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Academia Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [grades]

Queries related to interpreting grades or understanding grading systems. This tag is not suitable for queries about improving grades or about the process of assigning a grade to an assessment item.

This tag concerns questions about grading systems and grades. Typical examples include comparisons between systems in different countries or understanding the significance of a particular grade. Questions about the process of assigning grades (or, from the student's side, having an assigned grade reconsidered) should use the tag instead. Questions about improving grades (e.g., by studying) should use the appropriate tag (usually ).

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How important are my grades to the rest of my PhD career?

Speaking to the faculty in my program, I've noticed that they seem to evaluate themselves and others using two criterion: (1) publication quality and quantity, and (2) ability to obtain grant money. No one discusses grades or performance in graduate…
eykanal
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Should I notify the teacher that he accidentally gave out the answers to an assignment?

For one of my class projects, the teacher coded the entire solution, then took out a few sections that we are supposed to complete for our assignment. This incomplete code was distributed to the class as a starting point. When he was writing the…
lemondandy
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Are course grade distributions supposed to be bell shaped?

I just got done teaching my first course, and my grades are heavily skewed: I consider my assessments to be fair and have had them vetted by more experienced faculty. Also, the course averages are usually high in this course (mine was 83.5 or so).…
Michael Stachowsky
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Can game theory explain grade inflation?

According to wikipedia, grade inflation is the tendency of academic grades for work of comparable quality to increase over time. That article also includes plenty of evidence for the phenomenon and lists some potential causes. Has this issue been…
Tal Fishman
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What do I do if a teacher fails me after they said I'd pass?

I just failed a university-level course that the instructor assured me I was passing. We've discussed my grade in emails but we continue to disagree on how it should be calculated and even on what assignments should count. (The instructor did not…
Tony Gallagher
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Non competitive grading system

I go to school at a University in the US. We use a competitive grading system where teachers give grades based on how you do relative to other students. This type of grading system doesn't encourage students to work together or help each other…
user522
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Mistakenly passing a student

I miscalculated the mark of one of my students and mistakenly notified him that he passed the class. However, I noticed my mistake after some hours and fixed it, thereby resulting in him failing the class. Obviously, the student is very upset now.…
user37336
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Can students ask for changing grades?

If a student feels that the grade he received is lower than he expected, because he has been working very hard, and truly trying to understand things, but sometimes at the cost of sacrificing details. But the instructor might think differently, as…
Tim
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Can an unsuccessful grade appeal hurt an academic career?

Background: After an academic dismissal from an undergraduate program, I have been working towards improving my GPA (as well as my own academic habits) at a community college, in hopes that after receiving an associates degree, I can move forward…
Shmoo
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Unsatisfactory grades for unsatisfactory reasons

I am currently doing Algebra in a college in India. The professor asks students to note down solved examples in class, and then poses the very same questions in the tests. I don't go to class for these very reasons. Hence, I end up writing…
Ayush
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What does B?+ mean as a grade?

I have been wanting to know the answer to this for a very long time but have come up against none. Looking at my undergrad results from a few years ago, one of the assignment marks is down as B?+. What exactly does this mean? Is it somewhere between…
C26
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How should I speak to a professor about extra credit that dropped my grade?

Out of kindness, my professor gave me and one other student extra credit for volunteering at an event. The issue is that the “extra credit” actually dropped my grade. Instead of giving a 15/15 he gave us 10/15. That's a D: 66.666 It dropped my grade…
SallyQ
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Taking suggestions for grading rubric for multiple answers test

We're being encouraged to use multiple answer tests at my school. In case you're not familiar with the concept, each question may have multiple correct answers; students are encouraged to mark all valid answers. There's at least one correct each…
A.Ellett
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How do you avoid favoritism and personal relationships from affecting grading?

Universities do encourage close cooperation between students and faculty. However, how does one prevent close working or personal relationships from affecting grading, so that it can be carried out fairly and uniformly? Is there a method of avoiding…
Tomtkj
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I feel that my professor didn't notice a mistake I made on an assignment. Should I have informed the professor of my mistake?

This morning, I took my third math quiz of the semester. On the last question, I had solved the presented problem but had not written out the answer according to the directions before time was called, so I simply circled the answer that I did…
moonman239
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