Professors' Guide to Getting Good Grades in College Professors' Guide to Getting Good Grades in College Professors' Guide to Getting Good Grades in College Collins - An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers to be published June 27th, 2006 ABOUT THE BOOK MEET THE AUTHORS MEET THE AUTHORS BUY THE BOOK
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chapter 2

How do Professors Grade, Anyway?

At the heart of college grading lies one moment -- the time when the professor picks up your piece of work, reads it through, and decides upon the grade. But what actually goes on here? College students never know because this activity is conducted in total secrecy. Always. Professors go to great lengths never to be caught in the act. But now for the first time we lift the curtain on the college grading process. We show you what goes on behind the scenes -- in the hidden recesses of the professor's office. Once you understand how college grades are given -- and what lurks in the mind of the professor as he or she doles out the grade -- you'll know how to prepare your work in such a way as to get the best possible grades. Are you sitting down? Because your knees may buckle as we reveal that...

FACT # 1: The Grader can be Someone You've Never Seen Before

Sure, the professor gave out the assignment. And sure, when the assignment was handed back, the professor talked to the class about how well they had (or hadn't) done on the test or paper. But that doesn't mean the professor actually graded the assignment. Think about it for a moment. There's no way a professor teaching 100, 200, 300, or more students in one class is going to be able to grade all those papers him or herself. And why should he (or she), when in many universities there's a stable of eager graduate students ready to take on those tall stacks of papers?

When I was an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. I took five advanced courses with the same philosophy professor. The professor always provided lengthy and detailed, even typed comments on my written work – often quite positive. The professor even went so far as to propose topics for my senior honors thesis – advice that went far beyond the call of duty. So before leaving for graduate school, I went to personally thank him for the years of thoughtful comments on my essays. "Don't thank me," he responded, "thank the guy in the brown jacket who sat in back of you in class." "Who was that?" I asked. "A grad student who's been working for some time as my grader -- he's the one who wrote all those comments." It turned out that the professor had never once read my papers or exams in any of the five courses. And had never breathed a word about his hidden, dirty secret. I felt ripped off. And I still do...

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