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View Full Version : Has anyone ever asked their professor to raise their grade?



Ctystar
04-23-2013, 12:00 AM
I need at least an 80% (bare minimum) to be competitive in trying to get into the business program at MRU.
I am sitting at 78.3% and got 80% on my research paper and final as well. That only boosted my mark up 2% unfortunately. Has anyone been successful trying to raise their letter grade after the course is completed?
I just got my marks today..

Marsh
04-23-2013, 12:21 AM
Yeah I did it all the time, as long as the next letter grade was reasonably close (1-2%). Never had a prof say no, just be polite about it.

EK69
04-23-2013, 12:29 AM
I am gonna guess a prof will tell u to fuck off??
I dunno. Good topic of discussion tho. I wonder if this happens more often than one would think lol

And if it did work for anyone what exactly did u say?
Just straight up ask for a boost in the grade?? Lol

jsn
04-23-2013, 12:50 AM
I did in first year. They don't have much sympathy at all. One of my courses, I was 1.5 % away from not having to retake the course and the prof pretty much just said tough luck. I was an idiot first year but I learned my lesson and quit slacking off.

Doesn't hurt to try, but I doubt they'll do anything. They're not going to boost your mark for no reason at all. The curve is set up so everyone's only a few percent off of the next grade.

ReflexFX
04-23-2013, 12:53 AM
I was something like 0.16% off from an A in a control systems course, and my prof wouldn't give it to me. I had to get a copy of my final and dig for a mark to get my A.

ExtraSlow
04-23-2013, 05:52 AM
Only time I tried this I got my mark lowered. I did not try this again.

ntegra98rs
04-23-2013, 06:23 AM
Really depends on the prof..

topmade
04-23-2013, 06:49 AM
Not sure what school Marsh went to but the answer is usually a big fat NO. It doesn't hurt to ask and if I were you I would look over some tests, quizes or anything else you might be able to get a few extra marks for and bring it up when you talk to your prof.

lasimmon
04-23-2013, 07:50 AM
Used to do it at the U of A all the time. Small amounts like 1-4% I never had any issues.

Just gotta know how the prof is. All mine were ok with it.

turbotrip
04-23-2013, 09:16 AM
i was unsuccessful every time i ever tried in my university career- but did see many people who were successful

Tik-Tok
04-23-2013, 09:28 AM
"Bring a bottle of fine scotch when you ask."

One of my teachers literally said this to the class on day one, lol. It was his last year of teaching, so he didn't give a shit.

D'z Nutz
04-23-2013, 11:39 AM
I was a bare minimum student so asking a professor to raise my grade from like a C- to a C would have required more than bare minimum effort and really grasping at straws :rofl:

Although I did ask a professor to bump my mark in one class. I was literally one multiple choice question away from an A- to an A (0.5% of the final grade). He said no when I asked but when I got my final mark I saw he bumped it. It was going to be my first and only A, so why not try? Haha

leftwing
04-23-2013, 07:17 PM
I definitely was successful in getting my grades raised sometimes, and not successful other times. It depends on the professor. I would suggest asking your prof if you could complete and extra credit assignment to bump your grade up the 1-2%. Sounds dumb, but maybe suggest writing a 1-2 page paper on what you learned in the class/what you took away from the class. Explain why you want your grade raised, as it is a fairly valid reason. I did that a few times to bump myself from a B+ to an A-. There is no risk in asking, worst case they will say no and you will never hear about it again. But if they say yes...well.....

edit: out of curiosity, what class/prof is this?

magicalpoop
04-23-2013, 08:14 PM
Never successful in any "en mass" class that's a general degree requirement.

Have had tons of success in 4th year courses or options. Proff that teaches that class once every 2 years? Easy. The proff/instructor that coordinates/manages that class and oversees it on a semester basis with 5-10 sections? ROFL don't even bother.

You're better off simply forging a difference on an assignment or reviewing all your multiple choice exams (if it comes to it, change an answer in front of them)

Yes that's gutsy, but better than trying to be the 100th person to bribe/neg a proff.

HiTempguy1
04-23-2013, 11:15 PM
I had one class that the whole term was a written report and oral presentation. I did fairly well, but the whole thing was poorly run by the teacher and the requirements of the topic were quite nebulous. I got a 78% (I was running 4.0's in all classes for my diploma), and I just nicely asked him if it would be possible to get up to an 80%. It's not like I didn't bust ass on the project, it was simply an arbitrary call on his part that he didn't like my topic as much as others. I pointed out to him that I clearly took my academics seriously (unlike 85%+ of the students there), and was willing to do whatever it took to get that 80%. Part of the agreement required a small rewrite (of my own) that had to satisfy him that the report was adequate for an 80%. I took his suggestions, nailed it, and we were good to go.

Long story short, it really depends :dunno:

Ctystar
04-24-2013, 02:29 AM
Thanks for all your guys opinion. I will definately ask my prof soon. Has anyone been succesful with doing it through email?

And this is for my sociology 1101 at mru with Caroline Macdonald.

turbotrip
04-24-2013, 10:09 AM
DO NOT DO IT THROUGH EMAIL!

403ep3
04-24-2013, 11:00 AM
Originally posted by turbotrip
DO NOT DO IT THROUGH EMAIL!

I've asked through emails before and have gotten it. I only really asked when I was within 1% of the next letter grade. Some just automatically bumped the whole class up if they were close enough :poosie:

XylathaneGTR
04-24-2013, 11:14 AM
I asked a professor to do it once, though email.

I was ~.5% or something from a grade cutoff. I went through all of my returned assignments and exams for the course and found one mark that I was deducted on a kinda-sorta technicality (it waas something about how I modeled or programmed something...it wasn't conventional so the TA deducted a mark even though everything still worked and was correct).

If this mark was added back, it would put me above the cutoff.

In short, I approached the professor with something reasoned and well thought out, justified my case and found the mark for him, all he had to do was make one edit. I was honest, and said that I felt I should have made that grade cutoff.

He agreed and gave it to me.

Good luck. If you go in and just expect a handout...you probably won't get it. If you argue your case and show the prof the proove about why you deserve the credit, they may give it to you.

flipstah
04-24-2013, 12:01 PM
Various through profs but I'll always remember one:

I asked one STAT prof to move me up from C- to C and I was off by 0.9% and all I got was a lesson of how making things askewed for one person is unjust and how by moving me up a spot, she has to recalculate to make the distribution fair.

She shot me down but she did it in such a nice way.

She'll always make me laugh by was saying 'Poisson' funny. :thumbsup:

bjstare
04-24-2013, 12:48 PM
I have a cousin that went to UVic the same time I did and he graduated with nearly an A+ average in his undergrad. This happened because he's a genius, but also because he argued probably one of every 4 or 5 marks he got. He went as far as talking to the deans of some of the departments when the prof wouldn't give him the results, and was very successful. (funny thing, he's in law school now...)

One thing that probably won't work is just asking for it. Bring in some assignments/reports/whatever and find extra marks in them. Don't make it subjective for the prof - make it obvious that you deserve the extra marks. Build yourself a solid case for why you deserve it - if you can't do that, don't expect to get extra marks for no reason. And ask by email? You don't have the time to head to school for 1/2 hour?

gyu
04-24-2013, 12:48 PM
Originally posted by turbotrip
DO NOT DO IT THROUGH EMAIL!
I've only tried a few times before but the one time that I was successful, it was through e-mail haha.

gatorade
04-26-2013, 02:13 AM
I emailed my prof once through email, and articulated my case well and asked for a meeting. Turned a class that I was about to withdraw from, as my mark was a 53, to a 85 and finished with an A-.

As long as you state your case well and illustrated yourself as a hard-working student throughout the term, most profs will consider it. But attempting to do this after the course was completed rather than earlier is going to make it much harder.