Queso dip and tortilla chips to cure my blues.
I just took a math exam (the last regular one of the semester). OMFG, what the hell?! As one kid said when we finished, "Am I in the right room?" I am going to see if there are any options, as I KNOW I (at best) only pulled a D on this.
On a better note, I have some peep meeting in progress for next week. I think I'll be joining Bravie and Boo for dinner on Thursday. I have to work all day on Friday, so I'll miss out on some other peep meet opportunities. :-(
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
20 comments:
Math? Blech. Call Nutzy. She's good at math.
Have fun next week! That sounds like a great time.
I wanna gooooooooooooooooooooooo. *pout*
I should consult with Nutz on a prof talk strategy.
FWIW, I have a degree in mathematics. It was usually my experience that these exams get graded on some sort of curve, so if everybody else felt equally horrible about the exam then you really should not worry too much. I once scored 32/100 on a math exam. What grade did I earn with that score? B+
And yay, Michelle gets to meet two more of my friends. *hops* I'm so happy about that. It makes it much easier for future meets and stuff.
Thanks, HD, that made me feel a little better!
I like math and I used to think I was good at it... until I had to take calculus in college. Only D I've ever gotten in my life. It still haunts me. :(
I get to meet Boo first. And I've already met Carey. Twice. *sticks out tongue*
(totally jellus that I don't get to meet YOU)
We'll just say you are getting the short end of the stick, Jen. *grin*
See below for a common question.
It is not always easy to judge beforehand how hard the exam will be. If the exam was very hard, at least everybody took the same tough exam. I hope that the total of the four exam grades will give me a fair idea of how well you understand the material covered in this class.
There will not be extra credit available for anybody.
Best,
HP
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Professor HP,
After taking the exam this morning, I just felt horrible. Though I do understand you are trying to throw off the curve, I just don't see how that exam was fair. I studied and now I feel like it was a waste of my time. I did not do as well on the last exam as I would have liked, so I figured I could have done very well on this one. However, I do think you prepared us for it. Are you planning on offering extra credit?
Did you send that message to the professor?
No, HD, it was from another student. The prof forwarded it to everyone in the class with his response.
I forgot to preface my post with that. I'm having to retype a lot of my comments today...blogger is being dumb.
I am glad that you did not send it. That kind of whiny email will not endear anybody to the professor, especially not the part that practically says, "It's your fault that I did not do well on the exam and I wasted my time" as well as the expectation that this exam should have been easier just because the student didn't perform as well as s/he would have liked on the previous exam. And asking for extra credit is like saying to the professor, "Hey, would you like to create even more work for yourself because you don't have enough to do already?"
Part of testing what a student has learned is seeing how s/he applies it to new situations. I have taken many math exams where some of the problems did not look much like those on the practice sets previously assigned. I had to apply what I had learned to a new situation --- and the professor certainly realized this. Often I applied what I had learned correctly, but in the cases that I did not, the professor was still generous with the partial credit.
I imagine that you did not do as poorly on the exam as it seemed when you first left the room. From the email, it sounds like the professor intends to take all the exams into consideration when determining the final grade, recognizing that some of the exams are more indicative of material learned than others.
If I were you, I would not worry too much until you find out your actual grade. (I know that is easier said than done.) You will probably be surprised to discover that you did better than you thought. If not, approaching the professor with specific questions after the exam has been returned is a much better way to handle the situation than the pre-emptive whining in that email.
I feel it was a little unfair to only teach examples written in one way and then have the exam be the first time we've seen it in another way.
When the class is only graded on three exams and a final (no points for homework or attendance), one bad exam can ruin your credit for the class.
This is a mixed level class of over 200 students (it's the last class in the math sequence where you really see non-math majors and math-majors in one room). If a prof wants to test my knowledge of applying concepts to differently written questions, I think quizzes is a good way to gauge that. Something of less consequence than an exam. Not to mention, this prof is the same person that thinks we need to move faster through the syllabus and keeps adding extra chapters on. In math, four chapters of concepts on one one-hour exam gets a little overwhelming.
Sorry, had to get my frustrated thoughts out.
I understand your frustrations, Kim.
I'm not trying to frustrate you any more, but what I was trying to express is that the professor will likely take into consideration that the class is seeing problems set forth in a new way and be more lenient on the grading as a result. That is one way of correcting for the "fairness" that didn't seem to be there in writing the exam. (Personally, I don't think that *every* question should have looked foreign. That's something that should only be done with one or two questions to distinguish the best students.)
I just wanted you to know from somebody who is on the other side of the desk that we do take all of your frustrations into consideration. It sounds like the exam was difficult for everybody. That will likely be taken into consideration. Professors find ways to correct for these things behind the scenes.
FWIW, I don't think the professor should have forwarded that email message. It would have been sufficient to send out a message saying, "Some students have asked about extra credit options. I do not offer extra credit." I would never forward a private communication from another student, not even if I removed the name first.
I know you are only offering me the flip side, and I do appreciate it. FWIW, I do think he's a pretty fair minded prof. I think he just wrote a poor exam this time, or misjudged the general level of understanding in the class. He seems to be taking that into consideration, I just wish there would be some extra credit related to the problems. I WANT to understand them and fear we won't spend much time reflecting on that and have an opportunity to show e finally get it. IMHO, THAT should be done in all classroom situations. I understand a syllabus is more or less a committment to get through certain things, though and time might not permit us re-learning a chapter or two.
I bet the prof forwarded that e-mail just so he/she didn't get 100 other ones just like it.
There's no way in heck I'd offer extra credit in a class of 200 students. Like HD said, that's just creating an enormous amount of extra work for me.
I know other profs do things differently, like grade on a curve, so he/she may very well do that. For me, I have policies that I do not grade on a curve, I never allow make-ups and I rarely give extra credit. I already have more than enough work to do.
If I had a class of 200 students, I may very well only have a mid-term and a final (as an old prof of mine did in my grad school Set Theory class). That was our grade.
I should add, though... I do not give questions that they have never seen before, nor do I give questions worded so completely differently that they are baffled. If they have attended class and done all of the homework, that should be plenty of preparation.
Interesting discussion.
Post a Comment