stupid prof....its been one bad day.

Jul 12, 2001
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got a midterm back for one of my graduate classes and did poorly on it, even though i thought i knew the material...The class is in a field that i am not used taking tests in so it was hard to know what the prof. wanted.

anyways after class i went to the prof. office and asked her if there was anyway i could make it up, she said that I probably have a C because of the test and will not be get it to a B (which i need since it is a core course for my graduate field) unless i ace the final and everyone else fails...this midterm was worth 25% of the grade, HW's (which i've done fine on) are 20%, and a project worth 20% which i can do well on...but she says that doesnt matter since most people will do well on them too...

now i have to drop the class (if my advisor will let me) and retake it next year.

i asked if i redid the test on my own to show her i really did understand it and just had a bad day, or if i could do extra work to show that i understand the material, but she said nope, only way is if u ace the final and everyone else does bad.

i thought graduate school was about learning...
 

pyonir

Lifer
Dec 18, 2001
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welcome to college. you mean you are in grad school and you don't understand that profs will do NOTHING special to accomidate most students? it isn't her fault you did poorly, why should she change her ciricullum (sp?) for just you? i know where you are coming from, and understand your point, but you have to see hers too. if she makes an exception for you to retake the test or do extra credit, then the other students should have the same opportunity. just my two pennies.
 
Jul 12, 2001
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<< welcome to college. you mean you are in grad school and you don't understand that profs will do NOTHING special to accomidate most students? it isn't her fault you did poorly, why should she change her ciricullum (sp?) for just you? i know where you are coming from, and understand your point, but you have to see hers too. if she makes an exception for you to retake the test or do extra credit, then the other students should have the same opportunity. just my two pennies. >>



i understand that...but most prof. i have had in the past will realize that everyone can have a bad day...if i do well on the final and the project and the HW's and just mess up 1 test, u think i could get some slack, but the way she grades it, the rest of the class has to do poorly...most prof. in hard classes i had gave some way to allow u to mess up once and it not destroy your grade
 
Jan 18, 2001
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not the end of the world. I had to retake a grad class once. What a pain.

You must of scored pretty low to have a 20% grade weigh down you average like that.

Oh well, stick it out adn stay in the class. You may have to retake the class and you may not. If you do, then you might as well have the experience of taking it once b/f.

good luck.
 

TheDeadlyBulb

Junior Member
Feb 19, 2002
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If you are desparate you could always say there was trouble at home and you are having trouble concentrating. I've never done it but I know people who have, and if you have a convincing story, they'll usually give you extensions or let you retake tests.
 

azazyel

Diamond Member
Oct 6, 2000
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Stick the class out you never know what can happen. I you show improvement and a desire to learn she may end up taking it easy on you.
 

CSoup

Senior member
Jan 9, 2002
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<<
i thought graduate school was about learning...
>>



Yeah, learning that nobody should get special treatment. If she gave out extra credit that only you qualified for or a retake for you then it would be unfair to the other people in the class.
 

CSoup

Senior member
Jan 9, 2002
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Discretion of prof should never be more than 10 percent of your grade. They can only increase or decrease your grade by 1/3 of a letter grade at the most in borderline cases and still be fair to others. Profs will do this for people who had one bad test or people who skip classes and don't turn in homework.
 
Jul 12, 2001
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its more the fact that even if i do great on the other 75% of the material i still cant get a good grade...thats what pisses me off...even if i show improvement and show that it was a fluke...i still wont get the grade i need.