lecturers marking is unfair...

Ms Beanbag

Does anyones lecturers mark their exams / assignments really hard?

I put a lot of work into an essay, I know it was good and I got 65...
The average in the class was about 50 - 55

damn... its not fair!!

David19

Talk to the lecturer. Ask them where you went wrong. You could also get a second opinion from another lecturer.

pancakeman

stop whining

PH01

pancakeman wrote:

stop whining

Poor PanCakeMan has no friends - me sad for you

aidan_walsh

I'd agree with David. There is always the possibility that you just didn't do as well as you thought you did, i.e. answered the question insufficiently, or indirectly, hence a fair marking.

klap trap

maybe this thread should be in college work?

briano

65% is not a bad mark. At all. To get above that, at least in DIT and apparently DCU (except for my number theory course), you really need to be putting down something above and beyond what you learned in class to show that you deserve a first (70+)

and, to be honest 50 - 55 is ok as well. I wouldn't make a big deal about your lecturer being unfair either, or you may find out exactly how unfair they can be.

Spunog UIE

there are external examiners if its anyway important...

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Tiriel

yep.. 65% depending on the lecturer is good.. especially if the average was 50-55% you can't complain at all.. 65 is well above average :rolleyes: though you have every right if you feel that you deserve more to go and ask the lecturer to point out the areas they felt your work was lacking.. this could either benefit you in the future or immediately.. if they realise it actually does deserve more marks..

either way.. cheer up.. and good luck

treefingers

yeah 65 is pretty good. it is next to impossible to get over 75 (in ucc anyway, or maybe its just me ) in an essay, so 65 is none to shabby....

dudara

College marking is different to LC grading, that's for certain. I graduated top of my class with ~75% overall (Highest I ever got in a year was 80%). It's a whole different ball game.

However, if you want, ask the lecturer for constructive criticism, learn from it and incorporate it into your next piece.

Ms Beanbag

Thanx for all the advice guys!

I dont know if theres much point in asking the lecturer about my essay.. I did it in November and it will be Jan when I go back.... she probably threw them in the fire... :eek:

the essay was worth 25% which is a lot...
What Im saying is that I think its b0lox that lecturers mark essays / assignments hard or benchmark it to a certain per cent. If you have done the work then you deserve the mark.

Crash

erm, of course they benchmark it to a certain percent. the difference between a first degree and a two one degree can be huge to certain employers, and a first is SUPPOSED to be hard to get. so they decide whether its deserving of a first, two one, two two etc. and then grade within that. makes perfect sense imo.

Sangre

crash_000 wrote:

so they decide whether its deserving of a first, two one, two two etc. and then grade within that. makes perfect sense imo.

Is a benchmark not when only for example 5 people should get a 1st and the top 5 set the standard or something

Sherifu

They will mark tougher to get the quota of 11 degrees right.
They did it when I graduated and I managed to get a 11 but the tests were marked tough.
Its unfair but its the same for everyone.
If your good enough you'll get there.

Ms Beanbag

Modified wrote:

They will mark tougher to get the quota of 11 degrees right.
They did it when I graduated and I managed to get a 11 but the tests were marked tough.

I dont really understand what you are saying here... whats the quota of 11 degrees

dudara

Some courses, or colleges, are under pressure to only award a certain amount of 1H degrees per year, regardless of individual results. (if 10% of the class make 70%+, but then only award 7.5% 1H, then that's the way it is.) This is to keep the standard high. On the other hand, some courses award them based purely on whether you make the grade. In my course, physics in UCC, out of a class of eight, five of us achieved 1H, so that screwed the bell curve up no end.

Sarn

As mentioned above the marking is usually based on a bell-curve e.g. you'll very rarely get below 25% or higher than 75%, of course this wouldn't apply to yes or no type questions.

Usually all the essays etc. are given a quick run through to get a feel for the standard of answers. Once this is done they're corrected and marked accordingly. You obviously wrote a good essay but someone must have written a better one.

Ms Beanbag

Thanx for all the replies. the highest mark was 80. which is a gd bit more than mine!
Thing is, this essay was worth a quarter of the marks for the year... thats why its annoying me.
lecturer offered to give a brief look at our essays before we did the exam. i didnt go in that day, so do ye think she'll still go over it with me now?

embraer170

If you have (or come up with) a fair reason for not coming on the day, I'm sure she will. I'm not sure about your college but I've always found lecturers in UCC very accomodating.

Ms Beanbag

Wel I went to see her about it. She read through essay and said it was a "very good essay, 1 of the better 1's in the class"... she said I could have had a few more facts in it, but she would "only be picking holes in it".!!
I said Ok, then she said "do you want more marks is it"? in a kinda patrionising way with a smirk on her face... I felt awkward and said no its alrite, she said "your happy so" I said thanks g'bye...

I am still bloody annoyed about it!! Now what do I do?

David19

Why didn't you say you thought you deserved more marks?
I think you have to accept your mark now and move on. Its still a good grade.

Ms Beanbag

saying "I thought I deserved more marks". does that not sound kinda cheeky?? I felt awkward about the whole situation when I was in with her..

the max mark I could possibly get at the end of this year now is about 70 and even then its pushing it goodo.
Im just gona try my v.best in the summer exam anyway.

simu

Ms Beanbag wrote:

saying "I thought I deserved more marks". does that not sound kinda cheeky?? I felt awkward about the whole situation when I was in with her..

It wouldn't be cheeky if you put forward some good reasons as to why you should get more marks.

Tis too late now anyway so you might as well focus on your other assignments and courses.

Jorinn

If you think getting what you perceive is an unjeust mark in the first place is bad then how about being singled out from your group and docked 6% individually from a group mark because you allegedly have a bad attitude. Lecturers don't like you to question their decisions sometimes obviously.