Be Prepared To Challenge a Low Grade

August 22nd, 2009

So you’ve enjoyed the first few weeks of your break from classes. You’re home for the holidays or you’re getting ready to go on a summer vacation. School is the last thing on your mind, so it’s a surprise to finally check your grades online and discover one that you had not expected: a low grade.

Of course, this doesn’t happen often, but you should still be prepared to take action to protect your GPA. How can you be prepared to challenge a low grade? Well, waiting until the semester is over to gather all your records of the class is too late. You need to have a system in place to keep track of all your records early.

At the start of the semester, review all of your course syllabi. These will have grading policies for each course on them; if you’re at all confused by any of these policies, ask your professors to clarify them for you.

Organize a file in which to keep all of your graded papers, projects, homework assignments, and any correspondence you have with the professor. By having a paper trail, you can point to your diligence in the course and you can show that you have evidence of the grades you’ve earned.

Then, as the semester progresses, track all of the grades you receive in each grade category in your own notebook. You cannot rely on the instructor’s records, as you must also have your own records in case you need to challenge the grade. This will be helpful in checking your professor’s math and whether or not he correctly inputted the grades. If you can, also keep track of your attendance, so that way you can check it against the professors. Sometimes this is important as it can protect you from automatically failing or being dropped from the course.

Finally, do your best to earn good grades in the shady areas of the syllabus. This means that you’ll have to participate in class, certainly, but it also means making sure you create a meaningful presence in areas that can be used to justify your grade to a committee that reviews the challenge. For example, you could speak in class a lot, but there’s no evidence of that. Consider sending your professor a follow up email about something you asked in class. That way you can print it off and have a record of your in-class participation.

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