<p>So, last semester I took the required healthful living course (which is the most pointless course on the planet), and being the absentminded person that I am, I accidentally missed a few of our online quizzes. I was worried that this would drop my grade to a B, so I went to see my professor the week before finals to ask her what my grade was so I could see if I needed to complete any of her extra credit assignments. I watched her calculate the grade and she told me I had a 91, and since our lowest test grade is dropped, that I did not need to take our last test. She also asked me if I had taken our last three quizzes (I think she was trying to make sure I had completed all of our assignments), which I did and made 100s on. So I thanked her and went on my way, glad that I had at least one A set in stone...
And then I got my transcript. All A's and one B. In the class I was told I had an A in. I emailed her and politely told her that I wanted to appeal that grade because she told me I had an A, but she responded and said that I had an 88, and that she had told me when we met that if I wanted an A, I needed to make 100s on the last three quizzes. Obviously, that doesn't make any sense, because I did make 100s, but she still refused to change my grade. I retold this same information to the head of her department, and he said that he didn't have enough information to change my grade. However, I'm meeting with him Monday and bringing evidence--the emails and my grades--so that I can hopefully change his mind. I just want an outsider opinion--does it sound like I'm in the right here? What can I do to convince this professor that I'm not lying? Because I'm pretty sure that's what it boils down to--my word against my professors, and of course they're going to believe her, even though I'm an honors student who's never made a B in her life.
So uh, any advice would be very much appreciated. </p>
<p>Do you have a record of all of your grades and quizzes? If you recalculate your grade, based on the information in the syllabus, do you get a 91 or an 88? If you have a record of all of your grades, then I don’t understand what the problem is. You can show your quiz scores, and you can calculate your grade for them.</p>
<p>It’s possible that your professor miscalculated your grade, you missed an extra assignment, or there was some other misunderstanding. She might have meant that your current grade was a 91, but that it didn’t include assignments/quizzes/tests that she had yet to grade or that you had yet to take. Did you skip the last test that you thought would be dropped? Perhaps, that was one of the tests that you were supposed to get 100 on.</p>
<p>It’s hard to say who’s right here because we don’t have the whole picture, and there are pieces that don’t really make sense to me. But if you have your grades (an actual record of your grades, not just you saying that you got 100–the actual quizzes, your grades posted online, etc)–and you can calculate your grade so that you get an A, then it’s not your word against hers. You have the evidence, so just go and show them how you calculated your grade. It’s possible that you missed something, but it’s also possible that your professor miscalculated your grade. Just go and ask about it. I would have gone to talk to your professor about it in person before going to the head of your department, but since you’ve already done that, then just meet with him. Make sure you bring your syllabus, a record of your grades (including any physical quizzes, tests, and assignments that you have, or screencaps of your online quizzes if you can get them), and correspondence with your professor.</p>
<p>Yeah, I do have my grades, and she did miscalculate it. I actually did have an 88 rather than a 91, but it still doesn’t make sense that she told me I needed to make 100s on the last three quizzes to make an A when I already had done that. And it also isn’t fair that she told me I had an A, because if she had told me, I would have been able to pull up my grade easily just by either taking the last test (which I didn’t have to take and didn’t affect my grade) or doing extra credit, because she rounds up at like, 88.7 or something. That class is mostly online so all of my grades for the entire semester had been recorded at that point. And the reason I’m not meeting with her is because she basically dismissed the whole thing and told me to take it up with someone else. </p>
<p>If you’re correctly calculated grade is an 88, there’s nothing much you can do about it now. It is what it is. You can try to appeal to someone higher up if you have a written record of her telling you you have an A, but if you’re actual grade is an 88, then I don’t see them changing it, since you got the grade you got.</p>
<p>I’m confused by what you mean when you say 100s on the last three quizzes. Were the 100s you got already recorded when she calculated the grade? If that was the case, then she should have already known what score you got. Do you think she was referring to a quiz that you didn’t know about or didn’t remember that was upcoming (at the time she calculated your grade)? Was she referring to the last test (that you ended up skipping)? If she miscalculated your grade when you met with her, then this comment could be erroneous too.</p>
<p>It sucks, but life isn’t always fair. Go ahead and meet with whoever you were going to meet with, but I personally don’t think you have much of a case. In the future, you should try to calculate your grade yourself as well to make sure everything was added properly and such. People make mistakes all the time, and you’re the one that has the most to lose in this situation.</p>
<p>Since your grade really was an 88, it looks like this is a case of misunderstanding. She did calculate it wrong if she said you had a 91 when you really had an 88, but that doesn’t give anyone cause to change your grade. You should have checked it yourself to be sure, and honestly, that’s probably what the Chair will tell you. Was your overall grade after that meeting higher than an 88?</p>
<p>I think you can definitely learn something from this that’s way more useful than an A grade. 1.) always calculate your grade yourself and compare your calculation to your professor’s, 2.) ALWAYS take every test (even if you have good scores) just in case you do better than your other ones, 3.) don’t always take a professor’s suggestion or advice as a definitive rule or certainty (sometimes they can be wrong), 4.) don’t count on a score to be rounded, and 5.) don’t go rushing to the department head without talking to the professor in person to clarify what happened.</p>
<p>Even if she did seem dismissive about it, you should have at least tried to do something more than an email exchange, which unfortunately doesn’t always properly convey peoples’ intentions and temperaments appropriately. I don’t see them changing your grade unless there’s a blatant, severe mathematical error, but I hope you can learn and grow from this to prevent a situation like this from happening again.</p>
<p>Good luck with everything.</p>
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<p>It’s disappointing and frustrating, especially since she told you that you had earned an A.
Consider this a lesson learned with really very minor consequences and move on.
And congratulations on your first B! (Seriously. Life is like skiing - if you don’t fall down occasionally, you’re not trying hard enough._</p>