Model answer - is it an A+ answer or a "reasonable" answer? Forum

[dj_roomba]

Do some professors provide model answers that are not an A? I feel like my professor doesn't want us to stress and is giving us model answers that are B+ or A- because that's the "average", hence, the "model" for the class.

The reason I ask is because all the model answers he gives us suck... well relatively. It seems like an A at the VERY BEST, but more likely a B+/A- (my peers think so too).

This is confusing. My peers think the model answers suck and so do I. What does that mean for grading?

[Nova]

Generally, the model answer is an A

eta: but it doesn't sound like the one youre talking about is

[sinfiery]

had same feeling after looking at a model student answer, moment I realized how absolutely strict the curve of the class/school/lawschool in general must be

shit is scary as fuck

[bowser]

All of your answers will suck too. It's just the nature of the beast. The least suckiest will get A's.

[Lacepiece23]

Ehh I've seem some really good model answers that just blew me away. I'm talking perfect grammer under strict time conditions and prose that read very nicely while still hitting all the issues/ analysis. IMO the person who books the class will often blow away everyone else. However, sometimes the person who books the class will have an answer that is just a little better then everyone else's. Just depends on whether you have someone whose like a future Erwin Chemerinski in your class or not. If you attend a T14 chances are that you do.

[rad lulz]

Do some professors provide model answers that are not an A? I feel like my professor doesn't want us to stress and is giving us model answers that are B+ or A- because that's the "average", hence, the "model" for the class.

The reason I ask is because all the model answers he gives us suck... well relatively. It seems like an A at the VERY BEST, but more likely a B+/A- (my peers think so too).

This is confusing. My peers think the model answers suck and so do I. What does that mean for grading?

Ask your prof

[helfer snooterbagon]

Keep in mind that the model answer was simply the best of the lot. Likely it will contain a number of errors, but it is the least bad. At my school, most professors stated that they had a scorecard and they went through the exam looking to see if you hit the issue - if you did - you got the points. It doesn't matter how eloquently you hit the issue you simply needed to spot it and analyze correctly.

Paragraph headings and organization are important, but only if you are hitting the issues. I would rather analyze 90% of the issues pretty well than absolutely nail 30%. I did not go to a top school so Lacepiece may well be correct that at the very top schools you have people who can not only hit all the issues but also write quite well on the exams. At my school, that was not the case. I had the top grade in a number of classes and my writing was not particularly good.

[sublime]

..

[shock259]

What makes it bad, exactly? If it is hitting on all the issues and arguing about them in a decent way, it is probably pretty good. Just about all exams have shitty grammar, typos, and some nonsense thrown in. But if it is 1) labeled, 2) tees up each issue, 3) argues each issue, it's probably pretty good.

[thesealocust]

The reason I ask is because all the model answers he gives us suck... well relatively. It seems like an A at the VERY BEST, but more likely a B+/A- (my peers think so too)

When you graded the model exam, how many points did it get?

If your answer is "I didn't count the points," "I don't know" or some combination thereof, you're thinking about this very, very wrong.

To be less snarky, in my experience profs use very good exams as the model but generally don't use A+ / best-in-class type answers.

[dj_roomba]

The reason I ask is because all the model answers he gives us suck... well relatively. It seems like an A at the VERY BEST, but more likely a B+/A- (my peers think so too)

When you graded the model exam, how many points did it get?

If your answer is "I didn't count the points," "I don't know" or some combination thereof, you're thinking about this very, very wrong.

Ah. I'll do this and come back.
I counted the issues. Are they all the same points? Our professor said the analysis part is what's more important so I ranked the analysis. I didn't do a real count but I guess I'll do that now

My grading would be: Issue is 1 point; Analysis: 1-3 points
Is that fair?

[nickb285]

..

[thesealocust]

The reason I ask is because all the model answers he gives us suck... well relatively. It seems like an A at the VERY BEST, but more likely a B+/A- (my peers think so too)

When you graded the model exam, how many points did it get?

If your answer is "I didn't count the points," "I don't know" or some combination thereof, you're thinking about this very, very wrong.

Ah. I'll do this and come back.
I counted the issues. Are they all the same points? Our professor said the analysis part is what's more important so I ranked the analysis. I didn't do a real count but I guess I'll do that now

My grading would be: Issue is 1 point; Analysis: 1-3 points
Is that fair?

Bingo.

The followup, of course, is "how many points did all of the other non-model exams get?" and, for extra credit, "why?"

[arklaw13]

I think it depends on whether the exam is word limited. If not, I doubt the prof will spend the time to hit every issue he can think of. On a word-limited exam, I could see the prof giving an A+ model answer. One of my profs specifically said that a student would probably not hit all of the issues and possible arguments she hits. I couldn't come up with any really good arguments that she didn't hit in the model answer.