If half the class failed the course, who's to blame?

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I took a mandatory business administration writing intensive class last summer, and it was the first time they offered it in the summer. I was told that it was going to be extremely demanding, and that if english wasn't you're first language, don't even consider taking it in the summer. Apparently, they told us that the average failure rate for this class during the regular semester was 20%.

Fast forward to the end, apparently 40-45% of the students who took this course in the summer FAILED. That's right, half the class. I'm assuming it's because of the "PASS/FAIL" exam that we took at the end, which basically meant that if you didn't pass that exam, you would fail the class regardless of your current grade. I had an 89% up till that point, then once I the Mastery Exam came, my grade dropped down to a D.

We prepped for weeks for this Mastery Exam. My professor even told me that I was doing great on my practice exams, and that if I wrote like that on the Mastery Exam, I would guarantee to pass. I DID JUST THAT, AND I FAILED.

Now I have to shell out another $2,000 to retake this course again and put me another step behind finishing my bachelors. When I saw that it wasn't offered for this summer, I asked why, and the administrator said the failure rate was too high the last time. But part of me feels that this isn't fair, because I felt as if they treated us as the "experimental" class since we were the first to take in the summer session.

Plus, the professor provided no feedback whatsoever on the Mastery Exam, so how do I know what I did wrong so I won't repeat the same mistakes again?

Can I run this by the department or something? I hate seeing a big ugly D on my transcript :(

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Complain to the dead or associate dean of the liberal arts department.

Make sure to check RateMyProfessor.com before taking any class. Most bad teachers are exposed on there.

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Complain to the dead or associate dean of the liberal arts department.

Make sure to check RateMyProfessor.com before taking any class. Most bad teachers are exposed on there.

Would a complaint do anything though? I do want to file a formal complaint, but I don't want to come off as "whiny" or anything.

I'm usually never the person to point the finger at someone else for my own "failure", I always hold personal responsibility for all my actions. But I never failed a single course in my life, and I was actually performing well for the majority of the class. But then just to walk out without knowing the REASON for my D in the class just makes me feel so unsettled :/

And my professor wasn't bad, he was alright. He actually had no control over grading of the mastery exam. There was a third party writing board that did all that.

I was just upset how he kept telling me my practice exams were good, and yet, I did just that and received a failing grade..

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Specializes in Oncology, Critical Care.

It actually sounds pretty fair to me. Many classes over the summer are compacted classes, pusting 14 weeks of material into maybe 4 weeks. I'm sure you can file a complaint but the professor, department, and anyone else will agree, it was a higher fail rate because of the classes demands.

Id say file the complaint, but don't be too upset if it does come back with them saying they can't/wont do anything because of it's requirements.

Also, if this is last summer, pretty sure your about 7 months too late to do anything. Were now talking almost 10-11 months since you took the course, they wont retroactively go back and change grades or offer the class for free.

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It actually sounds pretty fair to me. Many classes over the summer are compacted classes, pusting 14 weeks of material into maybe 4 weeks. I'm sure you can file a complaint but the professor, department, and anyone else will agree, it was a higher fail rate because of the classes demands.

Id say file the complaint, but don't be too upset if it does come back with them saying they can't/wont do anything because of it's requirements.

Also, if this is last summer, pretty sure your about 7 months too late to do anything. Were now talking almost 10-11 months since you took the course, they wont retroactively go back and change grades or offer the class for free.

I agree that it is the students' fault. Just because half the class failed, it doesn't mean that the professor did anything wrong. Summer classes are very hard and demanding and unfortunately not everyone realizes this and is prepared to take it as seriously as they should. It sucks but I would just say move on and accept it, and don't do any more summer classes.

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I think as long as you really feel you gave 100%, you have the right to complain. Only because your professor job is to facilitate student learning, and he clearly did quite send you in the "write" direction. Sorry, couldn't help myself.

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Fast forward to the end, apparently 40-45% of the students who took this course in the summer FAILED. That's right, half the class.

You may want to brush up on your math skills too.

Sorry, couldn't help it, good luck in the next class.

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I would say complain if you feel the need to do so. But I don't know how helpful it will be considering it was a course you took almost a year ago.

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You may want to brush up on your math skills too.

Sorry, couldn't help it, good luck in the next class.

Saying that 45% of the class is about half isn't really off.. No need to nitpick at everything.

But anyways, yeah, I figure I'm just gonna let it go. No use in complaining since it has been awhile. The only reason I brought it up now is because I was just recently informed of the failure rate of the class. I wasn't aware of it back then. If I had knew it was this high back then, I would've spoke with someone.

Thanks guys.

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Specializes in Oncology, Critical Care.

Reader wasn't nitpicking, Just with Nursing you need to be precise, or it can lead to unwanted effects.

And it's better to just let it go at this point, next time I would suggest you have said something when it first happened.

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Specializes in Psych/Mental Health.

geez....40-45% is close to half the class and it's okay to say half the class in the context of an informal discussion forum.

That kind of failure rate for a "business admin" writing course seems very out of the ordinary to me. When I hear "half the class fails" I think of classes like organic chemistry or other upper-level science/math courses, not business admin writing.

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