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I completely misunderstood one of the two questions on a recent ethics exam. Pretty sure I deserve to fail. Do professors actually ever fail students? Or should I just expect a C?

Depends on the school - but the only people I've seen fail are the ones who don't show up.

It's very hard to 'fail' an exam. If you royally screwed up worse than most of your peers you might expect a B- , which is pretty bad considering how important GPA can be for OCI, etc. but not failing.

I'm a 3L with a job, my only concern is that I wouldn't be able to graduate

Some professors will give C's within the T14. But they're usually discretionary (only so the prof can give more A's or whatever). At Michigan, the prof. needs to explain to the administration any grade below a C and, anecdotally, the administration pressures professors to let the student do extra credit to get up to a C.

Edit: If you're a 3L, just know that the professor probably won't want to deal with the hassle the administration would give him or her for failing you. They might give you the lowest passing grade (C- or D) to signal their displeasure, but they just want to GTFO for summer too.

AreJay711 wrote:Some professors will give C's within the T14. But they're usually discretionary (only so the prof can give more A's or whatever). At Michigan, the prof. needs to explain to the administration any grade below a C and, anecdotally, the administration pressures professors to let the student do extra credit to get up to a C.

Edit: If you're a 3L, just know that the professor probably won't want to deal with the hassle the administration would give him or her for failing you. They might give you the lowest passing grade (C- or D) to signal their displeasure, but they just want to GTFO for summer too.

tyft. that's what i figured, but the teacher isn't an actual prof, he's a visiting lecturer, so I'm concerned he might not follow the customary (but unwritten) rules on failing a student. nice to know that the administration would have my back though.

Define fail.

3|ink wrote:Define fail.

getting an F and thus not being able to graduate because I didn't "satisfactorily complete" the required ethics class. (student handbook doesn't define "satisfactorily complete")

Aureusmons wrote:

3|ink wrote:Define fail.

getting an F and thus not being able to graduate because I didn't "satisfactorily complete" the required ethics class. (student handbook doesn't define "satisfactorily complete")

Got it. Cause many would consider a B failing.



I've never heard of someone actually failing in the literal sense.

If you sat for the test and took a legitimate stab at the question, even if totally misguided, you'll be fine. If your place is like mine, then a bunch of LLMs in the class didn't understand either of the questions.

People can fail exams. We had 1 girl fail ConLaw our first year and another guy failed his LRWA class. The first girl just blamed it on a medical condition when asked about it in interviews--her grades were otherwise good and she had family connections so she still found a job.

My Civ Pro prof gave out a discretionary C, C-, and D. When they're only required to give B-'s, I'd say those are failing.

Aureusmons wrote:

AreJay711 wrote:Some professors will give C's within the T14. But they're usually discretionary (only so the prof can give more A's or whatever). At Michigan, the prof. needs to explain to the administration any grade below a C and, anecdotally, the administration pressures professors to let the student do extra credit to get up to a C.

Edit: If you're a 3L, just know that the professor probably won't want to deal with the hassle the administration would give him or her for failing you. They might give you the lowest passing grade (C- or D) to signal their displeasure, but they just want to GTFO for summer too.

tyft. that's what i figured, but the teacher isn't an actual prof, he's a visiting lecturer, so I'm concerned he might not follow the customary (but unwritten) rules on failing a student. nice to know that the administration would have my back though.

A visiting lecturer who has ever taught anywhere before will know that failing a student is such a headache that it is only worth it as a punitive measure for a student who really does something beyond the pale.

BmoreOrLess wrote:My Civ Pro prof gave out a discretionary C, C-, and D. When they're only required to give B-'s, I'd say those are failing.

He did? I didn't hear about this at all haha, I feel so out of the loop.

But yeah, honestly no professor wants to deal with failing you.

bretby wrote:A visiting lecturer who has ever taught anywhere before will know that failing a student is such a headache that it is only worth it as a punitive measure for a student who really does something beyond the pale.

I hesitate to share the following because it's just going to freak out the OP, but I am aware of only two instances of students failing a class at my law school. In both cases, the failing grade was given by a visiting lecturer.

Also, I know of a FOAF at a T14 law school who failed a class during his final semester and therefore couldn't graduate. When he begged the professor to change the grade, the professor noted that, in addition to the student's final being terrible, the student had almost never showed up for class. The professor apparently suggested that the student may not have failed had he regularly attended lecture.

So, yeah, it's possible to fail a class. But OP: the above stories are memorable to me because they are so unusual. It's really, really unlikely that you failed.

I failed Civ Pro my 1L year and had to retake for a passing score. It's definitely possible, even at "good" schools. AMA.

an adjunct prof teaching some bs 3l class i had told us he failed students last year cause they didn't turn in the final essay exam. i guess that makes sense. not sure how you can fail if you at least fake an honest effort