<p>If you just want a higher grade with no substantial justification (effort doesn’t count), don’t say anything. But if you have objective stats to back up your request, I would send an email. I recently received a grade that was a lot lower than the scores I had received on essays and exams, so I emailed the professor asking (very politely) to explain the discrepancy. Turns out I hadn’t done as well on the final exam as I thought, but the professor still agreed my final grade for the course was too harsh and raised it. If you’ve got a decent reason it can’t hurt to ask.</p>