Exam 2 Grades

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I find my score?

Grades are sorted according to your social security number. For privacy reasons, we list only the last five digits (if you gave us only four digits, we replaced the missing one with an "0").

Why isn't my score listed here?

If you took the regular (not makeup) exam and your score isn't listed here, either you didn't include your social security number or there was an error in the way you entered it. In any case, you may ask or write to any of the instructors for your score.

How do I interpret my score?

Look up your total on the exam statistics page, which is at http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/~tales/05-1/exam2_statistics.html.

I thought my essay was pretty good. Why isn't my score higher?

Several students wrote analyses of tales that were explicitly excluded (e.g., if the question says "analyze any tale except 'Salt'," we can't assign a high score to an analysis of "Salt"). Otherwise, lower-than-expected essay scores usually resulted from errors, omissions, or failure to answer the specific question. For example, question #2, about feminism, explicitly required reference to at least four feminist issues identified by Marcia Lieberman and Ruth Bottigheimer, and essays that failed to address at least four of those issues could not receive full credit. You are welcome to meet with any of the instructors to review your essay and discuss why it received the score that it did.

I thought I knew the material well, but my multiple-choice score is lower than I anticipated. What did I do wrong?

There's no general answer to this question, but your instructors will be happy to go over your individual multiple-choice answers with you.

Didn't you throw out one of the multiple-choice questions?

Yep. The multiple-choice score listed here gives all students credit for getting that question correct, regardless of what they actually wrote.

What is "Admin" and why did I lose a point for it?

If you fail to follow directions in a way that requires us to go to a lot of extra trouble, we deduct one point. Such errors include not bubbling in your name (so that your multiple-choice score shows up as anonymous during scanning and we have to figure out who you are) or putting your first and last names in the wrong order (so that we have to hunt around to find you on the list). We do not deduct administrative points for errors unless they make a lot of extra work for us (e.g., we do not deduct a point for bubbling one square incorrectly in your name as long as your name shows up in the right place and we can figure out who you are without much difficulty).

What should I do if I think a question was unfair?

Don't confuse unfair with difficult. Questions are supposed to be difficult, in the sense that they should be able to distinguish excellent from good from fair from poor performance. But a question shouldn't require information that students cannot reasonably have been expected to know (for example, information that was not available in any form in readings or class meetings). Multiple-choice questions shouldn't be written to trick you into giving a wrong answer, but they may legitimately require you to read the question and all four answers very carefully. If, after considering the preceding, you genuinely think a question was unfair, please tell one of the instructors.

Is there a curve?

There is no curve for individual examinations, but if the overall course grades fail to meet certain targets, those final course grades are curved. See http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/~tales/grading.html for details.

Can I have my exam back?

The instructors hold on to all of the exams so that we'll know where they are should any questions arise later. We'll be happy to meet with you to look over your exam with you, though, and to answer any questions you may have about it.

Grades