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Errors in grading do happen and most instructors are happy to correct them. However, students often hope that by arguing about their work they can improve their grades. Instructors often have policies in place to head off excessive re-grade requests.

Sample Language

Alain Plante, ENVS 100: "Introduction to Environmental Science"

During the course of grading assignments and examinations, it is possible that a mistake could be made, particularly when trying to return exams to students in a timely manner. There are 3 categories of mistakes, and you can expect the following response to them:

  1. Errors that introduce confusion or ambiguity in formulating questions: These impose equal disadvantage on all students, and no adjustment will be made on any exam for perceived errors of this category.
  2. Errors of addition/subtraction in compiling individual student scores: These are easily corrected, and will be done so with due diligence. If you find such an error, please bring it to your TA's attention.
  3. Errors of judgment in assigning full or partial credit to specific answers: All students are given the benefit of any legitimate doubt in determining the "correctness" of an answer to any question. We are far more likely to award more credit than an answer is worth than we are to award less credit. If you think you have suffered from one or more errors of this category, describe those errors fully, in writing, on a separate page and submit it with the exam to your TA. We will review your exam to see if you should have been awarded more credit for those questions. However, we will also review the rest of your exam to see if you were awarded too much credit for any other answer.

Luca Bossi, ECON 002: "Introduction to Macroeconomics"

Errors in grading rarely occur; here are the rules and procedures for requesting a correction. The important general rule is that such a request should clearly and succinctly state the unambiguous error you believe has occurred. Errors in grading arising from illegible or garbled answers are not subject to correction. Students who believe their work has been graded incorrectly should petition for a correction in typing to the Professor. Students should not approach either the Professor or the TA with an oral request before making their written request. Requests should be focused on the specific error and should be made within a week of the work being returned. Requests for regrading of the final exam or make-up final exam must be made within the first 3 weeks of the following semester. You can ask for regrading only if you wrote in pen on your exams. No possibility of regrading for those students who decide to use a pencil instead. Re-grading is not allowed for the multiple choice part of the exams. The entire graded examination should be resubmitted; there is no guarantee that grades will rise as, statistically, positive and negative errors in grading are equally likely. If the request arises because you think different students have been graded differently, all the affected students should submit their work as a group.

Chris Murphy, CIS 350: "Software Design & Engineering"

Credit for work will be recorded only as reported by the TA in the course gradebook. It is your responsibility to make sure that your work has been properly recorded in the gradebook.

If you need to request a regrade for an assignment, please adhere to the following policy:

  • If there was a clerical or math mistake in calculating or recording your grade, please email the TA who graded it so that it can be fixed.
  • If you lost points for something you did correctly, e.g. the grader said "-2 points for not doing X" and you actually did do that (or something similar), please speak with the TA who graded it during their office hours. It is preferable to discuss these things in person than over email. However, if you can't attend the grader's office hours, then email them to try to arrange another time to meet.
  • Likewise, if you lost points for something and do not understand the grader's comments, please speak with the TA who graded it during their office hours if possible.
  • For any other issues, please contact the instructor. This may be things like "I didn't realize we had to do X," "I misunderstood this part of the assignment," etc. This isn't to say that you'll necessarily get points back for your misunderstanding, but issues such as these should be discussed with the instructor.
    Regrade requests must be made within one week of the score being posted in the gradebook. Only regrades related to administrative mistakes (e.g., miscalculating the score or entering it incorrectly) made after the one-week period are likely to be considered.