Issues with my general chemistry teacher

[ArcGurren]

Yay for selective quoting!

Did you not bother to read the second half of my sentence? I said that I saw myself being unhappy working 50 hours a week pushing papers and arguing meaningless crap all day. If I'm working 50 hours+ a week doing something i enjoy, then obviously the time spent working will be far more pleasurable.

And I have actually already taken the GMAT - 5 years ago and did well on it. My score wasn't AMAZING, but still decent. I took it because I was still deciding between business school and law school. Pretty sure I'd need to take it again though because I doubt the score will still be good in 6 years.

.... You do realize being a doctor is going to be equally routine right? No matter what field you're in you're going to be doing essentially the same thing every single day. You have endless amounts of paperwork in this profession as well which sucks even if you absolutely love your job (I don't know of any doctor who enjoys reading dozens of labs and referrals every single day).

I sincerely hope that's not the reason you switched out of law, mate. The average doctor works something like 60+ hours a week and how much you get paid is largely dependent upon how many patients you see and what ICDs you diagnose. Your stress level is only gonna skyrocket... just in advance I would avoid getting stressed about s*&t like whether other people took a makeup exam or whether you got 1 question back on a test or whatever because you're gonna have waaaaaaaaay bigger fish to fry. You've written ridiculously long paragraphs on stuff that can be said in less than 2 sentences each... RELAX.

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[298609]

I believe 62,000 people took the MCAT last year, that would mean approximately 62 people scored a 15.

wtf don why would you post this now i feel so awful about myself. i got in the 95-99% range on verbal and liked deluding my brain that i was one of the few people that got that high and somehow that made me special. now you tell me 62 people got a 15? f that.

what



ever.





i wanna go back to pretending no one gets a 45 and only like 2 people get perfect verbals

 

[Don Draper]

wtf don

Didn't you and I have a date?

 

[298609]

Didn't you and I have a date?

 

[Nabatov]

By giving the two students make-up exams, that affected the rest of the class negatively.

How? In your own words,

That only matters if we're on a CURVE. We're not on a curve.

 

[LawNonTrad]

Yeah...

Well this most recent situation is 10 times worse than the one mentioned in the original post.

Now we're not dealing with exceptions to policy and extra benefits, rather, we're dealing with the professor refusing to follow his own syllabus.

Here's the deal:

I decided to skip exam #3 because I would have needed to know for sure that I could get a 91 on it to make it worth taking? Why? Because I got a 103 on exam 1 and a 78 on exam 2. The syllabus stated that if we missed one of the midterms, that the professor would average the grade of our other two exams to replace the missing exam grade.

There are two ways to calculate our final average in the syllabus. If my score on the final is higher than my lowest exam grade (in this case, 78), then the professor stated in the syllabus that he will drop the lowest exam grade and simply make the final worth 40% instead of 25%.

The standard calculation is:

Quizzes: 10%
3 Hour Exams: 45%
Final: 25%
Lab: 20%

If the final exam is better than the lowest exam grade:

Quizzes: 10%
2 Best Hour Exams: 30%
Final: 40%
Lab: 20%

Good so far? Well a friend and I skipped the exam on Monday, as I mentioned, because we didn't want to hurt our averages. We even cleared it with the professor last week when we talked to him about it, although according to the syllabus we can miss an exam for any reason. He said yeah, LawNonTrad, you have a 90 exam avg so if you want to skip exam 3 then I'll put that in as your exam 3 grade.

Fast forward to today. We went up to his office after class and asked him if we could just check our quiz and lab averages to confirm that they were correct and we saw that they were. Then when we got to the exam calculations, we pulled out our calculators and did it. He was looking at my calculator when I did it and said, hey, no, you're doing it wrong. I asked him what he meant. He told me that I was calculating it wrong because I was neglecting to include my lowest exam score (78) in my exam average calculation.

I told him that I was anticipating my final was going to be higher than my lowest exam score so I was using the second set of percentages to calculate it. He told me that this was fine but that I should still include my lowest exam score. I showed him the syllabus where it says that if your final exam is higher than your lowest exam score, then your lowest exam score is dropped. He said that is ordinarily true, but because I missed the Monday exam and did not have a "good excuse", like a "family emergency" or "illness" (like I had for the first exam, maybe, prof?), that he was going to deviate from the syllabus. He told me that I could still use the second calculation if I wanted to, but that he wouldn't be dropping my lowest exam score. He said that it would count equally with the other two, and instead of my two best exam scores (exam 1-103 and my exam 3 is a 90.5 because the syllabus states that the prof averages your other two exams to get the missing exam grade) being worth a combined 30% (15% each), all three exam scores (my 103, my 90.5 and my 78) would be counted at 10% each. He said that it wouldn't change the math much anyway.

I disagreed strenuously and said that it would mean that I need to score 6 points higher on my final examination now because he's refusing to follow the syllabus. He even admitted that he saw my point but that he's not inclined to do it. He actually stated that he was going to change the syllabus for the fall class to make sure that no one can "take advantage of this loophole" again. He said that he's going to make the new language something along the following: "Make-up exams will be given for legitimate reasons with documentation." Students who miss exams in the future will no longer be able to avg the score of their other two exams to obtain a third exam score. I personally think that acceptable, but only for the NEXT class. It's not acceptable for me because everyone else in the class is getting to have their lowest exam score dropped if their final is higher. But for the two of us who skipped the exam in compliance with the syllabus, well, he's not dropping ours, even though the syllabus doesn't distinguish between those who skip an exam and those who do not in terms of dropping the lowest score.

I eagerly looking forward to more SDN premeds telling me that this is entirely fair and that the professor can change the syllabus in the last week of the course after all 3 midterms have been taken, and that there's nothing I can do about it. Come on, you know you want to.

 

[Frazier]

Yeah...

Well this most recent situation is 10 times worse than the one mentioned in the original post.

Now we're not dealing with exceptions to policy and extra benefits, rather, we're dealing with the professor refusing to follow his own syllabus.

Here's the deal:

I decided to skip exam #3 because I would have needed to know for sure that I could get a 91 on it to make it worth taking? Why? Because I got a 103 on exam 1 and a 78 on exam 2. The syllabus stated that if we missed one of the midterms, that the professor would average the grade of our other two exams to replace the missing exam grade.

There are two ways to calculate our final average in the syllabus. If my score on the final is higher than my lowest exam grade (in this case, 78), then the professor stated in the syllabus that he will drop the lowest exam grade and simply make the final worth 40% instead of 25%.

The standard calculation is:

Quizzes: 10%
3 Hour Exams: 45%
Final: 25%
Lab: 20%

If the final exam is better than the lowest exam grade:

Quizzes: 10%
2 Best Hour Exams: 30%
Final: 40%
Lab: 20%

bla bla bla

I told him that I was anticipating my final was going to be higher than my lowest exam score so I was using the second set of percentages to calculate it. He told me that this was fine but that I should still include my lowest exam score. I showed him the syllabus where it says that if your final exam is higher than your lowest exam score, then your lowest exam score is dropped. He said that is ordinarily true, but because I missed the Monday exam and did not have a "good excuse", like a "family emergency" or "illness" (like I had for the first exam, maybe, prof?), that he was going to deviate from the syllabus. He told me that I could still use the second calculation if I wanted to, but that he wouldn't be dropping my lowest exam score. He said that it would count equally with the other two, and instead of my two best exam scores (exam 1-103 and my exam 3 is a 90.5 because the syllabus states that the prof averages your other two exams to get the missing exam grade) being worth a combined 30% (15% each), all three exam scores (my 103, my 90.5 and my 78) would be counted at 10% each. He said that it wouldn't change the math much anyway.

BLA BLA BLA BLA

Look, legally blonde, just rock the class and you get an A.

My GenChem2 professor was rather bad and actually entered the scantron grades in the wrong order for our last exam.
Instead of giving me a 110% like I earned she gave me the grade of the girl next to me: an 85%.
So I lost out on 25 points... I asked her about it and she said that grades have already been submitted. DAMN!!!

This would ordinarily be quite terrible -- however, my final overall average in the class was still a 101% so I don't sweat it.

Moral of the [brag] story -- beat the hell out of the exams [read: no C's] and then you don't have to worry about these hiccups in the system.

PS: you're right, dropping numerical averages in this thread is pretty fun

 

[LawNonTrad]

Look, legally blonde, just rock the class and you get an A.

My GenChem2 professor was rather bad and actually entered the scantron grades in the wrong order for our last exam.
Instead of giving me a 110% like I earned she gave me the grade of the girl next to me: an 85%.
So I lost out on 25 points... I asked her about it and she said that grades have already been submitted. DAMN!!!

This would ordinarily be quite terrible -- however, my final overall average in the class was still a 101% so I don't sweat it.

Moral of the [brag] story -- beat the hell out of the exams [read: no C's] and then you don't have to worry about these hiccups in the system.

PS: you're right, dropping numerical averages in this thread is pretty fun

Well obviously if it didn't affect your grade in the end and she simply entered the data wrong, that's a different story.

In my situation you have a professor deliberately deviating from his syllabus to punish students for what he sees as "taking advantage of a loophole", despite the fact that he told us we were free to skip the exam last week. He neglected to tell us that he'd return the favor by screwing us out of points that we earned. I'm not asking for extra points. He has given students extra points on exams before when they told him that they really need this grade or that grade. He listens to their sob stories and awards them extra points. But he won't give me points that I'm entitled to according to the syllabus, and according to you, I should just forget about it.

I'm not just trying to drop exam avgs. My 78 was terrible, or at the very least, not very good. I just want the points that the syllabus entitles me to -- nothing more, nothing less.

 

[docelh]

Well obviously if it didn't affect your grade in the end and she simply entered the data wrong, that's a different story.

In my situation you have a professor deliberately deviating from his syllabus to punish students for what he sees as "taking advantage of a loophole", despite the fact that he told us we were free to skip the exam last week. He neglected to us that he'd make it up to us by screwing us out of points that we earned. I'm not asking for extra points. He has given students extra points on exams before when they told him that they really need this grade or that grade. He listens to their sob stories and awards them extra points. But he won't give me points that I'm entitled to according to the syllabus, and according to you, I should just forget about it.

I'm not just trying to drop exam avgs. My 78 was terrible, or at the very least, not very good. I just want the points that the syllabus entitles me to -- nothing more, nothing less.

A fine example of working the system. Are you sure you shouldn't have stayed in law?

 

[LawNonTrad]

This would ordinarily be quite terrible -- however, my final overall average in the class was still a 101% so I don't sweat it.

Why would you sweat it? I bet you if that grade error had dropped you from an A to a B+ that you would have been sweating it. I don't think you would have told yourself to forget about it like you're telling me to do.

 

[LawNonTrad]

A fine example of working the system. Are you sure you shouldn't have stayed in law?

Explain to me how this is working the system rather than attempting to operate within its confines.

 

[docelh]

Explain to me how this is working the system rather than attempting to operate within its confines.

That is some good rationalization. Anyway, why didn't you just take the exam? Sounded like you couldn't lose either way.

 

[Janieve]

That is some good rationalization. Anyway, why didn't you just take the exam? Sounded like you couldn't lose either way.

She probably had some pressing issues to confront. Like a serious lack of sleep or some intense social deprivation. Don't judge her!

 

[chrisoc13]

Explain to me how this is working the system rather than attempting to operate within its confines.

What do you want from everyone here? Sucks that it happened but come on this class alrady sounds like cake. Just rock the final and move on. Take your A and walk away and learn from this: try to not skip tests. I am shocked you can skip tests at all. I have never had a class that would let me do that. In fact normally it would result in a zero, no excuses (unless it was a family tragedy or something of that nature). Yeah it sucks that he is changing the class now but come on you didn't even have to take one of the tests and still got a 90 on it! What more can you complain about really? I mean it's just not this big of a deal.

One more lesson to learn from this: professors don't like to see themselves as simple stepping stones. They like it when students actually want to learn something in their courses. It isn't going to make a professor happy when he/she feels you are simply trying to work the system. As a result of not being happy they are far less likely to be lenient. My advice? Start treating professors with respect and actually strive to learn not just skimp by with as little work possible. At some point you are going to need probably two letters of rec from science professors. What do you want them to say? That you do all you can to limp through a class while not challenging yourself or that you are a dedicated student who strives to take every opportunity to learn and challenge oneself? I can tell you which one the med schools want to hear, and it isn't the kind of crap you are posting in this thread.

Rock the final, learn from this situation, and move on. You still have an A within your reach, take it.

Edit: Be advised that a syllabus is not a legally binding contract. Don't blindly trust them. Always give your best effort and you won't have this problem.

 

[docelh]

Everyone is judged. Everywhere. Every time.

 

[LawNonTrad]

That is some good rationalization. Anyway, why didn't you just take the exam? Sounded like you couldn't lose either way.

Actually, I lost out by not taking the exam, according to the professor's logic. If I took it and bombed it, say I had gotten a 50, then that score would have been dropped when calculating my final average. I'd be in exactly the same boat that the professor says I'm in now. I'd have an exam avg of 90. But he told us that he took our two highest exams, so I thought it would be to my advantage to skip the third exam because it was unlikely that I'd be able to get a score of 97 or above, which is what it would take to make a difference in the grade. But if I simply skipped the exam, then the 90 would be entered as my exam 3 score and when taking the 2 best scores in the calculation, I'd have a 96.5 exam avg instead of a 90. That's a considerable difference.

The exam was a free roll according to the professor. If you took it, it could only help you but couldn't hurt you. Hmm, maybe he should have, considering it contradicts what is in the syllabus.

It also completely contradicts what he told me after the second exam when I said I wished I hadn't taken it. He said yeah, it looks like you would have been better off skipping this one and just taking exam 3.

 

[LawNonTrad]

Anyway, I'm going to go study. I'll check back with this thread tomorrow.

 

[accidentprone]

I've been out of school for a while, so I'm wondering, is it typical these days for students to earn over 100% on exams, get to drop one or more low exam scores, or skip tests entirely without scoring a 0? How common is this? Does it happen at your school?

Maybe I'm just old school, but this seems a bit easy and less likely to result in learning. In addition to the normal chem class exams and quizzes, we were always subjected to the American Chemical Society exams as well as our final at the end of each chem class. This way the profs could judge how well they were teaching and how well their students learned compared to national standards. Our profs used the ACS percentile as our score and averaged it into the class score, so to get an A for the ACS component, one would have to score in the upper 6-10% of test takers across the country (depending on the range for an A for the class). Anyone else have to take the ACS exams?

 

[docelh]

The exam was a free roll according to the professor.

That was my point. You couldn't lose either way:

If you kicked ass, it would have helped you.
If you stunk it up, it would have been dropped.

 

[Frazier]

I've been out of school for a while, so I'm wondering, is it typical these days for students to earn over 100% on exams, get to drop one or more low exam scores, or skip tests entirely without scoring a 0? How common is this? Does it happen at your school?

Simple answer: no.

I haven't had a professor [from any of my pre-req courses] offer to drop any of our exams or to take the highest score.

I haven't had a professor that allowed anyone to skip exams arbitrarily -- in fact, often if a student scores below a 40% they automatically fail the course.

I earn over 100% on exams because I don't miss any questions and benefit from 5-10% curves.

State university.

 

[Web MD]

The only class I got a curve in was cell biochem, but I could never get over 100%. If myself and a few other students got 98's, there was a 2 pt curve for the class on that test. Never got to arbitrarily skip exams or drop one, and my organic final was ACS so you had to score in the top 92% of test-takers for an A

 

[Lazarus]

Bump. This thread should be stickied.

 

[student1799]

No. This thread should be neutron-bombed.

 

[305602]

I feel like everyone is just hating on LawNonTrad now. I don't remember what was wrong at the beginning of this thread, but this most recent situation seems like a bummer.
Of course I don't know your story completely, but it seems like you developed a plan that would allow you to do well in the class with your professor and he had given you the go ahead before that exam. I don't know why he would go against what he talked over with you before the exam, or why he would disobey his own syllabus. That doesn't make any sense to me.

I don't know your story fully, but I guess I sympathize with you, OP.

 

[LawNonTrad]

I feel like everyone is just hating on LawNonTrad now. I don't remember what was wrong at the beginning of this thread, but this most recent situation seems like a bummer.
Of course I don't know your story completely, but it seems like you developed a plan that would allow you to do well in the class with your professor and he had given you the go ahead before that exam. I don't know why he would go against what he talked over with you before the exam, or why he would disobey his own syllabus. That doesn't make any sense to me.

I don't know your story fully, but I guess I sympathize with you, OP.

Thanks, pguichet. Yeah, it was complete crap. However, I took the final this morning and got a 98 (scantron results posted online about 30 minutes ago) so it's a moot point. I know my other grades in the class (labs and quizzes) so I'm assured of the A even without a curve. I'm just going to try to forget about this prof and his horrible class.

 

[Lazarus]

The professor seemed like a nice guy.

Do you think gender played a role (positive or negative) in successes or failures in communication with your professor?

 

[chrisoc13]

Thanks, pguichet. Yeah, it was complete crap. However, I took the final this morning and got a 98 (scantron results posted online about 30 minutes ago) so it's a moot point. I know my other grades in the class (labs and quizzes) so I'm assured of the A even without a curve. I'm just going to try to forget about this prof and his horrible class.

Nice work on the final. Move on and learn from this experience.

 

[LawNonTrad]

The professor seemed like a nice guy.

Do you think gender played a role (positive or negative) in successes or failures in communication with your professor?

I don't think it made a difference. Another female student went to the professor yesterday after I talked with him and told him that she was failing the course (55 on exam 1, 58 on exam 2, 61 on exam 3), and with her lab and quiz scores not being great, she was worried that she wouldn't be able to obtain the requisite C to transfer the course back to her home institution. He told her that if she was a couple of points away from the C, that he'd probably bump her up, because he didn't want her to have to basically wasted a month of her summer only to have to re-take the course later. I told this to my dad and he called it communism. I disagree with that characterization, but apparently the weaker students are helped with grade bumps so they can transfer the points, but the stronger students have to earn every point they get.

I missed one multi-choice polarity question - prof said the final wouldn't include any questions on it because it wasn't covered. So much for that.

Fair? Nah, but the guy's a community college professor anyway. His life already sucks. Maybe sticking it to people is what he lives for.

 

[IPremed2010]

Thanks, pguichet. Yeah, it was complete crap. However, I took the final this morning and got a 98 (scantron results posted online about 30 minutes ago) so it's a moot point. I know my other grades in the class (labs and quizzes) so I'm assured of the A even without a curve. I'm just going to try to forget about this prof and his horrible class.

Congradulations!

 

[getright]

Bad professor is bad.

 

[Ischemic]

Good things happen to good people and since you're the polar opposite you got what you deserved. Life's a bitch ain't it? hahah.

 

[LawNonTrad]

Good things happen to good people and since you're the polar opposite you got what you deserved. Life's a bitch ain't it? hahah.

Reading comp not your strong suit, darling?

Perhaps you missed the part where I got an A in the course.

It's fine, large boy. You're still okay in my book.

 

[Web MD]

I missed one multi-choice polarity question - prof said the final wouldn't include any questions on it because it wasn't covered.

Wow bro you're missing MC's? Just a heads up but I hear organic is mostly free response. Oh, and if the prof tells you not to worry about resonance or stereochem because it won't be on the test he's being totally honest.

 

[LawNonTrad]

Wow bro you're missing MC's? Just a heads up but I hear organic is mostly free response. Oh, and if the prof tells you not to worry about resonance or stereochem because it won't be on the test he's being totally honest.

I'm not a bro, but yeah, dude. I'm a total failure. I mean, I missed a multiple choice question on an exam. I'm sure you've never missed a multiple choice question on an exam before. Perfect SAT right?

Good luck on verbal. I hear reading comprehension is quite an important skill to have for that section. Too bad you can't learn how to do that from Cramster.

 

[Web MD]

Already took it bro, but thanks. Good luck on interviews - I hear personal responsibility is quite an important skill to have for that part of the application process. Too bad you can't just drop that section and average your EC's with your gpa and MCAT

 

[Ischemic]

Reading comp not your strong suit, darling?

Perhaps you missed the part where I got an A in the course.

It's fine, large boy. You're still okay in my book.

Apparently it's also not your strong suite. Did I mention that you deserved to fail school or you deserved to fail your course? No, I mentioned that you deserved your professor screwing you over because you were a complete bitch throughout the process and also tried to take advantage of the system. And before you go and start spouting BS about you working in the system let me tell you something. Even if your third test didn't matter, you should have just taken it out of courtesy and NOT gone up the prof saying, I'm just going to skip this test cause it's not of use to me and I can do better with the average. Completely disrespectful. I'm glad he changed his mine on you. See how whining's going to work out in med school or wards. I hope I'm there when you get put in your place. God, what a bit**

 

[Janieve]

Apparently it's also not your strong suite. Did I mention that you deserved to fail school or you deserved to fail your course? No, I mentioned that you deserved your professor screwing you over because you were a complete bitch throughout the process and also tried to take advantage of the system. And before you go and start spouting BS about you working in the system let me tell you something. Even if your third test didn't matter, you should have just taken it out of courtesy and NOT gone up the prof saying, I'm just going to skip this test cause it's not of use to me and I can do better with the average. Completely disrespectful. I'm glad he changed his mine on you. See how whining's going to work out in med school or wards. I hope I'm there when you get put in your place. God, what a bit**

Agreed. I bet if you'd been less of an a**hole to the professor, he'd probably have let you average the grades. I can understand his thought process perfectly: "This student has repeatedly come to me demanding I give her points for incorrect answers, trying to manipulate the points on my syllabus to her advantage, and questioning my judgment. Now she's decided not to take this test simply because she thinks it can't hurt to miss it. She's not putting in honest effort here. Hmm. But she's bright, if kind of a snob. I guess I'll let her earn her grade without my help. God willing, I'll never see this disrespectful a**hole again."

This might be news to you, but hard work is only part of the equation. It might not be fair, but the truth is that interpersonal interactions are about as important as the effort you put in. If you treat anyone disrespectfully, they're not likely to aid you when you need it. This goes for professors, classmates, colleagues, and even people under your own supervision.

Even if you don't think their decision is the right one, respect it. Don't tell them it's bull, even if that's your honest opinion. Because really, when they're reviewing your file for something or are asked about you, what do you think is going to pop into their head first? "Oh, her? She always works so hard"? No. They're going to think, "Oh, her - that disrespectful, self-righteous SOB who couldn't feign non-hostility for a minute."

So yeah. The truth hurts. Learn from it and grow.

 

[Frazier]

Also, I'm not a man, jm... at least I don't think so.

*Looks down pants*

Nope, not a man.

 

[Corpsman Up]

Not to be rude, but I basically stopped taking it seriously when I read that the quizzes were open book and nothing was curved

 

[235009]

Yeah...

Well this most recent situation is 10 times worse than the one mentioned in the original post.

Now we're not dealing with exceptions to policy and extra benefits, rather, we're dealing with the professor refusing to follow his own syllabus.

Here's the deal:

I decided to skip exam #3 because I would have needed to know for sure that I could get a 91 on it to make it worth taking? Why? Because I got a 103 on exam 1 and a 78 on exam 2. The syllabus stated that if we missed one of the midterms, that the professor would average the grade of our other two exams to replace the missing exam grade.

There are two ways to calculate our final average in the syllabus. If my score on the final is higher than my lowest exam grade (in this case, 78), then the professor stated in the syllabus that he will drop the lowest exam grade and simply make the final worth 40% instead of 25%.

The standard calculation is:

Quizzes: 10%
3 Hour Exams: 45%
Final: 25%
Lab: 20%

If the final exam is better than the lowest exam grade:

Quizzes: 10%
2 Best Hour Exams: 30%
Final: 40%
Lab: 20%

Good so far? Well a friend and I skipped the exam on Monday, as I mentioned, because we didn't want to hurt our averages. We even cleared it with the professor last week when we talked to him about it, although according to the syllabus we can miss an exam for any reason. He said yeah, LawNonTrad, you have a 90 exam avg so if you want to skip exam 3 then I'll put that in as your exam 3 grade.

Fast forward to today. We went up to his office after class and asked him if we could just check our quiz and lab averages to confirm that they were correct and we saw that they were. Then when we got to the exam calculations, we pulled out our calculators and did it. He was looking at my calculator when I did it and said, hey, no, you're doing it wrong. I asked him what he meant. He told me that I was calculating it wrong because I was neglecting to include my lowest exam score (78) in my exam average calculation.

I told him that I was anticipating my final was going to be higher than my lowest exam score so I was using the second set of percentages to calculate it. He told me that this was fine but that I should still include my lowest exam score. I showed him the syllabus where it says that if your final exam is higher than your lowest exam score, then your lowest exam score is dropped. He said that is ordinarily true, but because I missed the Monday exam and did not have a "good excuse", like a "family emergency" or "illness" (like I had for the first exam, maybe, prof?), that he was going to deviate from the syllabus. He told me that I could still use the second calculation if I wanted to, but that he wouldn't be dropping my lowest exam score. He said that it would count equally with the other two, and instead of my two best exam scores (exam 1-103 and my exam 3 is a 90.5 because the syllabus states that the prof averages your other two exams to get the missing exam grade) being worth a combined 30% (15% each), all three exam scores (my 103, my 90.5 and my 78) would be counted at 10% each. He said that it wouldn't change the math much anyway.

I disagreed strenuously and said that it would mean that I need to score 6 points higher on my final examination now because he's refusing to follow the syllabus. He even admitted that he saw my point but that he's not inclined to do it. He actually stated that he was going to change the syllabus for the fall class to make sure that no one can "take advantage of this loophole" again. He said that he's going to make the new language something along the following: "Make-up exams will be given for legitimate reasons with documentation." Students who miss exams in the future will no longer be able to avg the score of their other two exams to obtain a third exam score. I personally think that acceptable, but only for the NEXT class. It's not acceptable for me because everyone else in the class is getting to have their lowest exam score dropped if their final is higher. But for the two of us who skipped the exam in compliance with the syllabus, well, he's not dropping ours, even though the syllabus doesn't distinguish between those who skip an exam and those who do not in terms of dropping the lowest score.

I eagerly looking forward to more SDN premeds telling me that this is entirely fair and that the professor can change the syllabus in the last week of the course after all 3 midterms have been taken, and that there's nothing I can do about it. Come on, you know you want to.

HOLD ON

let me get this straight....you wanted to drop your ACTUAL test grade and use the average of your two grades as your second exam grade. are you f'n kidding me. that's not even logical!! you really were trying to take advantage of this poor prof. what i'm sure the syllabus meant (maybe it wasn't spelled out explicitly but it seems pretty logical to me) that you had to take all three exams to be allowed to drop one. otherwise half the class would do what you did. also by not showing up you basically showed the prof your true colors: that you don't care about the material or the class and just want to take the shortest route to an A. I'm not questioning your motive i'm just saying next time you really need to hide it better. Classes get harder and next time you will probably need all the help you can get.

you totally had this coming btw ...if you disrespect someone repeatedly they WILL retaliate and screw you over. and who can blame him? i REALLY hope you learned a lesson here because it doesn't sound like you have. i'm quite shocked that someone in her "late 20s" is acting like this ...you should know better...sounds like you missed out on some important life experience that someone your age should have.

Also...as a med student i feel like i should warn you that this will continue happening throughout undergrad and in med school ...there are people like you who constantly argue about the pettiest things on tests and make the prof's life a living hell but the profs despise them (trust me i've talked to a couple of very honest profs). treat people with respect and they will be more inclined to help you out and will respect you back.

 

[PremedGunner]

v

 

[LawNonTrad]

Yeah, all I heard was blah, blah, blah, blah. Gnashing of teeth, more angst, whining... I love it. I eat this stuff up all day -- tacos and burritos, yum yum. I really wish that I could find some way to package it as consumables.

 

[LawNonTrad]

Agreed. I bet if you'd been less of an a**hole to the professor, he'd probably have let you average the grades. I can understand his thought process perfectly: "This student has repeatedly come to me demanding I give her points for incorrect answers, trying to manipulate the points on my syllabus to her advantage, and questioning my judgment. Now she's decided not to take this test simply because she thinks it can't hurt to miss it. She's not putting in honest effort here. Hmm. But she's bright, if kind of a snob. I guess I'll let her earn her grade without my help. God willing, I'll never see this disrespectful a**hole again."

This might be news to you, but hard work is only part of the equation. It might not be fair, but the truth is that interpersonal interactions are about as important as the effort you put in. If you treat anyone disrespectfully, they're not likely to aid you when you need it. This goes for professors, classmates, colleagues, and even people under your own supervision.

Even if you don't think their decision is the right one, respect it. Don't tell them it's bull, even if that's your honest opinion. Because really, when they're reviewing your file for something or are asked about you, what do you think is going to pop into their head first? "Oh, her? She always works so hard"? No. They're going to think, "Oh, her - that disrespectful, self-righteous SOB who couldn't feign non-hostility for a minute."

So yeah. The truth hurts. Learn from it and grow.

Janieve, I didn't mean to give you the impression that I care what you think. In fact, of all the people who have posted in this thread, I care the least about your input. I usually just skim your posts, but I didn't even bother to read one word of your latest response. Please accept my sincerest apologies for the miscommunication on my part, okay?

 

[LawNonTrad]

HOLD ON

let me get this straight....you wanted to drop your ACTUAL test grade and use the average of your two grades as your second exam grade. are you f'n kidding me. that's not even logical!! you really were trying to take advantage of this poor prof.

Yeah, so illogical, right? That must be why he put it in the syllabus -- you miss an exam, the average of the other two midterms will be substituted for the missing exam grade.

This poor prof... yeah. The guy who doesn't have tenure and will probably never get it because he has the lowest student eval average of any prof in the department.

 

[integralx2]

Good.
I have little sympathy for people who seem to feel entitled to an "A." In my classes, I tend to, if anything, ensure they don't get an "A.")
Honestly... the only complaint of yours that is of much validity other than the annoying girl in the class (and that's just life, so live w/ it...some people are annoying) is the one concerning some people getting special exemptions from syllabus guidelines. Honestly, though, that's kind of a privilege the professor possesses. It's his right to make an exception if he feels it is warranted.

Did someone kick your puppy?

 

[235009]

Yeah, so illogical, right? That must be why he put it in the syllabus -- you miss an exam, the average of the other two midterms will be substituted for the missing exam grade.

This poor prof... yeah. The guy who doesn't have tenure and will probably never get it because he has the lowest student eval average of any prof in the department.

i'm not saying that averaging the exams is illogical...i'm saying that averaging the exams then dropping your actual exam score (which you earned) and keeping the averaged score (which you didn't actually earn) is illogical...one can easily argue that to drop your lowest score you have to have taken all three tests

student eval doesn't mean **** for tenure ...and we're talking about community college here so who cares either way

you should really scan and post this infamous syllabus so we can take a look and judge for ourselves

 

[inconclusive13]

It lives. It lives. Frankenstein Lives !!!!!

 

[marble30]

I can't believe I missed this thread!

 

[brke2]

wow ... i mean i said it before .. actually twice but this girl just sucks. i am 100% sure that you are very fat n ugly and chances are that you smell too. please stop being an idiot in life ... plus fat girls need to make up for being fat by having awesome attitudes ... you must realize that evoking this sort of response from people over the internet must mean that you are a pretty messed up individual. it should seriously be a wake up call to change your ways. you will not get far in life with that ridiculous attitude.

and if im wrong about you being ugly .. like i said before ... hook me up with your number so i can hook up with you this weekend and put you in your place little girl

 

[ArcGurren]

Janieve, I didn't mean to give you the impression that I care what you think. In fact, of all the people who have posted in this thread, I care the least about your input. I usually just skim your posts, but I didn't even bother to read one word of your latest response. Please accept my sincerest apologies for the miscommunication on my part, okay?

Both of them have valid points. You cannot expect the professor not to act like a human being and just ignore the fact that you disrespected him multiple times by trying to screw with his generosity. They're right in that you need to stop complaining about being treated unfairly or whatever when there is precedent for his actions. Yes, it sucks what he did, but when you piss people off that's what happens.