Grading Question Forum

[TierForceOne]

INFOWARS.COM

[A. Nony Mouse]

No, your prof won't dock you for asking stupid questions about what's on the syllabus. It's holding that option in reserve in case you never show up to class or are never prepared when you do (and that means you didn't even attempt to do the reading, not that you didn't understand it when you did. Good faith efforts are fine). There's no need to be paranoid.

[pancakes3]

lol, you're going to go far, kid.

[cavalier1138]

Just to further lay your mind at ease (in case you think your professor is unreasonably vindictive):

Your professor may have mentioned this at the beginning of classes, but they very rarely invoke the participation grade change, because it messes with the curve. They have very specific numbers of students who can get specific letter grades, so they are not going to throw that curve off unless they absolutely have to.

[rcharter1978]

I asked my professor a question after class and he said, "look in the syllabus" and he seemed pretty annoyed.

We do blind grading, but professor's have the option to dock or bump your grade for 'class participation reasons'.

Is there a chance something like an annoying question will cause a professor to dock you in your grade?

Think professors have to disclose if they docked you for non-academic reasons?

No, or else 50% of the class would get their grade docked.

You must go to an amazing school if there isn't some jackass asking annoying questions just to hear him/herself talk.

But seriously....no, if you get a grade dock it will likely be because the professor has called on you multiple times and you aren't ready to brief the case/answer questions in class.

[KMart]

wtf no; you need to relax

[thesealocust]

Yeah, I've been paying attention to law school and grading for waaaaaaaaaaaaay too long now, and I've actually never heard a direct source claiming to have had their grade negatively impacted due to class participation.

In fact, because of the harsh curve on exams, even if a professor claims that class participation is 20% of the grade or something, I still don't think it has a major impact. The curve will be tight on participation, because everyone will be scared into talking. The curve on exams is always huge, because some people go hard and some people just don't get it. Net result: giant participation ruse.

Professors forever fight against overly shy or zoned out classes, so threatening your grade unless you talk is a common fallback.

[TierForceOne]

Wow I really appreciate all the responses.

I guess I still have that first-week paranoia, coming to unreasonable conclusions and such...

[TierForceOne]

Just to further lay your mind at ease (in case you think your professor is unreasonably vindictive):

Your professor may have mentioned this at the beginning of classes, but they very rarely invoke the participation grade change, because it messes with the curve. They have very specific numbers of students who can get specific letter grades, so they are not going to throw that curve off unless they absolutely have to.

Really appreciate the insight. You know, when you're putting such a large investment into studying (time and money) it makes it easier to commit when you can feel secure that it's your exam that determines your grade and not who the professor likes, etc.

[TierForceOne]

INFOWARS.COM[/b]