Unfair grading by TA - advice?

College Confidential Community
1

I’m taking gen chem lab right now and was surprised to receive a C on the first worksheet (worksheets are short questions/calculations we do at the end of lab; worth the same as a lab report, though). I compared my worksheet to my friend’s and noticed we did the same amount of work and got similar answers. However, she received an A and is in a different lab section with a different TA. I got points knocked off for sig figs, not “annotating my calculations” a.k.a. not writing my calculations out in words, and other trivial formatting errors.

I emailed my TA about the discrepancy in grading, but all he said was that a C was “the average grade of the class” and I “shouldn’t worry about it.”

I don’t know what to do. Should I show how my worksheet and my friend’s and ask him to regrade it? Should I change lab sections? As someone looking into grad/medical school, I feel defeated. Any advice would be helpful.

2

No TA is going to regrade work from another TA’s section (not unless they want a VERY stern lecture about professional conduct).

Your avenue of recourse at this point is the presiding professor. You can drop by office hours and, without whining or accusation, say that you are a little confused about the suggested format for lab work, and would appreciate clarification since you want your work to be as professional as possible. If the professor asks - and only then - you can mention the discrepancy between how you perceived your work was evaluated and how your friend’s was. This should prompt the professor to speak to the TAs about consistent standards.