone.</p>