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Hey guys, first post here but I needed some advice on something. I just finished my first year as a 1L at a TTT. I have a guaranteed job through family after graduation as well as scholarship $, which is basically why I chose the school.

Anyway, first semester 2 A's and 2 B's. Second semester 2 B's, 2 A-'s, and 1 D. The D was in Contracts II, the class that I am confident I know better than any other I have taken thus far. After taking my finals, I expected nothing less than an A in K2. To my absolute horror, I found out that I received a D in the class.

Upon receiving the grade, I noticed that the prof had sent out an email to the entire class(the prof is very thorough and known as one of the best prof's at my school). The email indicated he will be holding meetings this summer for students that received grades in the B and C range in mid-July to go over the exams. For students who received a D, he will be meeting with us this upcoming Friday.

I would really like some advice on how to approach this meeting with the professor on Friday. I am sure most students who receive a D think it is some sort of mistake, but I cannot comprehend how this could have happened. I had a much better understanding of the material in K2 than in any other class. I could see how it would be possible that there could be an extremely tight curve and I'd end up with a B or maybe even a C, but one of the worst grades in a 75 person class at a TTT?

I have a good recollection of pretty much every issue in each of the written questions, and was confident that I killed the MC. Do you guys think it'd be worth it to spend some time studying the rules that would apply to those issues before the meeting? I also don't want to come off as a douchebag and accuse him of making a mistake. On the other hand this is one of the most discouraging things I've ever faced and will likely cost me thousands in scholarship $$. Can anyone give me some advice on how to go about talking to the prof about this?

Tell him that it was an outlier grade and indicate that you are a good student. Most teachers do not get joy out having your grade being the lowest in there class. Were you pulled for any reason????Like missed a lot of class??? I thought D's were not usually granted in law school.

jarofsoup wrote:Tell him that it was an outlier grade and indicate that you are a good student. Most teachers do not get joy out having your grade being the lowest in there class. Were you pulled for any reason????Like missed a lot of class??? I thought D's were not usually granted in law school.

Really? I wasn't pulled and missed maybe 2 or 3 classes the entire semester. I was unaware D's were not usually granted.. after all somebody must be in the bottom 15%.

twinton wrote:Really? I wasn't pulled and missed maybe 2 or 3 classes the entire semester. I was unaware D's were not usually granted.. after all somebody must be in the bottom 15%.

It depends on the school and the mandatory curve. At a lot of top schools the lowest grade that a professor must give is somewhere in the neighborhood of B-. This means that of course there is a bottom 15% of the class, but that they have GPAs in the 2.7-3.0 range. At my school, D's are completely discretionary and means that someone did something seriously out of the ordinary (in a bad way). However if D's are not discretionary at your school then it's not as big a deal.

bk187 wrote:

twinton wrote:Really? I wasn't pulled and missed maybe 2 or 3 classes the entire semester. I was unaware D's were not usually granted.. after all somebody must be in the bottom 15%.

It depends on the school and the mandatory curve. At a lot of top schools the lowest grade that a professor must give is somewhere in the neighborhood of B-. This means that of course there is a bottom 15% of the class, but that they have GPAs in the 2.7-3.0 range. At my school, D's are completely discretionary and means that someone did something seriously out of the ordinary (in a bad way). However if D's are not discretionary at your school then it's not as big a deal.

This. I'm with bk and I know a couple profs gave Cs and those were far out of the ordinary. If you're at a school where Ds are completely discretionary you need to figure out exactly what went wrong. If they are just part of the curve it's a bit different.

OP: There was multiple choice on your test? Did you answer on a scantron?

If so, could it be the case that you messed up filling out the scantron - got off a number or whatever - and ended up missing most of them for that reason?

Slobberson wrote:OP: There was multiple choice on your test? Did you answer on a scantron?

If so, could it be the case that you messed up filling out the scantron - got off a number or whatever - and ended up missing most of them for that reason?

Yes, there was a scantron with about 50 questions. I have definitely thought of this and will probably bring this up at the meeting.

Icculus wrote:

bk187 wrote:

twinton wrote:Really? I wasn't pulled and missed maybe 2 or 3 classes the entire semester. I was unaware D's were not usually granted.. after all somebody must be in the bottom 15%.

It depends on the school and the mandatory curve. At a lot of top schools the lowest grade that a professor must give is somewhere in the neighborhood of B-. This means that of course there is a bottom 15% of the class, but that they have GPAs in the 2.7-3.0 range. At my school, D's are completely discretionary and means that someone did something seriously out of the ordinary (in a bad way). However if D's are not discretionary at your school then it's not as big a deal.

This. I'm with bk and I know a couple profs gave Cs and those were far out of the ordinary. If you're at a school where Ds are completely discretionary you need to figure out exactly what went wrong. If they are just part of the curve it's a bit different.

I am fairly certain that D's are just part of the curve at my school.

I bet you it was a scantron mixup man. I had an MC test and towards the middle of it I realized I was off by one question - took about 3-4 minutes to go back and fix it. I find it very easy to mess those up, so I check myself a few times throughout the test and once at the end.

I would imagine that the teacher would be fairly receptive to the idea of fixing your grade if this was the case.