So this happened to me this semester. I finished a class with a 69.9 and my teacher gave me the D. It was a class of 300+ and the grade was based solely on test. 0 record ever kept for attendance.

Who has ever fought something like this and been successful?

Test



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What class is it? Which prof?

i'd go talk to the prof, but as long as his grading standard in his syllabus says 70.0 and up is a C, he doesn't have to change it

Why round it? You took the same test as everyone else, so are they getting their grades rounded?

In chemistry, just about every prof says 69.9999 =/= 70.0000.

A year ago, I spent about 15 hours a week on one class. Needed a 74.8 on a a timed essay final (graded for grammar). Received a 74.4

Was told my points were clear, but my grammar was off. I wish they would realize its ****ing hard to watch for grammar when there are 16 essay questions that have to be half a page each in an HOUR AND A HALF.

Needless to say, I got a 79.99 in the class.

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Why round it? You took the same test as everyone else, so are they getting their grades rounded?

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Then the prof can round their grades too: People who get an 80.4 can have their grades rounded down to 80.

I've never understood why rounding has become an expectation. There's a cutoff, you were below it.

Of course, it never hurts to ask.

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I've never understood why rounding has become an expectation. There's a cutoff, you were below it.

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Exactly.

As a TA, I always rounded to the nearest whole number. No decimals.

Yet, you'd still have someone with a 69.4 want you to round up.

any prof or TA that doesnt round a ".9" is an arsehole.

Why does .9 make them an arsehole? Why shouldn't they round .88? The fact of the matter is that there's a cutoff, and anything below that is the lower letter grade, if they want to include 69.6 in the C range, then they can state that on the syllabus or just count them as Cs, but that shouldn't be expected.

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Why shouldn't they round .88

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They should. It doesn't matter that there is a cutoff. If the cutoff for a B is an 80 then a 75.5 is a B. If a prof is going to give grades where they end up as decimals, then he needs to follow the rules of simple math.

You want less students whining? See to it that you don't hand out grades with decimals. Its that simple.

Well I got an 82.1 in a class and the prof. gave me a C. Now that sucks. He said because he didn't say he was going to go with the normal distribution of letter grades he didn't have to grade that way. My argument is that the SOB never said he wasn't going to grade that way.

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If the cutoff for a B is an 80 then a 75.5 is a B

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If the cutoff for a B is 80, then since 79.5 < 80, I think the rules of simple math say it's a C.

Rounding is not simple math, it's an arbitrary form of estimation. Estimation isn't needed when you can handle the calculation.

I didn't know it was a rule to round up! It sure wasn't when I was in school.

I graduated with a cumulative 3.495 (i.e. I was 5 thousands from graduating with honors). Sometimes that's the way the cookie crumbles. I'm sure some would have gone to profs and tried to get one to budge but I figured I got what I deserved. I had a little too good of a time the last semester and learned my lesson.

You should learn a lesson from this. It should spur you to never let it happen again rather than feeling sorry for your self! [/steps off his high horse]

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Rounding is not simple math, it's an arbitrary form of estimation. Estimation isn't needed when you can handle the calculation.

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Like I said, if you are going to have it where a student can get a decimal grade, then estimation IS needed because a decimal is not a whole number. When using decimals, a 79.5 is a B

A decimal is used for situations that require more precision. Grading does not require more precision, therefore if you are going to use a decimal then it is widely known that you are going to round.

[This message has been edited by mazag08 (edited 12/28/2008 2:36p).]

Seriously tony? The entire system of assigning a letter grade is arbitrary so why split hairs over decimals. The difference in comprehension between a student with a 79.9x and a student with a 80.0 is likely meaningless, yet one student is getting the 2.0 and the other is getting the 3.0. One of the biggest beatings in life is that people of importance don't see a difference of less than a hundredth or thousand, they only see the letter grade. So you take a trivial, arbitrary cut-off and turn it into real consequences for the person on the receiving end of the shaft.

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Like I said, if you are going to have it where a student can get a decimal grade, then estimation IS needed because a decimal is not a whole number. When using decimals, a 79.5 is a B

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You don't need to round. We're interested in putting things into sets based on whether or not they are greater or less than defined grade cutoffs. Yes, 80 is a whole number, but it is exact. You could write it 80.0000000000000000. 79.5 is less than 80.

Ryan, I completely agree that the differences are meaningless, but I'm arguing using the grading system A&M employs. A system that didn't create such a difference between 79.5 and 80.0 would be much better, such as one that grades out of 100, or one that has A+, A, A- divisions.

But in the current system, cutoffs have to be made. Rounding makes things arbitrary.

*edited for grammar*

[This message has been edited by aggietony2010 (edited 12/28/2008 3:01p).]

See thats what my argument was, being that it is possible to make a decimal then rounding should be somewhat considered. 69.9 is less than 1 question right on my test to get a 70. Thats what I thought if I asked I should have received that 70.

We've all been the cutoff at one point or another. A couple of years ago I was the first B in a curved class. Only thing that irked me was that I was the grad student picking up an undergrad class.

Life goes on

Some math pedantry:

69.999 is not equal to 70

But the repeating 69.9999999... is

Guess you should have studied for 5 more minutes.

[This message has been edited by aero ag 2010 (edited 3/15/2009 2:13p).]

aero ag 2010,

are you saying the repeating 69.999999... is *not* equal to 70?

Or are you responding to something else.

If the former I can post a proof if you would like.