What can I do about an extremely unfair grade?

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>My statistics class this semester was the traditional '3 tests and a final' format. The professor was very old, barely speaks English, was too smart for the material, and made even the most simple things extremely confusing. Basically, we were forced to teach ourselves, and the tests being extremely difficult and confusing didn't help matters.</p>

<p>Alright, back to the point of this post. I took my final for the class this morning, and it looks like I'll be finishing the class with (hopefully not) a D. Despite studying for days in advance, i feel like I'll be lucky to pass get a C. Frustrated, I decided to look up other professors available for the same course on rate my professor. To no surprise, the few other professors out there seemed just as bad. But, to my amazement, I read comment after comment about a Stats teacher that was allowing students to take quizzes and tests open book and open notes. </p>

<p>In my class, we were lucky if we were given a formula sheet for a test. But this other teachers students don't have to study, memorize formulas, or actually learn anything. He pretty much hands As out for showing up. I asked some of my friends who have taken the class with him , and they all confirmed that it was true. They said that class is almost always 30 minutes long too (ours were an hour and a half, no exceptions).</p>

<p>How is this fair to me, or my classmates? I worked my ass off all semester to end up with a D and a huge blow to my GPA. And its not even uncommon. Our professor has stated numerous times that at least half his students fail, and blames us for it. Meanwhile, other kids get open book tests and quizzes!</p>

<p>What can I do about this? I really want to contact a university counselor or dean or something, but have no idea where to start. Any advise on what I should do next would be amazing.</p>

<p>Also: Is it wrong of me to feel like I deserve some type of boost to my grade because of this? I am seriously considering figuring out who to talk to in order to accomplish this, or even informing others who have suffered from this as well. The problem is not just that other students are getting As for doing nothing. The bigger issue is that the other professors who teach this course are known to explain nothing to students and then give out extremely difficult tests. Meanwhile, my school allows one professor to give out As while teaching nothing, which only hurts students in the long run.</p>

2

<p>If the profs write their own exams for the class then there’s probably nothing you can do. If it’s the same exam for all the sections then it is unfair for some students to have notes and others to not. In the latter case, you would discuss this with either the associate dean of student affairs or the department chair for the math/stats department.</p>

3

<p>Your student handbook (probably available online) has a grievance procedure outlined. Look it up and follow it.</p>

<p>It might turn out to be a waste of time, however.</p>

4

<p>I don’t really think you have any case here. Most of the courses I’ve taken here are driven by the professor-- the professor can have one exam or three, open-note or a formula sheet or nothing at all, and the policies seem to change each semester. As long as the policies were applied evenly throughout the semester, the course (at least in my schoools) would be considered fair, and the professor can do whatever he/she wants.</p>

5

<p>It’s worth a shot, but I doubt anything will come of it. Professors can (unfortunately) make the class as hard as they want.</p>

<p>On a less extreme scale, I’m currently taking the mandatory upper-division writing course required by my school. I got stuck with a really strict professor who basically gives everyone a B- on their essays, while my roommate’s professor is really easy and gives A’s very often. It’s frustrating but what can you do? Just gotta accept it and move on and hope that it all evens out in the end.</p>

6

<p>If you want to complain about it, go for it, but I doubt they will change your grade. If anything, the department may reconsider what classes this professor teaches in the future (unless he’s been in the department forever, and then it may just be what it is). Professors can generally do whatever they want with their classes, and at any school, there will be some professors that are considered harder than others. The students that have more challenging professors don’t get any “boost” to their grade, but they may learn the material better and be better prepared for later classes. As long as the entire class was graded the same way, I’d consider the class fair because the entire class was held to the same standard. Some students, I’m sure, did very well in the course, while other students really struggled. It’ll be like that in every class. It may not see fair, but life’s not fair. You may have a job in the future with a supervisor who’s really strict and unyielding, while you have a friend who has a supervisor who’s really lax and easy-going (even if you both work at the same company). It sucks, but it is what it is. Learn to work within the system and deal with bad or difficult professors or supervisors, but don’t expect a pay raise because you have to work with a difficult supervisor.</p>

<p>Think of it this way: one student may have gone to a really challenging high school and got poorer grades, while another student goes to a really easy high school and is valedictorian. They both go to college, and maybe the student with the poor GPA doesn’t get into his number one choice, but he still goes to a good university. The student who went to the challenging high school soars in college because they’re used to being challenged and working hard. The student with the perfect GPA who was valedictorian in high school, suddenly finds themselves really struggling because they’ve never been challenged like they have in college. You can’t always see the benefit that you get from taking challenging classes in your GPA, but the effect of it may come out later, either in other classes or in future internships or jobs.</p>

<p>So complain if you want, give the professor a bad rating if your school gives you a way to rate courses, but don’t count on them raising your grade. In the future, check out the professors if you can before you sign up for their class. I always looked into the professors when I was able to, and for the most part, I had really great professors–great teachers, challenging but reasonable tests, easy to approach and ask questions. Consider what type of education you want, and do your best to find a way to get it. It won’t always be possible, but you may be able to avoid the real duds, like this professor.</p>

7

<p>Baktrax X 2. That’s pretty much spot on.</p>