During the time of taking my Physiology Class it was very all over the place. We took our first exam which I received an 80/100 points on, followed by him saying if we did better on our next exam he would drop our previous one. The day came to take our next exam which I also received an 80/100 points on. When the final came around he informed us that if we did better on the final he would drop both of our previous exams and only keep the final score. I received 114/150 points on the final. We also had our lab manual which I received 150/150 points on. After everything I came out with a B.
Waking up to several students text messages informing me they had all received A’s I was baffled. I asked the grades of the other students and one of the other girls grades were as follows:
Exam 1: 72/100
Exam 2: 92/100
Final: 120/150
Lab: 140/150 (she missed two days)
Which overall brings her score to a 84.8% meaning the only way she could have received an A is by him dropping her first test which would’ve still only brought her to a 88%
Now take a look at my grades as follows:
Exam 1: 80/100
Exam 2: 80/100
Final: 114/150
Lab: 150/150 (only missed one day)
Which overall comes out to a 84.8% which is exactly the same score as the previous girls. He informed me over email he had not dropped any of my scores not sure as for what reason.
I also know other students who failed both of the first two exams and came out with a B as well. I do not see this as a fair grading policy whatsoever, and am requesting a review of this situation.
If everything carries equal weight, you have and 84. In my book that’s a B. It sounds as though you got the grade you earned.
Letter grades can encompass a wide variety of numbers. And you haven’t mentioned how things were weighed. I assume the final carried more weight than either of the two regular exams— your friend out preformed you on the final.
It’s entirely possible that you were a high B, and she was a low A. It happens.
Personally, I would stop worrying about the grades of the other kids in the class.
I posted how many points everything was out of which is the weight. She did worse on her first exam, and only 6 points better on the final. And she did worse on the lab. I don’t see it as a fair grading scale with one of her exams being dropped and mine not even though I did better.
Sometimes professors will drop an early test grade if the student improves a lot. It happened to me once in grad school. My (future) husband was in the same class and was annoyed like you are. He ended up getting a B in the class and I got an A.
–First and foremost, you would be best off to concern yourself with your grade and not how your grade compares to others in the class. It looks to me that your grade of a B is what you earned so as far as your individual grade was calculated, it appears to be correct and fair.
–If your friend’s scores allowed her to take advantage of dropping the first exam, a policy the prof. stated in advance, then she was just fortunate.
When it is an unfair grading policy, it is not something I’m going to just “move on” from. I worked very hard and feel as though I deserved an A. Will be taking the situation to the Dean, just felt like seeing what others had to say about the situation.
I understand you’re graded on what you do. But when the grading scale is not the same for everyone I do not feel as though that is an “ok” way to do things. I don’t see it being ok that other students get better privileges and others suffer from it.
But your grade on the final (76%) is lower than your other test scores. You didn’t meet the requirements to have any tests dropped. That is a completely fair result, as his policy was stated before the test.
I’ve had professors do this before and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. People get the grade they deserved based on whether they had learned the material by the end of the class (which is what really matters). I had one prof double count the final and drop our lowest test score, assuming our final was our highest score. I aced that final (perfect score), so I got an A+ in the class. I took another course with that same professor where she didn’t have that policy, and even if she did, it wouldn’t have helped me. I had a 97% in that class going into the final, but bombed it, so I got a B+ in that class. Does it really bother me? Yes, but only because I blew it. It was no one else’s fault. I was the one who didn’t study hard enough and didn’t know the material for the final.
Which is irrelevant to what you told us the teacher said the first time: “if we did better on our next exam he would drop our previous one.”
I’m not saying it’s totally “fair”, but he certainly followed the rules he set up. Make sure you’re aware of that when you try to make your case with the administration.
Your final exam grade was 114/150. If you do the math (114 divided by 150), your grade was a 76. That’s 4 points lower than the 80 you got on the first two tests. You’re professor didn’t drop any test scores because you didn’t meet his requirement.
In College faculty do not include effort in the grade. You are graded on what you produce. If a final grade could go either way, I used attendance as the tie breaker.
A college degree is built on cumulative acquisition of skills and knowledge as documented by the classes taken and grades earned.
Lol who uses the word salty. Sorry but I don’t move on from something that is not a fair grade scale. But if that’s how you like to pursue your life go right ahead. I fight for what I believe is right. @paul2752
It’s completely fair. The professor said he would reward improvement. The other person’s grade went up. Yours went down. What is your basis for calling this unfair?
