Again, undergrads think this, but there's not much evidence that this really goes on that much.
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Have you ever worked really hard on a school assignment and then got a low grade? It's pretty confidence shattering.
- Thread starter Sheentak
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Again, undergrads think this, but there's not much evidence that this really goes on that much.
Had this happen in a 400 level English course. We had a handful of options to choose from, and the girlfriend and myself decided to go with HARD MODE to see if we could. Turns out we both misunderstood some pretty big elements of post structuralism.
So I put hours into this paper but fumbled the core idea of what I was supposed to be writing and wound up with a D+. She faired a little better with a C or C-. Been awhile.
/shrug.
So I put hours into this paper but fumbled the core idea of what I was supposed to be writing and wound up with a D+. She faired a little better with a C or C-. Been awhile.
/shrug.
I am a teacher in Germany and l have seen some pretty demoralizing stuff during my "training months". It is very hard to tell in which instances the work is being rated objectively and in which it is very dependent on the circumstances.
I once got the opportunity to witness a period in which the teacher would inform the students about their grades for the year (for participation during class) but would ask them first how they would grade themselves. Sounds like basic stuff.
Most students gave themselves a lower grade than the teacher had written on his sheet... Because most people would rather low ball than fall flat on their faces. The teacher went with the worse grade and justified it to me with the statement that he has so many students and as if he can remember who did what during the past couple of months.
It is just one example to show you that there can be a lot of factors for a poor grade and that you shouldn't get discouraged or insecure about your own abilities. Especially if you consider your own work as properly done. The education system in most cases is not fair for the student. It is important to remind yourself of the fact or you risk to get permanently discouraged or insecure about your self worth.
I once got the opportunity to witness a period in which the teacher would inform the students about their grades for the year (for participation during class) but would ask them first how they would grade themselves. Sounds like basic stuff.
Most students gave themselves a lower grade than the teacher had written on his sheet... Because most people would rather low ball than fall flat on their faces. The teacher went with the worse grade and justified it to me with the statement that he has so many students and as if he can remember who did what during the past couple of months.
It is just one example to show you that there can be a lot of factors for a poor grade and that you shouldn't get discouraged or insecure about your own abilities. Especially if you consider your own work as properly done. The education system in most cases is not fair for the student. It is important to remind yourself of the fact or you risk to get permanently discouraged or insecure about your self worth.
It's the 12 point grading system. Designed when 1,2,3,4 wasn't good enough, because too many people had 4.0's so they wanted to make the "smarter" kids stand out more.
When I was in college, I wrote what I thought was the best paper I ever wrote. I don't remember much of it now, sadly, but at the time I thought I had struck a level of genius I never expected of myself. It was an analysis of Sylvia Plath poetry that I reviewed as basically a point of creation to an entire literary universe of emotion and pain and I remember thinking "this is what it truly means to consume art."
My professor gave me a 79. I didn't even have the confidence to ask why. There were some notes but I don't remember them but I was just so embarrassed. This was my first year of college and I never handed in a paper with any confidence ever again. I don't think this was particularly a bad thing. I think I worked harder on my papers after that because I didn't take my writing for granted anymore. But man was I a sad sack for, like, four straight years.
My professor gave me a 79. I didn't even have the confidence to ask why. There were some notes but I don't remember them but I was just so embarrassed. This was my first year of college and I never handed in a paper with any confidence ever again. I don't think this was particularly a bad thing. I think I worked harder on my papers after that because I didn't take my writing for granted anymore. But man was I a sad sack for, like, four straight years.
Tried a philosophy degree through the Open University a few years ago and I tried harder at that than I have ever tried in anything education related in my entire life.
Did somewhat okay throughout the course and then it comes to the final assessment of the first and easiest year of any course with the OU, I spent months working harder than ever before on my final essay, skipped out in friends, stay up for hours and hours every night honing this thing into what I thought was a perfect essay. Everything was sourced and my arguments were solid or so I thought.
Submit my essay and then I get my results back, out of a possible 100, I got a 20. I literally cannot ever remember being more depressed and heart broken in my life, especially considering as a Dyslexic, Dyspraxic with EDD I really struggle with this stuff.
I'd like to say I tried again, but I feel into the type of near decade long funk that only counselling and some strong AD meds could drag me out of.
Did somewhat okay throughout the course and then it comes to the final assessment of the first and easiest year of any course with the OU, I spent months working harder than ever before on my final essay, skipped out in friends, stay up for hours and hours every night honing this thing into what I thought was a perfect essay. Everything was sourced and my arguments were solid or so I thought.
Submit my essay and then I get my results back, out of a possible 100, I got a 20. I literally cannot ever remember being more depressed and heart broken in my life, especially considering as a Dyslexic, Dyspraxic with EDD I really struggle with this stuff.
I'd like to say I tried again, but I feel into the type of near decade long funk that only counselling and some strong AD meds could drag me out of.
I pretty much felt like I didn't know WTF I was doing from the word go and absolutely hounded my professors/TAs early on, which ended up helping me build good learning habits that have served me well ever since.
OP, I wouldn't feel bad, it's a perfect opportunity to learn to use every resource you have at your disposal in order to absolutely make sure your work will get you the high marks you feel you deserve to get.
OP, I wouldn't feel bad, it's a perfect opportunity to learn to use every resource you have at your disposal in order to absolutely make sure your work will get you the high marks you feel you deserve to get.
Not on solo projects.
Group projects though... holy shit. I willingly took the hardest part and wrote almost the entire paper by myself. However, when I saw what the other people on the group had added; I immediately knew we were doomed. We ended up getting a B, which doesn't sound too bad, but for that specific course it wasn't good at all.
Group projects though... holy shit. I willingly took the hardest part and wrote almost the entire paper by myself. However, when I saw what the other people on the group had added; I immediately knew we were doomed. We ended up getting a B, which doesn't sound too bad, but for that specific course it wasn't good at all.
I always got pretty good feedback and advice in my creative writing workshops and long papers for other classes. Except for the one time I was sleep-deprived and stoned out of my mind while writing and my prof took me aside after reading my poem and said "Don't get so high when you write." He was 100% right. Still finished with an A.
Now that I'm a teacher I grade every written task over 2 or 3 days to ensure I'm not just in a good/bad mood the first time I look at the work. But it's middle and high school so it's a lot more cut and dry.
Now that I'm a teacher I grade every written task over 2 or 3 days to ensure I'm not just in a good/bad mood the first time I look at the work. But it's middle and high school so it's a lot more cut and dry.
Never. Every time I actually put in the effort, I was rewarded.
Every poor grade in my life was from a lack of effort.
Every poor grade in my life was from a lack of effort.
I remember something like this happening to me in 5th or 6th or 7th grade and it absolutely crushed me.
I worked so hard on this report and got a C on it. I really started to not care about school after that.
I worked so hard on this report and got a C on it. I really started to not care about school after that.
Not exactly assignments, but exams for example and that was because there was this teacher at uni who's a fucking lazy asshole. He canceled like 4 classes during the semester, told us the mid term exam would cover some topics and it ended up covering more, then for the last written test he totally forgot and gave us an assignment which he didn't even bother reading and just gave us grades based on what he thought of us as students. It was my last semester at uni so I wouldn't have to deal with him anymore, still reported his ass and hopefully something will be done about it.
I wouldn't have been that mad if it weren't for the fact that I had taken a class with him in a previous semester already and he was exactly the same lazy idiot then. Why I took a class with him again then? His was the only open last semester and it was my last semester at uni as well, so I had to.
I wouldn't have been that mad if it weren't for the fact that I had taken a class with him in a previous semester already and he was exactly the same lazy idiot then. Why I took a class with him again then? His was the only open last semester and it was my last semester at uni as well, so I had to.
With this knowledge, all my mom's stories (of her and her siblings getting "1st") are suddenly much more coherent.
I got a 89.9 on my Java Programming class when my clear button on my scientific calculator could not clear after a calculation was completed. Made me miss getting a Valedictorian position for my class and had a 3.95 GPA that was questioned TWICE in an post-graduate interview on why I didn't get a 4.0 GPA in my class.
Ridiculous! Apply yourself!
Yes, my 2nd grad course ever was a Latin American politics course. All essays. Professor chewed me and told me to drop out. Never experienced that in my life until that point, and yeah, eventually I dropped the class.
Yes, my 2nd grad course ever was a Latin American politics course. All essays. Professor chewed me and told me to drop out. Never experienced that in my life until that point, and yeah, eventually I dropped the class.
AP Physics. Studied my ass off for those tests, failed a lot of them.
In Spanish, I was to do a project on a Spanish speaking country and stupidly chose Brazil. It could be said I didn't do enough research, but I definitely worked hard on it, but still received a failing grade.
Writing for a mentor at a newspaper and he looks at your first piece and goes "did you not take this assignment seriously?" That sucked. When my second piece was better, he doubled down on how much he didn't like that first one.
In Spanish, I was to do a project on a Spanish speaking country and stupidly chose Brazil. It could be said I didn't do enough research, but I definitely worked hard on it, but still received a failing grade.
Writing for a mentor at a newspaper and he looks at your first piece and goes "did you not take this assignment seriously?" That sucked. When my second piece was better, he doubled down on how much he didn't like that first one.
It happens, my dude.
I was working on a web assignment last year, worked my ass off for weeks with a friend only to get a 3rd while he got a 1st. It was soul destroying.
For the uninformed:
First Class = 70%+
Second-class upper/2:1 = 60-69%
Second-class lower/2:2 = 50-59%
Third-class = 40-49%
Anything below 40 is a fail.
I was working on a web assignment last year, worked my ass off for weeks with a friend only to get a 3rd while he got a 1st. It was soul destroying.
For the uninformed:
First Class = 70%+
Second-class upper/2:1 = 60-69%
Second-class lower/2:2 = 50-59%
Third-class = 40-49%
Anything below 40 is a fail.
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Uh yeah. I studied engineering so your grade didn't always correlate to how hard you worked. It often depended on how much of a lazy asshole your professor was and how lucky you were if the content you chose to master in the little bit of time you had to study between engineering classes ended up on the test or not.
At first it hurts your feelings but then you realize Engineering life is shit, you signed up for it, and you can't do anything about it except perform your best and see what happens.
At first it hurts your feelings but then you realize Engineering life is shit, you signed up for it, and you can't do anything about it except perform your best and see what happens.
Nope, but I've never had to try hard as none of my schooling was particularly rigorous. Would probably find myself totally out of my league if I were to attend a school which actually requires you to work hard for the grades.
Years of winging it on broad (but rather shallow) knowledge acquired through reading and above average natural ability for certain subjects left me with no academic work ethic whatsoever.
Years of winging it on broad (but rather shallow) knowledge acquired through reading and above average natural ability for certain subjects left me with no academic work ethic whatsoever.
Wait what? How could you have done hard work on the project without realizing Brazil isn't really a Spanish speaking country?
Hence the "it could be said I didn't do enough research" comment.
Wrote about everything except language I guess. Probably focused on food.
I'm just mad I got the same grade as the kids who didn't even bother doing the project.
Yep, happened a bunch in college on assignments and tests. Similar feeling to letting your team down in sports. It's disappointing. Learning to take it like water off your back is ultimately more valuable though. Spin that disappointment into a positive opportunity to get better. Learning to fail in order to succeed is a cliche for a reason. Professors will appreciate the effort as long as you are putting it in. Effort and being able to take a punch will still put you ahead of 75% of people if you want to think of it competitively. People would rather work with someone who doesn't take things so seriously that they cannot get over minor things than they would someone who cannot handle coming up short.
Once, I'm not very good in writing french, i had a text to write about a freaking weird book. Ask my aunt for some help, she got a doctor diploma in old french and she make french research for university for like 30 years. So we've work like 7 days in a row every night, talking about the book, i've read it twice and she did the same. And i've got the lowest score i've never had in my life a 22%. I was so mad.... to this day i still talk about that to her because she clearly still want to talk to my teacher about that score and explain what happen, she is sure she understand probably the book way more then he did....
University is bullshit
Research isn't and academia itself isn't
But grading and performance and expectations are bull
It's often subjective and there's tons, TONS of inconsistency
Research isn't and academia itself isn't
But grading and performance and expectations are bull
It's often subjective and there's tons, TONS of inconsistency
I've experienced the same exact thing, OP. It sucks, but builds character. Don't have an ego about it.
Take the criticism to heart, work with your professors to improve and continue plugging away. Doing anything less would be a disservice to yourself.
Take the criticism to heart, work with your professors to improve and continue plugging away. Doing anything less would be a disservice to yourself.
You have to take this as a learning experience - this happens to everyone in life. Don't beat yourself up about it and know it's human.
I'm not sure if it was something I was taught or something innate, but I always responded by beating myself up and working super hard for the next time, i.e. perfectionism. At 35 I can tell you that I don't recommend this and I've only recently started to move away from it - you'll never get what you need to fulfill you. There's some point you just have to become happy/satisfied/love yourself enough.
There's nothing wrong with working hard, but don't let it consume you. The "choir at the shore and confetti" is never going to come from outside.
I'm not sure if it was something I was taught or something innate, but I always responded by beating myself up and working super hard for the next time, i.e. perfectionism. At 35 I can tell you that I don't recommend this and I've only recently started to move away from it - you'll never get what you need to fulfill you. There's some point you just have to become happy/satisfied/love yourself enough.
There's nothing wrong with working hard, but don't let it consume you. The "choir at the shore and confetti" is never going to come from outside.
Every elementary through high school art class was this for me. I remember several projects throughout that time that killed my interest in anything creative, from a project about creating an alien world that I made a giant solar system all the planets shaped and named based on different geometric shapes (failed because quote "planets have to be round") to pottery that shattered in the kiln and received an "Incomplete" that almost held me back a grade until the principal stepped in (she claimed I never turned anything in but everyone saw me working on it/turning it in). This wasn't just one art teacher either but several across my whole primary schooling career.
I had a lecturer during my Master's year at uni that was a real piece of work. Sexist, racist and awful to be around. He told us that he didn't want to see any online references in our essays, which many of us protested at the time due to the topics we were discussing in his class. Just a massively old-fashioned stance - we were fourth year students, not making references to Wikipedia or anything.
At any rate, there were a few particular things I needed to reference that only existed online, stats that just didn't have a print-based equivalent. Lo and behold, I get a bare pass, and I needed a minimum of a 2.2 in that module to get a 1 in my overall grade, so needless to say I was pretty pissed. I should stress again that the nature of these essays meant we needed up-to-date references, and a lot of us got shafted because the info we needed didn't exist in books.
I basically demanded the university regrade my work, and while they refused to do so, they agreed that the situation was stupid and allowed me to resubmit a different essay for the module and that would be graded by someone who knew what they were doing. I got a first, which pushed my whole degree grade up to a first too.
The entire experience was a nightmare and emotionally draining (and it didn't help that it was a pretty trying time in my family, too), but fortunately this is the last thing I ever needed to do at uni. Your situation isn't the same, but it's good that you have a lecturer that will give you (presumably) good feedback that you can use going forward. We had few of those, even outside of this particular guy.
At any rate, there were a few particular things I needed to reference that only existed online, stats that just didn't have a print-based equivalent. Lo and behold, I get a bare pass, and I needed a minimum of a 2.2 in that module to get a 1 in my overall grade, so needless to say I was pretty pissed. I should stress again that the nature of these essays meant we needed up-to-date references, and a lot of us got shafted because the info we needed didn't exist in books.
I basically demanded the university regrade my work, and while they refused to do so, they agreed that the situation was stupid and allowed me to resubmit a different essay for the module and that would be graded by someone who knew what they were doing. I got a first, which pushed my whole degree grade up to a first too.
The entire experience was a nightmare and emotionally draining (and it didn't help that it was a pretty trying time in my family, too), but fortunately this is the last thing I ever needed to do at uni. Your situation isn't the same, but it's good that you have a lecturer that will give you (presumably) good feedback that you can use going forward. We had few of those, even outside of this particular guy.
My entire undergrad hahaha. Not aware of peer reviewed research regarding it, though.
I witnessed many instances where professors were biased against students and students reporting did nothing (even with evidence) because the professor was tenured. Even had an instance where a professor treated and graded me worse than other students because he hated my disability accommodations. I raised it to the university and they just shrugged. I was too busy and poor to sue anyone. Many professors are sexist pieces of shit. My senior design prof couldn't stop inviting female students to his office hours and then commenting on their attire when they would ask for homework help.
4.0s are a mix of hard work and luck through a bullshit system of oftentimes lazy or busy professors who would rather focus on research than teaching undergrads.
Happened to me in uni I worked so hard on an essay in first year and then got a 41. That was a wake up call.
Have you done many essays? Sometimes it's just bad luck. Sometimes it's finding an academic style the lecturers will automatically think is better than it is
Have you done many essays? Sometimes it's just bad luck. Sometimes it's finding an academic style the lecturers will automatically think is better than it is
It wasn't that kind of post. It's a firm belief from doing an MA and talking to tons of people who have done degrees in many different specialisms and from different countries
For an example of actual direct bullshit, one time my partner and her friend compared their exams papers with feedback on. One of them got a B, one of them got a C. On the exam papers the professor has written exactly the same feedback in exactly the same places. E.g. "look into this more", "not in depth enough", etc.
Literally the same feedback sentences written in the same places on two different students' papers
Obviously this is a sign of individual malpractice and not the system itself being flawed - but the really telling thing was that they showed this to the department heads and complained about it and asked previous students and find that this professor had been getting 1/10 feedback from students for years
But the guy apparently was quite good at his research, and well liked in the department, so he stayed, making the students' lives shitty with arbitrary, crap teaching for years to come
In my field, it's actually put on a pedestal that writing quality and professors' preferences actually impact your grades, and I honestly think that's true of every discipline to varying degrees
I also recommend reading the philosophy and science book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, where the author explains how he too realised grading and teaching at universities was arbitrary and bullshit and abolished "grades" from his classes because it wasn't the point. It meant most people weren't there to learn but to attain something unrelated (e.g. a decent job anywhere).
You think that's bad, I worked for a solid week nonstop on an animation assignment only for my computer to crash and my harddrive to die just as I was finishing up. I couldn't restart my computer because my HDD wouldn't start spinning, as such I lost everything. I don't think I've been more angry/defeated in my entire life.
