Did my professor arbitrarily lower my grade?

Hi!

Final grades for my history class have been posted today! I made a 91 on the final exam and subsequently finished the course with a 94.13%. However, in my school’s online grade book, it’s reporting that grade as an “A-”. I checked my professor’s syllabus and an “A” is anything from a 93-100. In the syllabus, she also states that if a student has two or more absences, their entire grade will drop by one point (A to B, B to C, etc). I have only missed one class, so I’m baffled as to why that says an “A-”.

Should I email my professor and ask her about this? Is it possible that she nudged my grade down because of that one absence?

Thank you!

You can ask, but do so respectfully and politely. Is it possible the final exam is given more weight in determining your semester end average?

You can ask her to review the grade and explain it. Was there a class participation component of the course grade?

@happy1 Hey, thanks for responding. The final exam is 25% of my final grade. According to her syllabus, the specified weight of each component of my grade is set.

@TomSrOfBoston Yes, attendance and participation was 10% of our grade. We received a hundred for every day that we were present in class. I received a zero for that one day that I was absent but it only pulled my grade for that category down to the a 97%. All other days I received hundreds.

Being present in class is not the same as participating in class.

Situation resolved! I emailed her (politely, of course) and she said it was a clerical error. I do actually have an A, thank goodness.

Glad it worked out.