Dealing With a Low Mark–Meeting With the Prof

So following on from last week’s blog about dealing with a low mark, let’s say you wisely did nothing about a disappointing mark the first day and dealt with the emotions.

Now what?

At the core, you would like the professor to recognize that they were wrong and that they will increase your grade. If you go into a meeting with the prof with this goal, you will probably be disappointed, and the professor will be some combination of defensive or irritated.

More realistic is recognizing that neither you nor the prof want your next mark to look like the one you just got. You both have the same goal–a passing or better grade for you in this course. That is the bottom goal you have in common.

How do you make this happen?

Setting up the Meeting–State a Clear Objective

You learn from the prof how to make this happen–you set up a meeting to discuss improving your performance. In the email asking for the meeting, state a clear, positive purpose. “I’d like to discuss how going forward I can improve my work in this course” is much more positive and more likely to gain cooperation than “I’d like to discuss my grade on the last exam.”

Prepare for the Meeting

Go through the exam or paper and make notes of where you went wrong or comments that the prof made on your paper.

Summarize your error points–these will be quite different for calculus exams than for short answer psychology exams. Jot down your questions: Tone is everything in how you ask: “What did I miss here?” is more likely to gain you understanding in how the professor grades than will arguing about whether your short answer was worth 3 points or 1 point.

At The Meeting

When you log on with the prof or meet in their office, thank them for the meeting. State your disappointment and that you want to know how to improve. You can briefly outline the efforts you have made, e.g., attending tutorials, using peer review sessions, etc., if you have actually made these efforts. But don’t dwell at length on your large past efforts. You’re there to see what you can do differently to meet skill levels for the course and expectations of the professor.

Take notes during the meeting. 

Leave enough time at the end of the meeting to summarize the prof’s advice and comments.

Close the meeting with a brief  thank you.

After the Meeting

That same day, review your notes from the meeting and sketch out your plan into action points.

Schedule the action points. If any involve connecting with people or resources, send those emails to get the connections started.

Then send a thank you note for the professor’s suggestions and let them know that you have begun action on them. This should take place within 24 hours of your meeting, no later than 48 hours.

Going Forward

If your grade was on a paper and there is another paper due, once you have outlined your ideas and done some research you can ask for a meeting with the instructor to discuss your ideas and approach. You will know then if you need to abandon a dead end before you put in a lot of work, and still get a disappointing grade. Hint: if you have a fellow student who gets good grades in your course–ask to see their paper, lab write-ups, etc.

Sometimes an instructor will review a draft of your paper, provided you have left enough time before the work is due. It’s purely a bonus if it happens. It’s not usually an entitlement, especially in large classes.

Reinforce for Effort

Yes, it’s do the work. But it’s also reach out to find out and clarify expectations, reach out for peer tutoring, reach out for online practice work, reach out for student services writing workshops . . . the list goes on.

And give yourself a pat on the back, an attaboy for each step you take–reinforce your efforts. This helps make your effort sustainable over the whole term. It also increases the chances that your efforts will be rewarded by keener understanding, performance . . . and a better grade next time.

Let me know how it goes! [email protected]