My College professor's grading system: Please read!!!! PLease!!?

Question

Ok let me just get straight to the point. My Art history teacher is of his rocker. My test grades in his class are

93
85
95

He grades in the negatives. For example. My first test in his class was a 93....there where 20 questions. each adding up to 100.... Now i missed 7. Thats 20 minus 7.

or to put it simply.. 100 minus 7.. thats a 93. got it? Now getting that down he then subtracts that 7 from your starting 100 from the semester and now my average is a 93.


So a 93 on my first test 85 on my next test and a 95 on my last test So totaling my 3 test grades.....thats 15-7-5=27...so 100-27.... my FINAL averge is a 73 for the year! THere is no way to bring it up...The only problem is that Art History is my major! I love art history! love it! AND he is the only one that teaches this corse. THe only one in the collage that grades like this..should i talk to him about it? or go directly to the dean? I should not have to put up with this!!... or, should i just let it go.....

Answer 1

Are there other students in your class who have similar problems? Maybe you could get together and talk to him or go to the Dean.

Answer 2

There is nothing to complain about.
You don't even know what the grading scale is or you haven't posted it up.
What's an A, B, C, D or F?
If the prof grades on a curve and the average is 60, 73 might be a B. You don't have enough information and since you don't know how grades are calculated, there isn't much to be said here. You could be getting an A or an F or something in between.

There is a method to this madness and you have no idea what it is and so you are complaining about the unknown.

I have seen classes where everyone scores in the 90s but since 90 is average, thats a C. Nothing the students can do about it and its valid since the instructor outlined this in the beginning of the class in the syllabus. Make sure you know how the grading really works and put down all the information . Can't really tell you what a 73 is without telling us how the grades are calculated.

Answer 3

Could it be that he's just trying to make the math easy for himself and perhaps isn't doing a good job of explaining how it works? It sounds like he's just trying to make the values of all parts of your grades add up to 100 so he doesn't have to calculate an average. A lot of teachers use this trick.

So you have 3 tests, each worth 20, adding up to 60 total, with the other 40 points being maybe participation, homework, etc., the total points for the class adding up to 100. Then his method of simply subtracting what you missed on each thing would be perfectly valid, although he never should've given you the misleading impression that 13/20=93% rather than 65%. If, on the other hand, it's -7/100 because he's giving partial credit at 5 pts./question and you didn't actually miss 7 whole questions, his math is off.

Perhaps it would be best to ask him to explain his grading system better and, if possible, to have it in writing. If it still seems wrong, then you can try reasoning through the problem with him and, if he resists changing it, think about going higher up.

Answer 4

This is an odd method of grading, but unless this was not in the syllabus and you had no warning of it, you won't be able to change anything so that it benefits you. The only thing that could happen at this point could be that the dean could talk to him about changing it for the next time he teaches the course. Unfortunately, if this was explained in the syllabus, that first week was your chance to make a point of it. Now that the class is almost over, you do have to put up with it, because they won't change anything after the fact.

Answer 5

It depends on the rules of your college, but at mine, a professor can grade however he or she pleases. If that's the case at your college, you are **** out of luck. You could take a complaint to your dean, who also can't do anything about it, but it might make a difference later when they are reconsidering that professor's employment (if not yet tenyored). The best thing to do it tell other people so they don't have to put up with it. I know there are websites for my college where you can rate and complain about a professor. If enough people complain, no one will take the class, and the professor/dean will get the message.

Overall, I don't think there is much you can do to get your grade changed. Perhaps ask him if there is some extra credit you can do to bring up your grade.

Answer 6

Let's look at it another way. You missed 7+15+5=27 questions out of 60. That means you got 33 out of 60 right -- which is 55%. In many classes that is a failing gade. He is giving you extra points & letting you have a score of 73.

You shouldn't be complaining about him. You should be thanking him for not failing you.

Answer 7

your average is (93+85+95)/3=91.
u better go to your dean who happens to be the highest authority and explain ur problem.
Don't get disheartened.
all the best.