This is about my summer school class that I just finished.
On the syllabus, the professor said that the midterm was worth 40%, the final exam 50% and the homework average 10%.
Well anyways, I made an 88 on the midterm. I think only 8 people got a grade higher than me- most of the class failed. On the final exam I made an 89. My homeworks were okay, but not great. Anyway, I end up making a B in the class, not a B+, just a B.
I wanted an A, but oh well I thought.
Now, this is what I am really MAD about
..........
A fellow classmate of mine made a 45 on the midterm, a 90 on the final exam, and her homework grades were very similar to mine. She ended up making a B- for the semester grade. To me, it is obvious that he curved her grade, and by the looks of other people, he curved theirs as well. I am upset because it seems as if though he didnt curve mine, where I could have maybe made an A with the same curve.
I was really upset and told him what I just typed. He replied and said.....
"Given the overall performance of the group your final exam is around top of
C+ -- bottom of B- . With your good performance on midterm but rather
average on the final I gave you B grade.
The person you are talking about got C on midterm and B- on final. But her
"PROGRESS" is relatively bigger. Therefore I put motre emphasis on the
final grade. I told in the class after the final that my approach will be
like this -- not mechanical application of the formula .4*Midterm+.5*Final=..."
I never heard him say that he was not going to use the mechanical application of the midterm being 40% and the final 50%.
I emailed him and told him that I didnt believe it was fair to give someone a B- when they made a 45 on the midterm, while I got high B's on both exams and made a B, which is only a few points away from the person that made a 45. He has yet to respond to that email.
Am I wasting my time arguing with him, should I take this to a higher level if he doesnt do anything?
I just dont think its fair..... I might have had a better chance if I had failed my midterm, and gotten an A on the final (which i almost did, i was one point away).
He says I got a C+ on the final, but it shows as an 89, which is where he might have curved, but even with everyone else's curved grade on the final, the semester average for other people doesnt add up to what he gave them.
Here is a link to the webpage, just click under "teaching" and then you can access the midterm and final exam grades.
http://www.uh.edu/~vvolosov/