# Bad Grade on the First Paper



## Joeb (Aug 6, 2005)

This is my last undergrad semester. I'm a 3.5 student and I've never gotten lower than a 3.0 in a class. Ok so we are three weeks into the semester and the first assignment came back. It was a story summary and a thesis statement for our first paper. Admittedly my thesis was rushed but I don't think I deserved a 1.0!!! The teacher gave us a 1 through 4 and that translates to a 1.0 to a 4.0. Now I'm supposed to write a three page paper by Wednesday and I just want to drop the ****ing class.

I could just tough it out and try but that assignment was *10%* of our total grade! And I got a 1.0? What the **** am I supposed to do now ... do my best for a 3.5, if I do really well on the four papers? And the ****test part of this is I could've taken a 200 level class to finish my English requirement instead of this 300 level class.

I don't get this teache either. She seems to know how to write well and know what she's talking about in her book, but in class she is a loud and obnoxious *****. And she claims she doesn't know how to do quizzes or tests for literature. I took 310A and C (this class is D) and they had quizzes about the stuff we read - it isn't that hard.

But now three weeks into the semester I don't know if I can switch to another class. I've already been told I can't get into 233 because they did an assignment already. I checked some of this *****'s reviews and students claim they had to struggle for a ****ing 2.5 - and these are the students that get 3.5 or 4.0 in other classes. I understand hard graders but this woman takes it to an extreme that it doesn't need to go to.


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## cakesniffer (Nov 11, 2003)

I'm really sorry about that, I'm an English major and have experienced some mean graders these past few years, so I understand what you're going through. :hug

You have a few options, stick with the class until the withdrawl deadline and see how you're doing. You'll lose your money, but no grade will go on your transcript.

You could drop it now, and lose only a portion of your money.

Or you can stick it out. 3 page papers sound really wonderful to me at this point. :lol I have a 12-20 page paper due near the end of the semester and I'm pretty much dreading it already. I don't know what the topic is, but I know I've pushed out papers of greater length the night before and got decent grades on most occasions. It's only Monday, so there's still a chance for a decent 3 page paper.

And do you mean the thesis and summary are 10% of your final grade, or the 3 page paper the thesis and summary are based on? I can't see 10% of your final grade being a thesis and summary for a paper, and not the actual paper itself.

If you're that worried about it, perhaps you could go to your teacher later on and ask for a make-up assignment that can hopefully cancel out the 1.0 grade you got.

Good luck with everything.


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## Joeb (Aug 6, 2005)

I've also done huge papers in a short length of time. Two semesters ago I took 5 high level literature courses and had to write over 10 pages in one day several times - and I didn't get below a 3.5 in any of those classes.

To clarify the one paragraph summary and thesis statement is 10% of our grade. The syllabus breaks it down like this:

Summary and Thesis 10%
Paper 1 15%
Paper 2 20%
Paper 3 20%
Paper 4 20%
Class 15%

I think class is class participation, which is kinda sad because seriously no one speaks up in this class. I think we do get a rewrite of each paper but 20% for one paper is still rough for a 300 level course. And I still don't see why she can't use quizzes or something else to buffer our grades. Just grading us on papers is harsh since there is nothing else to fall back on.

EDIT: And I e-mailed her earlier and she still hasn't replied, leaving me with no other way to contact her. *Sigh*


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## geek (Aug 11, 2005)

Would that 10% summary and thesis be for all 4 papers? I don't see how summary and thesis statement for one paper is worth 10% either. More likely it's like this: 10%/4 papers = 2.5%. Therefore each summary and thesis statement is worth only 2.5%, not 10%. So, you've only lost like 1.9% of your grade so far. 

(my math is a bit rusty, so any math whiz out there can go ahead an correct me if I'm wrong )


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## AngryPlatypus (Aug 1, 2005)

20% for a single paper is actually very reasonable, especially for a 300 level course. My Intro Art History class (a 100 level) was based around 2 papers, each being 50% of your final grade. :um


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## lyssado707 (Oct 29, 2004)

Last semester I had an english teacher similar to yours. She was totally unrealistic in her expectations of perfection. I stuck it out, along with only like 10 other people, and ended up with a C. I don't think your teacher will fail you or anything if he/she sees you tried your best. That's all that counts.


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## in_my_prison (Mar 14, 2005)

There is no consistency in english teachers. Some of them will love ur writing, others wont hesitate to tell u that its ****.


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## Joeb (Aug 6, 2005)

Well I wrote the first paper and it's a 4.0 paper I know. Or at least it is for some teachers. I don't know about her. We do get a rewrite to improve our grade and she said she'll give me whatever grade I get on the first paper as the grade for the summary thesis. So if I get a 3.0 on the paper my 1.0 goes to a 3.0 ... so that's good. 

I'm still afraid to see how hard she grades. I read reviews of her by past students and they are almost all negative and even the positive ones say she grades way too hard. 

To clarify, the summary thesis is our first assignment and we are only doing it once, not one for each paper. And yes, that one sentence and the paragraph are 10% of our final grade.


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## darkangel (Apr 19, 2005)

Man did I ever hate college English. I continuously got Ds on my papers no matter how much time I spent and even talking to the Prof about what the hell he wanted didn't help. I ended up failing the course because I slept through the final (although I'm positive that's not the reason I failed.) 

I used to get 100% on essays in high school, and then dropped to 50%s. So I wonder which is it, high school was too easy or college was too hard?


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

Joeb,

I would ask the teacher (SA project) and find out what she wants in the paper. Then, study the heck out of it as you write! The only way to do good, from my perspective, is to make sure you have the right information to start with. She may have graded that first paper hard on purpose. I remember a course I took for CS called "Technical Writing" where the grading was brutal. You have to follow the teachers specs point-blank and not waiver.


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