TA grade unfairly, what to do?

intparent
Wed, 27 Sep 2017 13:40:22 +0000

I would take the paper to the prof and ask them to review the grading. I see this from the other side. My kid is a Physics TA, and has been telling me about a student who is unhappy about her grading. My kid took one of the assignments to the prof and asked for review, just to make sure she is grading correctly. The prof confirmed to her that the student had missed multiple major concepts and had other mistakes that the TAs have been instructed to grade down for, and said the grading was perfect. Going to the dean will do you no good. The prof might agree with you. But if not, then you better pay more atttentiom to the details.

And in lab, he isn’t supposed to do the lab for you. But they are there if you run into trouble and have questions.

Precision is important for an engineer. What seems picky to you may be important to them. If the drop/add date hasn’t passed, you may be able to switch sections. But that may not help (and at my kid’s school, they level out the grading at the end of the semester, so if a TA routinely grades easier, those grades will be brought down to match the group – same adjustment upward on a TA who grades consistently lower).