# Unfairly graded?



## AllToAll (Jul 6, 2011)

If you believed your professor didn't fairly grade your paper, would you tell her/him about it? If you felt you deserved more...

I got a C+ on a paper and it's definitely not worth that. The least it could be worth is a B. I'm sure of it. I sent it to the TA beforehand.... she said it was great.


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## sansd (Mar 22, 2006)

I'd ask about what problems it had and how it was graded if you weren't given the details. Have you done better on other papers graded by the same professor? I wouldn't say that I thought it was unfair unless I had something to compare it to.


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## amberr (May 9, 2012)

Yes yes yes, definitely. I would tell the professor you ran it by the TA too. Especially if it's around the end of the semester and you need those points. I would want to know what I got the points off for. I typically ask that, even if I get a good grade, but that's just because I have a problem I guess.


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## AllToAll (Jul 6, 2011)

carambola said:


> I'd ask about what problems it had and how it was graded if you weren't given the details. Have you done better on other papers graded by the same professor? I wouldn't say that I thought it was unfair unless I had something to compare it to.


We only had one paper and an exam (plus quizzes) for that class. She doesn't have a grading rubric, though, so I don't know what to compare it to... I've never gotten less than a B on essays, though...



amberr said:


> Yes yes yes, definitely. I would tell the professor you ran it by the TA too. Especially if it's around the end of the semester and you need those points. I would want to know what I got the points off for. I typically ask that, even if I get a good grade, but that's just because I have a problem I guess.


Thanks. I just sent her the email. I simply wrote that I didn't understand how she got to the conclusion that that's what my paper was worth and mentioned that I sent it to the TA beforehand too...

Hopefully I did well on the final.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

I hate it when TAs grade papers. They always grade really harshly.


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## Resonance (Feb 11, 2010)

Yeah I've had several issues with this kind of thing. Sometimes I have got marks adjusted, sometimes I have got apologies and explanations, other times some small aspect that was prerequisite to achieve certain grade boundaries I missed has been pointed out to me, thereby allowing me to avoid similar mistakes in future. If you think a grade is erroneous, it's always worth asking about it.


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## closed99 (Feb 15, 2012)

What was the class and what's your major? 

I had a TA write b*** s*** across my paper in philosophy once. I felt it was unfair and unprofessional. I showed it to people in class who agreed. Turns out I wasn't supposed to think for myself. Prof just wanted me to regurgitate what he had said in class. Useless.


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## PaysageDHiver (Jun 18, 2011)

komorikun said:


> I hate it when TAs grade papers. They always grade really harshly.


I grade really easy. I'm a philosophy TA, and I try to keep in mind that most of these students have never written a philosophy paper or done any philosophy.


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## scum (Jun 30, 2011)

TAs are the worst, no offence. they ridicule my thought process to show an air of pretension (not that i would complain about their particular discernment in regards to the inabilities coming through in my writing), but then they don't have the balls to grade harshly (imho). just do your job, you're not suppose to pass every idiot through the turnstyle after pointing out their inexplicably atrocious flaws. they give me a's when i would've gotten c's if the professor had peaked in on things, so i don't don't argue, but it's still a bunch of rubbish.

but yes, in most cases you should talk with the actual professor, if that's an option, since it is first and formost a syllabus of his/her design.


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## pita (Jan 17, 2004)

AllToAll said:


> If you believed your professor didn't fairly grade your paper, would you tell her/him about it? If you felt you deserved more...
> 
> I got a C+ on a paper and it's definitely not worth that. The least it could be worth is a B. I'm sure of it. I sent it to the TA beforehand.... she said it was great.


I would ask why the grade was so low.

I've asked a couple of times. In both instances, the answer related to bell curving and grade allocation and other bullsh*t. "I (or the TA) would've liked to have given you an A, but we're only allowed to give out so many." In those cases there's unfortunately nothing you can do.


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## scum (Jun 30, 2011)

pita said:


> I would ask why the grade was so low.
> 
> I've asked a couple of times. In both instances, the answer related to bell curving and grade allocation and other bullsh*t. "I (or the TA) would've liked to have given you an A, but we're only allowed to give out so many." In those cases there's unfortunately nothing you can do.


that is why i won't take limited enrollment courses or ones that don't fill to at east 80% occupancy. i'm sick of receiving unallocated a's just because they're available. i couldn't even pass a high school english class if i tried. i read a classic novel this year for the first time in a decade, and i could barely get the just of it, let alone conceive of having to write constructive papers involving metaphor driven analyses that relate to the events held within.


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## Marooned (Feb 20, 2004)

This is one of the problems that arise when too much emphasis is placed on quantifying knowledge: A shift in value away from learning toward the accumulation of positive, albeit meaningless, marks. Consider whether the grade really matters in the end. If the goal is to learn how to better express one's ideas in writing, all feedback should be welcomed irrespective of the letter grade assigned. Further, it seems inappropriate to me that the pupil should be the one determining the quality of his or her own work. I don't mean to be unduly critical here, but this talk of what is deserved and undeserved suggests an entitlement mindset that seems all too prevalent among today's students. Was there no commentary accompanying the grade? It's one thing if the instructor has abdicated his or her responsibility to teach by not providing adequate feedback, but it's quite another to feel wronged simply because you disagree with that feedback. If one holds her mentors in such low regard and feels the she has nothing to learn from them, then what is the purpose of going to school? 

I realize I am working on assumptions here and hope to be proven unjust in my criticism. The pressure to succeed academically is one that I fully understand, and it is not my intent to give offense. The problem as I see it is the commodification of education, where students, treated as consumers, come to see the grade as the only thing that matters, in most cases (though not necessarily yours) treated as the ticket to a good-paying job, always expecting to receive a good one whether or not it's justified. A poor grade and a sense of how one can improve is infinitely more valuable than the false confidence that comes with the uncritical A. You'd do well to treat the grades for the limited measures they are and not invest them with so much meaning.


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## AllToAll (Jul 6, 2011)

pita said:


> I would ask why the grade was so low.
> 
> I've asked a couple of times. In both instances, the answer related to bell curving and grade allocation and other bullsh*t. "I (or the TA) would've liked to have given you an A, but we're only allowed to give out so many." In those cases there's unfortunately nothing you can do.


I emailed her and she gave me a B-. She was debating on which grade to give me... In her opinion my thesis was unclear. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to meet with her before she had to hand in the final grade, so I finished the class with a B...

I dropped out of the class I was going to take with her next semester. :blank


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