"Dropped" Grades

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bbas

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In my calc course this semester, the professor drops the lowest quiz grade at the end of the term. We got our final grades today and as it turns out, my dropped quiz grade actually lowered my course grade by an entire letter. If my lowest quiz grade was included, I would have gotten a B. But after he dropped it, my grade was a C! Shouldn't we have the right to keep all of our grades if it works in our favor? After all, the point of dropping the lowest quiz in the first place is to help our grade.

I'm planning on emailing the professor and fighting this, but I just wanted to see what you guys thought.

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bbas said:
In my calc course this semester, the professor drops the lowest quiz grade at the end of the term. We got our final grades today and as it turns out, my dropped quiz grade actually lowered my course grade by an entire letter. If my lowest quiz grade was included, I would have gotten a B. But after he dropped it, my grade was a C! Shouldn't we have the right to keep all of our grades if it works in our favor? After all, the point of dropping the lowest quiz in the first place is to help our grade.

I'm planning on emailing the professor and fighting this, but I just wanted to see what you guys thought.

No harm in asking! You're right though, it is meant to help you so maybe you should mention that.
 
bbas said:
In my calc course this semester, the professor drops the lowest quiz grade at the end of the term. We got our final grades today and as it turns out, my dropped quiz grade actually lowered my course grade by an entire letter. If my lowest quiz grade was included, I would have gotten a B. But after he dropped it, my grade was a C! Shouldn't we have the right to keep all of our grades if it works in our favor? After all, the point of dropping the lowest quiz in the first place is to help our grade.

I'm planning on emailing the professor and fighting this, but I just wanted to see what you guys thought.

Um, that really doesn't make sense mathmatically. How can dropping a low grade not improve your average???
 
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gossmer said:
Um, that really doesn't make sense mathmatically. How can dropping a low grade not improve your average???

I'm having trouble seeing this as well. Unless this is a situation like quizes count make 25% of the total, there are 5 quizzes, drop the lowest and the remaining 4 count 5% each. But in this case I don't think one should expect a quiz to not be dropped so that quizzes count as more of the total picture . . . just me theorizing tho . . .
 
gossmer said:
Um, that really doesn't make sense mathmatically. How can dropping a low grade not improve your average???

It was sort of a weird situation. An 80 average was a C+, and anything above this (81 and above) was a B. I did bad on the final exam, so my final average ended up being an 80.4. If the 44/50 quiz grade that was dropped was added in, I would have ended up with an 81 and hence gotten a B in the course.
 
gossmer said:
Um, that really doesn't make sense mathmatically. How can dropping a low grade not improve your average???
Agreed, if lowest grade is dropped then your average can go up or stay the same, but how can it go down?
 
bbas said:
In my calc course this semester, the professor drops the lowest quiz grade at the end of the term. We got our final grades today and as it turns out, my dropped quiz grade actually lowered my course grade by an entire letter. If my lowest quiz grade was included, I would have gotten a B. But after he dropped it, my grade was a C! Shouldn't we have the right to keep all of our grades if it works in our favor? After all, the point of dropping the lowest quiz in the first place is to help our grade.

I'm planning on emailing the professor and fighting this, but I just wanted to see what you guys thought.


How can dropping your lowest quiz grade possibly lower your overall score? What am I missing here? Definately ask him about that, because it sounds more like a book-keeping mistake than anything.
 
bbas said:
It was sort of a weird situation. An 80 average was a C+, and anything above this (81 and above) was a B. I did bad on the final exam, so my final average ended up being an 80.4. If the 44/50 quiz grade was added in, I would have ended up with an 81 and hence gotten a B in the course.
So what got dropped then? Sorry, can you elaborate on the grading and the exams, like what percent exams..how many...what percent is final...how many quizzes and what percent etc..maybe then we can see whats going on :confused:
 
DesiMcatAcer said:
So what got dropped then? Sorry, can you elaborate on the grading and the exams, maybe then we can see whats going on :confused:

OK, there was a possible 600 points for the semester. Three 100 point exams, one 150 point final, and three 50 point quizzes. After the dropped quiz, the new total points for the course was 550. My total points ended up being 442/550 = 80.3%. However, if that dropped 50 point quiz was added in, my total score would have been 486/600 = 81%. Since I got 45/50 on all three quizzes, that third 45/50 would have brought up my average.
 
bbas said:
OK, there was a possible 600 points for the semester. Three 100 point exams, one 150 point final, and three 50 point quizzes. After the dropped quiz, the new total points for the course was 550. My total points ended up being 442/550 = 80.3%. However, if that dropped 50 point quiz was added in, my total score would have been 486/600 = 81%. Since I got 45/50 on all three quizzes, that third 45/50 would have brought up my average.
Oh, I see, so this is what DaKota was saying because each quiz ends up counting more...definitely email the prof. letting him/her know what happened. Worst case you stay where you are...best case you get a B :)..good luck!
 
I doubt if he'll change this. The curving of the quizes isn't what hurt you, it's just that you don't have as many total points in this section, which I assume was planned all along. If this was a recent idea, then you can argue it as the syllabus is the ultimate determination.

On the other hand, you might be able to just go talk to the professor and kindly ask if he'll bump you up, let him know you worked hard, etc, (just PLEASE don't sound whiney!!!).
 
It can't hurt to ask, but it sounds like you're asking for the quizzes to count as a higher percentage of your grade than the professor intended (like austinap suggested). I'm sure if he wanted the quizes to be 25% instead of less than 20%, he would have made it that way to begin with. But, you know, you can always ask if that's what you want to do.
 
Well, he changed the grade. I guess the moral of this story is it never hurts to ask.
 
bbas said:
Well, he changed the grade. I guess the morale of this story is it never hurts to ask.

Nice work.
 
Guys, if the dropped grade is higher than the overall grade, dropping it lowers your average. It's quite possible. The overall grade was dragged down by a bad test, but the dropped grade would have buffered the fall.
 
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