Questions about Your Exam Grade?

Read this First!

If you are not satisfied with your grade or would like further explanation, I am happy to try to help you. However, because of the sheer size of this class, I ask you first to read carefully through the following. If you still wish to contact me about your grade, please do so by email. I will not respond to phone messages about grades.

I. Self-test

Please answer the following questions honestly:

1. Did you attend all the classes? ("Attend" does not mean "borrowed a friend's notes.")

2. Did you take careful notes?

3. Did you ask questions, in class or to the TAs, about things you did not understand?

4. Did you do all the reading?

5. Did you take careful notes on the reading?

6. Did you ask questions, in class or to the TAs, about things you did not understand?

7. Did you attend the review session?

8. Did you ask questions about things you did not understand?

9. Did you thoroughly study over an appropriate amount of time (i.e., not just the night before) your notes and the readings?

II. Next steps

If you can honestly answer "yes" to all these questions, proceed! If not, you already know what I'll say.

If your question relates to Parts I or II, please check the sample answers. Compare your response to the sample. This will probably show you where you went wrong.

If, having answered "yes" to all the above and checked the sample answers, you still want to inquire about your grade, please send me by email a specific question. Bear in mind that I do not have your exam in front of me; you do. You need to tell me specifically what you wrote and what your question is about it. I can't respond to vague questions like "What did I do wrong?" or "How can I do better?" (For both, see the list of questions above.) I will do my best to respond to well crafted inquiries, though my best will depend very much on how much data you give me to work with. But note: I will not simply reread whole essays.