Hi,
I am a sophomore, and as of right now, I have an 89.47 in my personal finance class. I have a 4.0 GPA and throughout the whole semester I have had a high A. However, finals messed things up for me. The day we took the final (yesterday), we were supposed to turn in a review study guide which I was not aware of nor had I received. Also, I did surprisingly bad on my final, which in combination with not turning in my assignment, brought my grade down to where it is now. My question is would it be okay for me to ask my teacher to round my grade up to an A-? I am very frustrated because I am only 0.03 points away. However, I am hesitant to ask because I do not want to seem arrogant. Should I go ahead and talk to him, and if I do so, how should I approach the matter? I feel like telling him that I never received the guide, but I feel like this just looks like I am making excuses, although it was this assignment that brought my grade down to a B+. Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you!
What is the school’s policy on rounding? At my D’s school, there is no rounding. She’s missed the cutoff by similar margins, but it is what it is.
@suzy100 I don’t think there’s a specific policy regarding rounding, but I know teachers are allowed to do it. Teachers are not restricted to anything specifically. A teacher could make a 75 into an A if they really wanted. But the standard convention is that if you’re at like a XX.50, it can be rounded. Since I am only 0.03 away, I feel like I should give it a shot and ask.
^^same here. I think you might be more successful acknowledging that you missed the cutoff and offering to do something for extra credit. Some teachers hate that, but it seems less whiny to offer work for the additional point than to request it simply because you were close.
Maybe ask if you can turn in the missing assignment for partial credit?
If I were the teacher I wouldn’t want to recalculate everyone’s grade to give them a .03 boost, nor would I want to grade a classroom full of extra assignments. Why didn’t you get the review assignment?
D’s school doesn’t round up AT ALL; you have to have the 90.00 to get the A. She got at 89.87% in one class and, yes, it messed up her 4.0.
BTW, you aren’t 0.3% away, you are 0.53% away. You’re asking the teacher to round up to round up again.
I had 3 89’s in Sophmore year, just deal with it.
If you didn’t make the cut-off, too bad. The grade you ended up with is the grade you get.
Basically what everyone else said, I have a 89% right now but I’m not going to ask my teacher to round it. You earned the grade so that’s the grade you get.
That’s because you are making excuses.
You won’t seem arrogant; you’ll seem like a grade-grubber, IMO. You can certainly ask, but be aware that teachers talk amongst themselves, so your request could come around to bite you when it comes time to ask for recommendations.
FYI, I once had an instructor that included her grading guidelines in the syllabus:
A = 93.0000-100.0000
A- = 90.0000-92.9999
etc.
Never mind that it was mathematically impossible to get a 92.9999, but the message was clear - she was not rounding.
Accept it and move on.
Oh gosh, I completely understand you. I got a C on a big research paper for my English class that brought my grade down to an 88.01%. I immediately emailed my teacher asking if there was anything I could do to bring up my grade (rewriting the paper, doing extra assignments, etc). She plainly stated no and that the only way my grade would go back up would be if I did well on the final. This was incredibly stressful, since she only gave grades in increments of 5 (ie. 85, 90, 95) and never gave perfect scores (100). I ended up getting a 95% on the final, bringing my grade to a 89.52%, which was rounded to an A-. I was just .03 points away from getting a B!
This was a college professor by the way; maybe high school teachers will be more lenient. I have a friend who practically begged their teacher to round their grade from an 89 (not above 89.50, although I don’t know the exact percentage) to a 90, and they did it. Anyhow, I was extremely lucky and definitely learned my lesson. You should never relax at the end of the semester/year. Communicate with your teacher frequently to make sure you are on track. I would definitely ask, but do not expect them to agree. I was prepared to receive a B that time.
Go for it! This happened recently to me in my AP Euro class. I had an A all semester and then the final brought my grade down to an 88.98%. My school rounds an 89.5% up to an A. While that might seem like a large gap, if I had only gotten 2 more questions right on the final, I would’ve ended with an 89.52%. I emailed my teacher and presented some arguments, such as how hard I worked to maintain that A in the class and did not want missing 2 points on the final to bring me down to a B, etc. In the end, my teacher did accept my argument and gave me 2 more points to help me retain the A in the class. Teachers are human! They understand how stressful and sometimes unfair the system is. Give it a shot, and if they don’t accept it there’s no harm done. 
You did poorly on the final.
You had an assignment due.
You didn’t do it.
It is your responsibility to be aware of the assignments in your class.
As a teacher, I don’t “give” grades. I report the grade my student have earned. To change a grade would be dishonest.
You have earned an 89.47. That is your grade.
As you learned in 5th grade, here’s how rounding works: you go one digit beyond the one you’re rounding. Since we’re taking her about rounding to whole number, we look at the tenths digit. It’s a 4. That means the score rounds down to 89.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
This thread is a year old. I’m assuming the OP either resolved or moved on. Closing.