<p>I asked my prof why my Physics grade was lower than I had expected and he told me it was because of my lab grade. But my TA returned all my labs back (and I have all the grades) so I don't understand why I got a lower lab grade than I had expected. I told my prof this and he told me to contact my Physics lab TA since he was the one in charge of the grading for labs. I am planning to email my TA and so I was wondering, how can I ask him without sounding like a grade grubber?</p>
<p>I would keep the email out of "complaint" mode and in "inquiring" mode. First, are you confident that your lab grade consists solely of the average of the graded lab reports that you've received back? Is there any other component to it? (EG, is there "discussion" in your labs?)</p>
<p>Either way, I would email indicating that you just want to verify what went into your lab grade, that you were aware of x lab reports in which your average grade was y, and you are wondering what else went into the final lab grade? Start that way and you can always go on to determine whether there was a clerical error or something you want to discuss further.</p>