Asking for perspectives on my grade appeal

[StemIsLife]

Since I need some perspectives on my appeal from anyone, I have a question.

My question is what will you do when the professor marked your problem(s) wrong on the Calculus exam DESPITE the fact that you actually submitted the answer(s) that were correct in according to the WAMAP, (an online testing platform in Washington)?

The professor decided to mark off the points due to how your written works might be looked like such as you may forgot to finalize the answer in a formal notation form, or the step of works might be not completely accurate.

So, would you claim a grade dispute?

Let me know your inputs.

Thank you,
Roger

 

[.Scott]

The professor decided to mark off the points due to how your written works might be looked like such as you may forgot to finalize the answer in a formal notation form, or the step of works might be not completely accurate.

I doubt that I am fully catching what you are trying to say in the sentence I quoted above. But it doesn't sound like the answer is being marked down because it is wrong. It sound like it is being marked down because you either didn't follow instructions or didn't fully communicate your answer.

 

[berkeman]

Welcome to PF.

My question is what will you do when the professor marked your problem(s) wrong on the Calculus exam DESPITE the fact that you actually submitted the answer(s) that were correct in according to the WAMAP, (an online testing platform in Washington)?

The professor decided to mark off the points due to how your written works might be looked like such as you may forgot to finalize the answer in a formal notation form, or the step of works might be not completely accurate.

Please post the full problem statement (as well as any other instructions you were given for the exam) and your solution, so we can comment. Please use LaTeX to post math equations at PF (see the "LaTeX Guide" link below the Edit window). Thank you.

 

[symbolipoint]

Since I need some perspectives on my appeal from anyone, I have a question.

My question is what will you do when the professor marked your problem(s) wrong on the Calculus exam DESPITE the fact that you actually submitted the answer(s) that were correct in according to the WAMAP, (an online testing platform in Washington)?

The professor decided to mark off the points due to how your written works might be looked like such as you may forgot to finalize the answer in a formal notation form, or the step of works might be not completely accurate.

So, would you claim a grade dispute?

Let me know your inputs.

Thank you,
Roger

Probably not ; or should it be said, almost certainly not.

Units and dimensions are important and must not be ignored regardless of accidental, purposeful, or lack of neatness. Problem solving steps are important for the viewers' tracking your solution process and to find or correct mistakes if final result does not work.

 

[gmax137]

Let me know your inputs.

Endeavor to persevere.

 

[DaveE]

It sounds to me like there is some amount of misunderstanding between you and your instructor about what the assignment requirements are. Often "just" getting the right answer isn't the whole story. So I would encourage you to ask in a polite way why you got the grade you did. Note that this is quite different than arguing that you should have gotten a higher grade. He's probably done this many, many times, you're not going to change his mind unless you can identify a clear mistake. But you can learn how to do better on the next assignment, which, IMO, is the most important thing.

 

[Mark44]

My question is what will you do when the professor marked your problem(s) wrong on the Calculus exam DESPITE the fact that you actually submitted the answer(s) that were correct in according to the WAMAP, (an online testing platform in Washington)?

See below...

The professor decided to mark off the points due to how your written works might be looked like such as you may forgot to finalize the answer in a formal notation form, or the step of works might be not completely accurate.

I'm not sure what you mean by "finalize the answer in a formal notation form." It would help if you showed us what you wrote as your answer and what the "correct formal notation form" was supposed to be. Also, be sure to provide as close to the actual problem statement as you can remember, if you don't have the test paper to get it from.

If some of the steps in your work are not "completely accurate" (I'm interpreting this to mean that they were wrong), I'm not surprised that your prof marked the problem wrong. If you were able to get the correct answer even though one or more of the steps were wrong, it appears that you get the answer by pure luck, rather than through problem solving ability.

 

[mathwonk]

I have not seen your work, but I will make a suggestion, based on my experience grading homework. Most of my students submit only a string of calculations, with no explanation as to what they mean, or how they relate to the problem at hand, and expect me to make sense of them. A good solution should be written up as clearly and completely as an essay in an English paper, with complete sentences. It should resemble the explanation in a good text book. Here is a candidate of my own, explaining cardano's formula on this site, to solve a specific cubic equation, x^3 = 6x-2.
https://www.physicsforums.com/threa...he-given-cubic-equation.1056109/#post-6938693

In your case, as other have suggested, I recommend you resist assuming your professor has been wrong in marking your paper down, but rather that there is some aspect of writing up a solution that he/she expects from you but that you have omitted, and ask about how you could improve your work. Basically, your writeup should be one another student in your class, one who could not solve the problem, could read and understand.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Most of my students submit only a string of calculations, with no explanation as to what they mean

If you are lucky. We've all dealt with students who put numbers in and take units out right away, and expect us to understand how they got 41.231 and not 78.82 and give them credit.

However, the OP has not visited since he posted his question, so I fear your advice will be wasted.

 

[mathwonk]

well, much of my advice has been similarly ignored. over my decades long career, I wrote out meticulous corrections on every incorrect answer on every paper and exam, hundreds and hundreds of them, and kept them to discuss afterwards with the students, intending to hand them back. I could count, possibly on one hand, the number of students who actually came in to ask about them over the years, and when I retired, almost all of the carefully annotated exams were still in my files, unread by the students they were addressed to. I eventually shredded them over several days. But that was my job. I believe the handful who were interested received some benefit.

Perhaps, thanks to the earlier comments here, the OP may eventually learn that getting "the steps" right, is more useful than getting the numerical answer right. Or some other student reading this may do so. We can only lead the horses to the water.

 

[berkeman]

I believe the handful who were interested received some benefit.

I would have been very happy and thankful to have been one of your students. And I made it a point to thank each instructor and TA who put in that much effort to help me. Their efforts are big part of my successes in life.