<p>My daughter is a 1st year and has a problem. On a recent midterm she thought she did well. When she got the test back she had failed. Her TA would not give her any partial credit and marked other questions wrong that were right. Here is one example: when asked to define a word (not sure what the word was) my daughter put "the price a consumer is willing to, and does pay". The TA said the words 'willing to' made it wrong, and that if she had put "the price a consumer does pay" he would have given her full credit. This TA barely speaks English and laughed at her when she pointed out that they mean the same thing (because obviously if you aren't willing to pay a certain price you don't, and if you do pay it then you were willing).</p>
<p>Another student argued with him about partial credit and he kept saying he doesn't give partial credit. After a few minutes he said "ok, I sick of arguing, you win". When my daughter tried to again argue for partial credit he kept replying "no partial credit". </p>
<p>She came out of the test feeling good and expected a solid B and instead received an F. She is devastated and doesn't know what to do. I told her to go to the prof and handle it but I am curious what recourse she will have if he doesn't give in. </p>
<p>I should also add for those of you that are considering UVA that we heard the profs are not as student friendly as at other top schools, but that so far this year she has loved most of her profs! The TAs however have been very hit and miss and two have been downright horrible.</p>
<p>Sounds like an econ class. If so, sounds like she in Coppock’s huge intro to macro class. With 400+ students, there are bound to be some shaky TA’s. </p>
<p>Whether I have the course/professor correct or not, I suggest she go by at the beginning of the professor’s next office hours. If she has a class conflict with that, contact the professor to make an appointment. She will likely get more assistance by politely playing up the language difficulty with the TA. Also, if it is the class I am thinking of, there may be a “head” TA. Speaking with him or her might be another option as they are probably the one who make up the answer key the TA is using.</p>
<p>A third idea would be for your daughter to speak with her “association dean,” if she is in the College of Arts and Sciences. The Association Dean is assigned based on which dorm one resides in first year. Hint, make a note of who the association dean is, because that person will remain your daughter’s assoc. dean for the remainder of her time in Arts and Sciences.</p>
<p>Once I read “Her TA would not give her any partial credit and marked other questions wrong that were right” I knew you were talking about Econ. The key to get an A is to memorize definitions verbatim from the textbook. All of my professors have been student friendly, but I definitely agree that ECON TA’s can be miss or “more” miss.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, as far as getting a grade change I doubt anything will happen since there are 400+ students in the class (the issue of fairness comes into play) and there is a Dutch Knock Out policy (your final exam grade can stand as your course grade or your cumulative grade can stand as your course grade). The best thing to do is for her to go over the exam with her TA and see what she can improve on next time.</p>
<p>Further, the class is curved which will help…</p>
<p>Definitely bring it up to the professor. She probably won’t be the only one. I had a classmate last year with a similar experience & the prof did up his midterm grade by a few points. If she hasn’t heard of course forum, definitely check it out for future TA reviews.</p>
<p>I would suggest that your daughter try to find other people in the discussion sections with that TA who are having the same problem. (he probably teachs more than one section). The facebook page for 1st year students may be a good place to link up with others. Then, as suggested above, make an appointment with the prof (preferably during his office hours) and try to go in together. If another student can’t make it, ask them to write out their concerns. One person complaining is just a complainer, but 5 students complaining makes it clear that there is a screwup.</p>
<p>As a UVA faculty member who supervises TAs in a large lecture course, I strongly second charlieschm’s advice. In my department, which is not econ, we try to intervene if we know there is a real problem, but it can be hard to disentangle real problems from the inevitable students who are merely *****ing about their deservedly poor grades in hopes of getting a higher one. If a delegation of this TA’s students goes in to the professor’s office hours and complains in a measured, reasonable-sounding way, presenting clear evidence for their claims, then he or she should investigate and take corrective action if necessary. It’s also possible to appeal grades to the chair of a department.</p>