Teacher's ruling unfair?

[SoCalQuest]

Synopsis:
1) Taking a physics class
2) Teacher's daughter is sick, he cancels last day of class and postpones the final during spring break
3) 5 students had prior plans, and take the test two weeks later
-He also mentions to student that he will grade them easier for taking it earlier
4) It appears that he graded us more harshly and he DID give us thirty minutes less time

I sent him this e-mail

"Professor,

I just checked my grade on the website, which was a B. My understanding was that the final grade was determined by the grade on the Final. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the first re-scheduled exam given, as I had previous plans as we have discussed.

A student which did take the exam on the first date, mentioned that you had stated that you would be grading their final easier because they were able to take the final on that day. Initially, I didn't think this to be true. After talking to various students who did take it on the first day, this appears to be the case. Comparing answers with three different students on the nine problems, it appears that all three received significantly higher grades, when it appears that I performed very similarly or even better on the test.

Furthermore, you mentioned in class that you reduced the number of problems on the test so we would have 1.5 hours. After comparing answers with students from the first test, it appears that the questions and number of questions were identical. These same students mentioned that they received a little over two hours to finish the exam.

I had been studying and was ready to take the exam on the initial exam date. Unfortunately, a prior obligation which had been schedule for a little over a month, which did not allow me to attend the first re-scheduled exam. I do not want you to think that I was trying to take advantage of the situation in order to garner additional study time for the final.

In fact, I feel as if I was more prepared to take the test two weeks ago than I was on Monday. Being on vacation for one week and having to study for three classes when I got back, hindered my progress on the final exam. That, coupled with the 25% in decreased time to take the test, I don't feel as if the students taking the later exam had any additional advantage. Prior to the final exam, I had seriously considered dropping the course and taking it next Winter. Your proposal was fair considering the circumstances, and I decided to take the final to improve my grade. If the tests were the same and we were given less time and/or you graded the students taking the later test more harshly, I don't think the proposal was fair.

If you would have mentioned on the last day of class that we would have less time/graded more harshly if we took it later, I would have went with my original plan and dropped the class. Thus, I would like you to consider re-grading the finals for those of us that took the test on a later date.

We can talk about this in more detail after class tonight if you have time.

[TIEdup14]

What on earth could you possibly expect to happen from this?

[SoCalQuest]

Him re-grade the test?

[SoloAJ]

It can't hurt. But I don't know what sort of discussion you expect sparked from this. Mostly I think that because there isn't much to be said.

As TIE said, your unlikely to get much recourse here. It is a bad situation and clearly your professor sucks, but what can ya do. It's college.

[recondite7]

Are you new to this whole college thing? Why would this make him reconsider and regrade?

[SoCalQuest]

Because it was not the student's fault that we took the test on a different day. One group of students should not have any sort of advantage over another group of students.

[SoloAJ]

I think what recondite means is that, obviously this sucks....but you are unlikely to see any action from your letter.

College isn't fair. Give me a break. As an english major I can tell you that being on the teacher's good side generally trumps quality work. Luckily I do both, obv. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[recondite7]

Your letter just makes you sound like a whiner who got a bad grade not a student who got screwed. You probably have a point but this situation isn't so ridiculously unfair that he has to do anything about it. Just chill and take the lumps and stop worrying about it.

[Dave D]

The OP confuses me in a lot of ways. You say you KNEW that the test would be easier if you took it early, you didn't complain at the time, like you should have, and now you're complaining after getting your grade.

Also, if that was the final, how do you still have class with him.

edit: I think you mean that you expected the exact same final, just at different days, and that's what he said in class? I can't believe he actually gave the exact same final with that much time difference (hello? cheating?), but if that's the case you have somewhat of a legit claim. If he doesn't respond, I'd go to the dept. head. This is a pretty clear cut case it seems.

[SoCalQuest]

I didn't know it would be easier during the first re-scheduling. He made no indication of that. I was a bit confusing in the op, he told the students that took it the day of the test that he would grade them easier; thus, us being graded harder.

I am taking physics 3 with him this quarter, which is why I still have him as a teacher.

Normally, I take the grade I earned; in this case however, students that didn't have spring break plans benefited while others didn't. If I asked to re-schedule based on my own problems, it would be acceptable for him to grade it harder.

Considering he re-scheduled it, why should we be punished?