So I took Microeconomics last semester, and the professor stated that he had a sliding grading system, so it wasn't put in the syllabus. His system was that usually a 75 or above would be a B, and an 88 or above was usually an A. I found out that I got an 80.3 in the course, yet he gave a B- Should I fight it, or is this a destined to lose kind of thing.
By 75 of above it's possible he meant the B range such as B- B and B+. So...I'd have to see his scale to see if you got screwed or not. It's nice when they give you a scale.
Problem is he didn't give us the actual scale, he just told us that he had a sliding scale and that a 75 was a B, and an 88 an A roughly.
Does the B- affect your GPA, or will it still count as a 3.0? (For instance, some places might count a B- as a 2.6 and a B+ as a 3.4 or something like that)
Oh, well then I guess it's worth talking to him about. Also, ask some of your other classmates if they heard the same thing you did at the start of the term.
Well go for it. I'm contesting my final graded paper for 2nd year writing right now. The graders are third years who supposedly did well in the class when they took it. My main beef was that the grader was routinely wrong in her comments and at one point demonstrated she did not know the basic facts of the assignment (this is important when you're graded on arguing the facts). Thus, I got the lowest grade I have ever gotten in law school on a paper I spent a lot of time on and it was worth half my grade. I've never, ever contested a grade before. I've felt like it but in the end I just go, whatever, it all evens out - everyone else got dicked just like me. But this was the last straw. I feel like I've become one of those kiss ass false modesty know it alls now always whining about why they only got an A and not an A+. Oh well.
Bullshit. You'd be a passive asskisser if you said 'well the books say my answer is right, but the professor will think less of me if I let him know he made a mistake, so I'd better not object'. A professor doesn't make an answer right or wrong, it just is right or wrong. Ignoring mistakes made by the professor or whoever grades your paper/test is like not giving yourself credit for the effort you put into it. I'd think you'd need a pitbull mentality for law school - if you notice someone making a mistake, jump on it. It's not like they have to like you.
Perhaps you misunderstood what a sliding scale is. You won't be able to contest the grade, because he gave you the correct grade. A sliding scale doesn't hold to a fixed point to letter system, but instead relies on the distribution of scores. He probably gives the top 5% As, the next 5% A-, etc. Your 80 is only meaningful in the context of which 5% it places you in. The reason for doing this is that raw test scores might tell you about the quality of the student, but they might also tell you about the quality of the test. If the professor makes the tests too easy (inadvertently), he is stuck with a classroom full of As if he uses a strict scale. Likewise, such a scale would require a class full of Cs if he made the tests too hard. When he said at the beginning of the term that a 75 was a B, he meant that typically it would be a B. Seems the scores this term skewed higher.
Sounds right to me. "Sliding scale" is just a long and awkward way of saying "curve." There's no legitimate complaint here, unless students with a lower numerical grade got a higher letter grade. At any rate, absent a clear clerical error, the only way a student ever wins a fight over a third of a grade is by harassing a professor into compliance, and that's not a reputation you want to develop if you're ever going to want a recommendation from any professor at your school. A third of a grade in one class isn't worth developing a reputation as a gratuitous troublemaker.
So you are thinking that the scholarship entitles you to an easier grading scale than your fellow students? Next time, try studying a bit harder.
I think you need to not assume things gul. I got a 99% on my first test, a 77% on the next two tests, and an 87% on the final exam.
Well you didn't give us the full story, then, did you? That averages to 85. Do you know whether the tests are all worth the same toward the final grade? Or does he weight the average? I'm not seeing how you get an 80 from those scores unless the middle two count for more than the first and last. It would be legitimate to ask how the 80 was calculated. But aside from that, Liet and I are correct about how the 80 is a B-, rather than the B you think it should be.
Hmm, your only choice is to kill the students that have grades directly higher than yours. Or at least get them expelled.
We do that in law school - they transfer to better schools. Though that's overcome by those w/ low grades dropping out and committing suicide.
Well my contest worked. I just got another 8 points or the difference (for my grading scale) of a 2.3 and a 3.0.
Well when the grading is too subjective there's a risk that when you argue a certain grade they may drop your grade on reconsideration.
