Graded Unfairly, what should I do?

baktrax
Sat, 20 Jun 2015 22:31:01 +0000

She DID give their final exam more weight. 40% more weight. So instead of their final grade being worth 40%, it’s worth 80%. I get that you don’t feel like it’s unfair for the professor to allow the final grade to replace their midterm grade, but that’s not your decision to make. This grading system doesn’t hurt you in any way (since you said she would replace the midterm grade, if the final grade was BETTER). You had the chance for a clean slate too, if you wanted it. And you had just as much of a chance for an A as any student in that class. But you got a low B on the final. That’s life.

You’re right. She did change her requirements, and based on the new requirements, you also would have gotten a B. So regardless of whether she used the old requirements or the new requirements, you got a B. You had a chance to earn an A in the new requirements and the old requirements, but you didn’t. If you had gotten an A in the final, you would have gotten an A in the class. But it sounds like you didn’t even get a high B, you got a low B on the final. How is it unfair for the professor to give you a B in the class?

It sounds to me like you would have been okay with the B if everyone else failed the course, but now that other students (and you don’t know exactly how many students were able to pull this off, but I’m sure some did) were able to do better than you on the final, you feel like it’s unfair. You got the grade that you would have gotten regardless. Stop worrying about what other people got. They were graded in the same way that you were. Some students got a better grade. That doesn’t mean it’s unfair. You had the same chance as anyone else to get an A. Perhaps even a BETTER chance because you were already well-prepared for the midterm and therefore didn’t have to do the catching up that everyone else had to do on the final. You dropped the ball. It happens. Brush it off and move on.

I’ve had classes where the professor allows students to replace their midterm grade with their final grade if they do better on the final. This grading system has never benefited me, but that doesn’t mean it’s unfair. They do it for many reasons. Some students are just unprepared for the test format or how questions are asked or what types of things to study or it might be their first college exam and do very poorly on the midterm. Since it’s such a huge part of your grade, they don’t want to make it ruin your grade, so they give students a chance to save their grade by doing really well on the final. Some students are able to pull off an A because of this, while many others don’t. Other students don’t need the second chance at all, and do fine regardless.