That Time Of Year, or: No, I Will Not Raise Your Grade Just Because You Asked Me To

A few rules and tips for end-of-the-semester grade-grubbing:

1. Do not engage in end-of-semester grade-grubbing.

2. If you ARE going to ask me to raise your grade, do so in person, not via email.

3. Don't ask me to raise your grade.

4. No, there is nothing you can do, now that the final exam is over, to raise your grade. In fact, this is the only time in the past four months such that there is absolutely nothing you can do to raise your grade. (And the only thing you can ever do to raise your grade is: do better on the assignments. And the means to that end is: work harder on the assignments.) 

5. No, there is no extra credit in this class. The syllabus makes it clear how grades are determined, and does not list "extra credit." In fact, it explicitly says there is no extra credit in this class. If there were extra credit, that would not be an option for any student after completion of the final exam. And certainly not after final grades are posted. And doubly certainly not after they are submitted to the Registrar and reported to you. (And: as a colleague once put it: asking for extra credit is asking to receive a 'B' for doing additional 'C'-quality work.)

6. No, telling me that you attended class a lot doesn't change anything. Attendance is at your discretion. Your reward for attending class is understanding of the material...and the higher grades that understanding brings.

7. No, I will not "round up" your grade. But, good news: I also won't round it down.* You've got to draw the line somewhere. So you might as well draw it where it belongs. You can't just give points to select students--especially not just because they asked. And raising everyone's grade by some amount--no matter what amount--will almost always raise another student's grade to be near the cut-off. So down this road lies everyone getting an 'A'

8. Grade-grubbing is really bad form. It makes me think less of those who do it. Though, of course, those who do it probably don't care.

9. blah blah blah

* I actually had a student once send me a terse email at the end of the semester asserting that I had miscalculated her grade. Alarmed, I checked, but it was, unsurprisingly, correct. I informed her of this, and she responded that the error she had in mind was: not rounding up (by over half a percentage point, incidentally). My response was neither happy nor friendly.