universities, exams, profs...they're all ghey!

[g222leav]

that's all i have to say right now about that. so i get to school and i get back my ecology exam. and do you know what i get? a freaking 77 (out of possible 110). considering that this is college and there's curves and stuff, i should be ok. BUT, here's the problem, the exam consisted of 7 questions, 2 long essays, and 5 short answers. we were supposed to answer 1 long and 3 shorts for our grade. but stupid me answered all the questions and didn't mark which ones i wanted to be graded. so they took the first long, and the first 3 shorts. that ended up in a 77. if they took the shorts taht i wanted, i'd have a 110. that totally pisses me off. damnit.

that 110 would have put me at 91% i'm so made. had the prof clearly stated what he wanted i'd be all set. now cause of this technicallity, i'm pissed...argh, see for your self.

[Memo]

First of all, it's spelled "gay" Have you tried to talk to your professor man? Or at least the TA if you have one. I know it's a minor technicallity but MAN, they can see you did the work.

[g222leav]

first of all, i'm in college, who the hell can spell huh? that's what MS spellchecker is for. but i spelled it that way to appease the GAM.

oh yea, i did talk to the prof. here's his solution (one that i don't like very much, i'd much rather just take the damn points)...

1) i must do better/show improvemnt on the next exam, and again on the final.

2) talk with the prof again, after the final

3) if: my grade at that time is borderline between two grades, and the points from the first exam would help, then i "might" get those points.

either way, it's GHEY, GHEY GHEY GHEY GHEY...

[welfareloser]

only a buttmunch would not automatically score your best ones. what an ass.

[topane]

Maybe they docked points for "inability to follow directions"

[welfareloser]

Originally posted by topane
Maybe they docked points for "inability to follow directions"

that's still a pooper. the prof's whole deal with "i might still give you a good grade if you come talk to me after the exams, and after the final" just means "kiss my butt a lot because i have a phd in ecology which is not really a science so i have a big ego and a very small..." yeah.

[Burzhui]

Originally posted by welfareloser
only a buttmunch would not automatically score your best ones. what an ass.

Nope they always take the first ones if you don't mark which ones you want marked

[welfareloser]

Originally posted by Burzhui



Nope they always take the first ones if you don't mark which ones you want marked

i have had some that don't.

[attgig]

naw.....if the directions were given, you can't say....after i'm done, can u just pick the best scores....
that's not cool...

the only thing that may be somewhat cool is if you take all the points, add it up to whatever it adds up to, and scale it down to 110 points... (if the total would've been 200, then, use your math skillz and make it out of 110).

[g222leav]

well, if it's docked points for the inability to follow directions, a majority of the class is suffering as well. just about 1/2 the class stayed and complained to the guy after class yesterday. i'll admit that i perused through the directions, and to me it had said answer all questions using complete sentences, diagrams, and charts. had he actually told the class what was up, things would be ok. it was part my fault, part his fault....either way, i'd much rather have the damn points. instead of having to work harder.

[Memo]

I know it sounds mean, and it is, it's pure BS that he didn't choose your best ones. But the only way you have a chance of getting a better score is talking to him. So you gotta do what you gotta do

[Grimm]

Did you ask him if he would give you an average of the questions that you answered?

If he failed to give adequate instructions on what to do it is his fault.
If he isn't reasonable, do what I do. Hide the body real well and tell the replacement he has said he would do that.

[g222leav]

i still have a whole semster left to do that

[Anck Su Namun]

I got an 88 on my statistics exam...made 2 really dumb mistakes that cost me 5%...could have had a 93%

[pennypinch]

See, this is what's wrong with education. I'll admit it, I played the game.

It's far more about "learning the rules" or "following directions" than what you know. I mean, this was supposed to be an examination of the accumulated knowledge in the field of study. Clearly, you know what you were doing on at least SOME of the exam. That's just a dick move.

I'll concede that, largely, once you get out of college, following the rules is more important than what you know (often). Maybe that's what you're supposed to learn?

[ArkiStan]

Well in this case the only way one could get a perfect 110 score would be to know your books AND know the rules. Not having a good knowledge of both would have gotten you maybe something like a, I don't know, 77? I don't want to be mean. I've been there too many times myself. But the directions were clearly on the exam. Good luck talking to the prof, but professors are usually too freakin assholic and caloused to students' excuses so I would guess that you're probably gonna have to live with this mistake. It's true that sometimes it seems wrong that we're only learning the rules rather than the substance, but like Penny said, sadly, maybe that's what we really need in this world. At least I've learned to deal with that tiny almost inexistent "No Refund" sign I missed behind the counter and give up sometimes.

[welfareloser]

Originally posted by ucbstan
But the directions were clearly on the exam.

i agree with youe xcept for maybe that part... are you sure they were clearly on the exam? i would like to see a copy of the instructions. the fact that half the class was confused sounds a mite bit fishy to me.

[pennypinch]

Originally posted by ucbstan
Well in this case the only way one could get a perfect 110 score would be to know your books AND know the rules. Not having a good knowledge of both would have gotten you maybe something like a, I don't know, 77? I don't want to be mean. I've been there too many times myself. But the directions were clearly on the exam. Good luck talking to the prof, but professors are usually too freakin assholic and caloused to students' excuses so I would guess that you're probably gonna have to live with this mistake. It's true that sometimes it seems wrong that we're only learning the rules rather than the substance, but like Penny said, sadly, maybe that's what we really need in this world. At least I've learned to deal with that tiny almost inexistent "No Refund" sign I missed behind the counter and give up sometimes.

The product of the UC system, or frankly, any large school. How you guys did it is beyond me. I think the biggest class when I was in school was 27 people.

[attgig]

Originally posted by pennypinch
It's far more about "learning the rules" or "following directions" than what you know. I mean, this was supposed to be an examination of the accumulated knowledge in the field of study. Clearly, you know what you were doing on at least SOME of the exam. That's just a dick move.

And you're saying the 'real world' is different???
people get jobs by shmoozing, not rambling off on how well they did at school (it obviously helps, but still).
and i think it's even more so with going up the ladder..

the rules: kiss butt...
following directions is becoming servile.
same thing in corporate life....sorry 2 dissappoint
go start your own business and you won't have to worry about that...but u will have to worry about $$...

[pennypinch]

Originally posted by att gig


And you're saying the 'real world' is different???
people get jobs by shmoozing, not rambling off on how well they did at school (it obviously helps, but still).
and i think it's even more so with going up the ladder..

the rules: kiss butt...
following directions is becoming servile.
same thing in corporate life....sorry 2 dissappoint
go start your own business and you won't have to worry about that...but u will have to worry about $$...

Here's where I see the difference:

For the vast majority of us, we'd probably do better by being better at following directions than knowing a lot. Being a good employee, you risk less, you probably have a better chance of living indoors and eating pretty regularly, etc.

The only way it starts to become a suckers bet is if you REALLY know your shizzy. And I mean be one of the top people in your respective field, be it the hardware store guy in a small town or a visionary that starts the next wave.

You're right, att gig, those should be the rules. For most people, anyway.

[BrewMaster]

I would say just pester the crap out of the prof with emails and visits to his office. He might get sick of you and just regrade the exam. I think it's pretty lame he won't regrade over a simple error like that.

If pestering doesn't work just sock him in the face.

[poiselle]

DON'T pester the professor. You will not get ahead pissing off the professor. Look at it this way, if he gives you the points why wouldn't more people do the same thing on purpose. If you were not sure how you are going to do on the exam you could just answer all of the questions and see how you did on all of them and then ask for the ones with right answers to count. I don't think this is what you did, but stuff like this happens. Professors don't always like making exceptions because it opens the door for more exceptions. It sucks, but I bet you will look very carefully on the next exam.

[pennypinch]

Originally posted by poiselle
DON'T pester the professor. You will not get ahead pissing off the professor. Look at it this way, if he gives you the points why wouldn't more people do the same thing on purpose. If you were not sure how you are going to do on the exam you could just answer all of the questions and see how you did on all of them and then ask for the ones with right answers to count. I don't think this is what you did, but stuff like this happens. Professors don't always like making exceptions because it opens the door for more exceptions. It sucks, but I bet you will look very carefully on the next exam.

Ah ha! I was waiting for the academic to respond.

Here's the thing: if you're going to give a choice, then clearly you don't care if nor expect the student to know every scrap of minutae about the course. Therefore, why not grade their level of completeness (i.e., how much of, say, 80% of the exam they were able to do.)

For instance, let's say there are 20 questions, you ask to have 10 answered. I'm able to get 50% right on 10 of them. That means I know 25% of the material, assuming you've written a fair and thorough test (not a standard assumption). By playing these ridiculous grading games, you've effectively ignored or misrepresented (to you the grader, I suppose) how much I know about this course and the associated material.

I'm just saying, if professors are all hot and bothered about making academia a meritocracy, why not make it all about content? If not, then they should just go by the law of the jungle and make it like the real world.

[poiselle]

Originally posted by pennypinch


Ah ha! I was waiting for the academic to respond.

Here's the thing: if you're going to give a choice, then clearly you don't care if nor expect the student to know every scrap of minutae about the course. Therefore, why not grade their level of completeness (i.e., how much of, say, 80% of the exam they were able to do.)

For instance, let's say there are 20 questions, you ask to have 10 answered. I'm able to get 50% right on 10 of them. That means I know 25% of the material, assuming you've written a fair and thorough test (not a standard assumption). By playing these ridiculous grading games, you've effectively ignored or misrepresented (to you the grader, I suppose) how much I know about this course and the associated material.

I'm just saying, if professors are all hot and bothered about making academia a meritocracy, why not make it all about content? If not, then they should just go by the law of the jungle and make it like the real world.

I don't much care for exams where you pick and choose which problems you will answer, but that professor does and I am just a worthless grad student so he matters. If you answered all 20 of the questions and only got 50% of them right your grade would be the same. The idea of choosing which problems to answer gives the student the opportunity to demonstrate his/her understanding of the material. No exam covers every aspect of the course and since this was an essay exam it allows the student to go into detail about what they understand best. I guess the assumption is that the questions are all on the same general level so if you answer one you could probably answer the other one as well.

It sucks when you lose points for something stupid that the professor does not make clear. I handed back 200+ exams where many students did not understand the question and lost points. Unfortunately, school is not a democracy and I can't give the kids points if I wanted to. Just do well on the next exam.

[g222leav]

well, the questions were not hard, in fact the ones where i lost points were due to stupid mistakes (as always). but a day has passed, and life goes on. i'll live...thanx for the support all. a new aspect/view is always nice.