Importance of checking your grades

[SamanthaElizabeth]

Hello Everyone.

This may seem like a silly topic, but I feel sometimes we assume our professors or their TA's enter our grades properly every time. We are all human and make mistakes.

Example,

I completed my last lab exam for the Lab portion of Physiology recently. There are not many points to earn as we only have three exams (300 points total) and lab activity sheets (60 points total). I had a B in the class prior to the last exam. I was confident with myself for the final until I received an email from my professor stating she entered our grades in the grade book. I checked and was horrified. I read I was FAILING the class and had received a 16.0% on the exam. I knew this couldn't be correct, but I started to doubt myself and had a huge crying fit (this is my last pre-req along with Microbiology). I was going over every answer in my head wondering if I messed up and thought to myself "Wow, I cannot really be that much of an idiot...what if I am? What if I really messed up that badly?!". I am pretty sure I drove my mum and boyfriend crazy last night. I emailed/called my professor but she was not available. She did not physically hand us our exams back, so at this point I had no way of knowing my true score.

I then received a call at 7 am today. It was my professor. She was apologizing profusely over and over again. She said I still have a B ( our school doesn't grade based off B+ or B-, an 89% is still a B) in the class and she had no clue what had happened when she entered the grades. She said thank God I checked or she wouldn't have realized the mistake.

Now of course this is a drastic example of a mistake but even 1% difference in a received grade can make the difference between a letter grade. Always double check tests, work sheets, entered grades etc. Seems like common sense but I have been quite surprised at the amount of mistakes I've seen this semester as far as grading goes.

[Endowed]

Hello Everyone.

This may seem like a silly topic, but I feel sometimes we assume our professors or their TA's enter our grades properly every time. We are all human and make mistakes.

Example,

I completed my last lab exam for the Lab portion of Physiology recently. There are not many points to earn as we only have three exams (300 points total) and lab activity sheets (60 points total). I had a B in the class prior to the last exam. I was confident with myself for the final until I received an email from my professor stating she entered our grades in the grade book. I checked and was horrified. I read I was FAILING the class and had received a 16.0% on the exam. I knew this couldn't be correct, but I started to doubt myself and had a huge crying fit (this is my last pre-req along with Microbiology). I was going over every answer in my head wondering if I messed up and thought to myself "Wow, I cannot really be that much of an idiot...what if I am? What if I really messed up that badly?!". I am pretty sure I drove my mum and boyfriend crazy last night. I emailed/called my professor but she was not available. She did not physically hand us our exams back, so at this point I had no way of knowing my true score.

I then received a call at 7 am today. It was my professor. She was apologizing profusely over and over again. She said I still have a B ( our school doesn't grade based off B+ or B-, an 89% is still a B) in the class and she had no clue what had happened when she entered the grades. She said thank God I checked or she wouldn't have realized the mistake.

Now of course this is a drastic example of a mistake but even 1% difference in a received grade can make the difference between a letter grade. Always double check tests, work sheets, entered grades etc. Seems like common sense but I have been quite surprised at the amount of mistakes I've seen this semester as far as grading goes.

I do this all the time and it has always helped me. For instance, my English instructor will mistakenly remove points for answers that are right. He owed me about 2 points by the end of the class. He added these point to my overall score of 89 and that hiked my grades to an A. What if I kept quiet or felt he was sure of the grades? I would have ended up with a B.

My course mate/ friend laughs at me all the time because she's never seen someone who's so crazy about her grades. Lol.

If an instructor gives me 99 I will ask what I did wrong so as not to repeat the mistake and the instructor will tell me. This (I believe) makes them cautious when grading my papers coz they know I will definitely check my grades again and again to be sure there are no errors.

Every grade counts. If 89% is B and 90% is A then I have to recheck every grade from quizzes to exams. This is my policy.

I'm glad I'm not the only one doing this.

These instructors work so hard and might make unconscious mistakes with your grades.

Take it serious, but smile when doing it, and make them understand you not trying to teach them their job rather you just want to improve your ability in doing the right thing.

I'm glad you checked coz that was a huge mistake that would have probably made you retake the class. I applaud your intelligence and the trust you had in your performance coz a little doubt would have made you accept it.