<p>Hi everyone! I'm looking for your advice on my friend's behalf. </p>
<p>She had a 92.69% before the final and got a 95% on the final. She also had extra credit points that her professor said would boost her grade by at least 1%. Naturally, she was surprised when she checked her grades and saw that she received a B+ in the class. Now, she has As on all of her assignments and midterms, except one on which she got a B- (and was worth about 15% of her grade). With all of her work weighted according to the professor's syllabus, she calculates around a 93% without the extra credit. I should also say that there is no mention of a curve in the syllabus, nor has the professor mentioned curving downward.</p>
<p>She has e-mailed her professor and TA; the professor hasn't responded, but her TA said that grades were final and that the B- brought her grade down. In my opinion, that explanation is kind of weak, since we calculated her grade with that B- weighted. My friend doesn't think the TA looked at her grade carefully, and she'll try to find the professor in his office tomorrow.</p>
<p>So, what should her next step be in the case that she can't find her professor tomorrow? A B+ matters because she's trying to do a UC-UC transfer, and a higher GPA will give her a better chance.</p>
<p>A B- is usually about an 80%. Which means since it is 15% of her grade, she lost 3 points from her overall score. So the maximum she could get was 97. One other thing you have to remember is that an A is not a perfect score. It is usually 92+ %or 96+ % depending on the school. She needs to determine what scores she was given in the assignments because an A does not imply she got a numeric score of 100 on the assignment. it just says she got over 92 or 96.</p>
<p>There’s another thing you can consider. It’s fairly rare, but it’s possible the TA/Prof got your friends grade mixed up with another students, (I have seen this happen once before at school) and gave you friend a B+ by mistake.</p>
<p>Well, the professor e-mailed her back and said that “since A-s and As cancel each other out, your grade is closer to a B than an A.” I’m not sure how that’s correct (or even logical)…</p>
<p>I would email the professor with your calculation (Excel), with weighting next to each grade to see if he agrees with it. He could very well have made a mistake by putting wrong weighting for each test. Another explanation could be he may not have all of your assignments recorded correctly. I am sure it could be worked out with your professor.</p>
<p>At my high school B+ was 89-92%, so that B- could have dragged down her A/A- average to the border, especially if her grades were low A’s and low A-'s.</p>
<p>Your best bet would be to sit down with the professor and find out your grades assignment by assignment. I had a class where my lowest grade was an 84%, yet somehow I got a C+. After a lot of hassle going through TAs and finally nailing down a time the professor would actually be in his office, I found out he had put my final down as a 29% instead of a 92%.</p>
<p>The thing is that the professor didn’t specify any sort of grading system, either in his syllabus or in his e-mail. Of course, if he <em>had</em> said that a 93% was a B+ in the syllabus, that would be more feasible. She’s trying to meet with her professor so she can at least see how her grade was calculated.</p>
Hahaha seconded. Unless than B- grade was worth like 50%,which it isn’t, he’s talking nonsense. 93% is definitely not a B, unless the class is an absolute joke.</p>
<p>If your numbers work out to 93%, you should talk to the professor.</p>
<p>Yes, there is a chance that a 93% can be a B+; in fact, I know of a few courses at my university where a 93% is a C. Whatever the case is, verify everything.</p>
<p>The handwavy argument that A and A- cancel things out is complete BS.</p>