I have a TA who grades my paper for linear algebra for engineer. He would always deduct points for dumbest of thing like having commas inside matrixes or using another way to do inverse matrixes even though thats how I was taught in highscool and by the professor. I tried to explain to him as to why I did the things I did and how I want my points back because of this. He never did give me a reasonable explantion as to why my answer was invalid or bother trying to explain it at all. He keeps saying that I should of question the professor as to why he didnt use commas in his matrixes, but I didnt think it was a big deal and thats why I was trying to explain myself. He even claim I was shouting at him even though I’m probably one of most quiet person in his lab. He even threaten me to report me even though I just want explantion why I get points off. Eventually I left because it never did get anywhere. Then I spoke to my professor about my situation, but he never let me fully explain it. He then told me that he’ll deal with the situation after the exams are over. What I’m afraid of is that the professor might not do anything because he is very lax during lectures. I have the email for the dean ready just in case he doesnt do anything about it. But Im not sure whether to go to the dean or go to the dean of students about this? What I hate about this is TA is that he doesnt do anything during lab and he just sits there. You can easily tell that he does not care about the lab, and thats why he try to get rid me of after lab (even though he told me to talk to him after class). And now I dont really know what to do for this situation.
I would take the paper to the prof and ask them to review the grading. I see this from the other side. My kid is a Physics TA, and has been telling me about a student who is unhappy about her grading. My kid took one of the assignments to the prof and asked for review, just to make sure she is grading correctly. The prof confirmed to her that the student had missed multiple major concepts and had other mistakes that the TAs have been instructed to grade down for, and said the grading was perfect. Going to the dean will do you no good. The prof might agree with you. But if not, then you better pay more atttentiom to the details.
And in lab, he isn’t supposed to do the lab for you. But they are there if you run into trouble and have questions.
Precision is important for an engineer. What seems picky to you may be important to them. If the drop/add date hasn’t passed, you may be able to switch sections. But that may not help (and at my kid’s school, they level out the grading at the end of the semester, so if a TA routinely grades easier, those grades will be brought down to match the group – same adjustment upward on a TA who grades consistently lower).
I think you misunderstand the class, its a math class with a math lab. Its not like physic or chemistry lab where you do an experiment. In these type of lab, you will be assign practice problem to do and then the TA will provide whether you are in the right direction or not. This is the same case for my calculus lab. But the problem with the lab is that he neither giving guidance as to whether you are doing it right or not or aiding student with questions.
As to your comment about bringing the homework toward the professor, I did attempt to discuss him about by having it in front of him. But he say that has no control over grading it which makes no sense because earlier he say that the TAs are there to help grade paper for him.
I forgot to mention, I have keys to the answer for the problems but it is exactly the same answer. Just points deduction with mediocre problems like having commas. I hate to re-explain myself, but I was doing it out of habit, but refuse to hear me out.
Have you had the midterm yet? Agree that the Dean doesn’t have any role in discussions about the awarding of partial credit. It is useful to discuss the grading expectations with the TA so you can do better in the future.
Its this Thursday, but Im not worrying about that since I can easily pass it without the mistakes I made on the homework. And I made sure not have the same mistake on the 3rd homework. The problem is by the time I turned in the 2nd homework and received the 1st homework back on the same day. I realize that he was grading harshly, since he never gave out much explanation what to look for except show work (which I did). Issue is there was no flexibility for me to fix the same mistakes I made on the first homework because by the time I saw it I already turn the second one. Thats what I was trying to explain to him, if I had saw my homework earlier I wouldnt repeat the commas again or any other problems.
I dont expect much with reasoning with him since he never gave an introduction to his name or gave much output as to what to expect except show work.