Have you ever received your marks back from an assignment or paper and felt unhappy with your grade? You think you fulfilled all the requirements according to the evaluation rubric, but you are still struggling to understand the basis why you received the mark you did?
Towards the end of the 2015 winter semester, I filed a Reassessment of a Final Grade appeal with the registrar for an assignment in one of my International Development Studies courses. Having gone through the experience of formally appealing a grade, I want to shed light on this process. it is critical that students take advantage of the opportunities to understand and discuss their grades.
According to Dal’s Undergraduate Fee Schedule for the 2016-2017 academic year, the cost of tuition for students in the Arts Faculty is $8265.06—this is not including textbooks! When you are investing so much financially, not to mention the time, energy and effort required to succeed in all of your courses, it is imperative to receive fair assessment on all marked assignments.
The appeal of a final grade process is excellent at Dal: it gives students the opportunity to exercise their academic rights by creating a fair process for students to advocate their case when they feel that their work has been unfairly assessed.
When you have concerns about a grade, you are first encouraged to speak to the professor. If the issue cannot be rectified, then you are asked to contact the academic chair of the department. The academic chair will ask the professor to revaluate the assignment; if the professor rejects this request, then students can proceed to the formal appeal.
The formal appeal entails filing a Request for a Reassessment of a Final Grade.
During this process you need to ensure that you identify the specific component you wish to have reassessed and also the justification of your request. You will need to pay a fee of $50 for the formal appeal; this fee will be reimbursed to you if you are successful in the appeal and your grade is changed. The registrar will forward your request to the Dean or Director of the faculty of the course you are appealing.
A qualified professor who was not responsible for evaluating the original assignment will carry out the reassessment; furthermore, this professor will have never taught you in any courses to ensure fairness. Upon the completion of the reassessment, the registrar will notify you of the outcome.
This process seems like a bureaucratic hassle, and I can attest that it was not an easy experience, but it is critical that you advocate for your grades. We all deserve to be evaluated fairly.
“When students have a genuine concern, it is never the wrong thing to do, to investigate the basis of where your grade has been arrived at,” says David Black, Chair of the Political Science Department.
Hearing feedback from students who are dissatisfied with their grades also benefits the university, because it offers instructors and teaching assistants the opportunity to fulfill their obligations to provide a clear explanation for the basis on which the assignment was evaluated.
Grades are not just a letter and a number on the GPA scale; if you have aspirations of attending graduate school, law school, med school or any higher level of education, grades undoubtedly matter. The higher a GPA you have, the higher your chances of receiving that acceptance letter.
The formal appeal process provides an opportunity for students to voice their concerns when they feel that there is a discrepancy in how their assignments are assessed. The process can appear intimidating at first, but the university provides a clear and transparent process for students to appeal their grades in a fair and efficient manner.
From a student’s perspective, if you strongly believe that you are being marked unfairly, speak out and reward your financial investment, your dedication, and the time you took to succeed in your courses. We work hard and we all deserve a high quality education.
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