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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask for it to be remarked?

71 replies

QuestionableMouse · 23/02/2018 09:15

I collected an essay yesterday and I'm really not happy with the grade. I've been given 55% and a '3' (needs to seek help with English) which I don't feel is fair.

Reasons why I was marked down:

  • titles formatted wrong. Well yes they are but I was following an incorrect guide that the university had posted and the lecturer had referred us to.
-he's changed some of the words I've used. I used great at one point. He's crossed it out and scribbled good. Something being great or good is a matter of opinion surely? This has happened more than once.
  • he's disagreed with my use of semi colons. I'm 100% sure I've used them correctly.

There was a couple more things like that but I can't remember them. I don't feel like he's looked at the content at all (there is only one comment on it out of half a page) and had marked me down for one mistake then style choices.

Does anyone have any experience with this type of thing?

OP posts:
DianaPrincessOfThemyscira · 23/02/2018 09:18

Will it cost you? Will the original teacher regrade it? And how much influence will it have on your final grade?

Those questions would sway my answer one way or another, but from what you’ve said I’d err on the side of re mark too.

Countingsheeeep · 23/02/2018 09:21

I would always say yes to remarking. When I did my a levels I was a couple of marks off an a, and pushed to have it remarked. It returned with an apology letter from aqa that an entire page had been missed when marking my paper, and I was granted the correct grade.

I realise this is quite rare however Had I not sent it in to be remarked I would have never known.

Worth a shot!

Original poster
QuestionableMouse · 23/02/2018 10:34

I'm only in first year so it has no real impact on my grades. It's just frustrating because in my language assignment, I got a 1 for use of English and apart from the titles, I didn't do anything differently. (and I was given 68% on the language one)

OP posts:
lljkk · 23/02/2018 10:40

give us a few sentences with the changes lecturer wanted, OP. I'm struggling to tell if YABU or not.

SoupyNorman · 23/02/2018 10:43

At university level you usually can only ask for a remark on procedural grounds, not to query the academic judgement of the first marker.

I’d be interested to see an example of your use of semi-colons, as in my experience students use them incorrectly more often than not (while thinking they are using them correctly).

LegallyBrunet · 23/02/2018 10:47

If you're not happy you're probably best of speaking to the marker first and asking for clarification about the feedback. That's the protocol at my university.

billybagpuss · 23/02/2018 10:47

Its maybe worth having a quiet chat next time you see him and ask what was missing from the substance of the essay to get a higher mark as I whilst the niceties of grammar may have some impact on the grade I'm sure the content has had more.

Original poster
QuestionableMouse · 23/02/2018 11:06

Thank you. I don't have it to hand but I'll post examples when I get in from work.

He didn't really give any feedback on the content at all so I'm struggling to understand how I could have done better.

I'll contact him and ask to speak with him but he's really hard to get hold of most of the time!

OP posts:
HarryHarlow · 23/02/2018 11:08

What subject are you studying op?

Shadow666 · 23/02/2018 11:11

I'm a bit of a grammar lover. Definitely post some examples and we'll give feedback.

irregularegular · 23/02/2018 11:18

I agree with billybagpuss. Ask for feedback on the content and structure of the essay. Also find out the criteria by which your work is supposed assessed (this will be available somewhere). I would be very surprised if correct grammar is supposed to be very important. I am a University Lecturer and would almost never bother to correct use of things like semi-colons , though I can imagine circumstances where "good" would be better than "great" and would correct that.

If you are not happy with the feedback you get, either because you don't think it is sufficient to know how to improve, or because it does not match the criteria, then consider asking for advice from someone else. Not so much a remark, as a helpful chat.

Original poster
QuestionableMouse · 23/02/2018 11:45

Studying English.

One example that stuck in my mind was I'd put something like 'the poet makes great use of imagery...' and the lecturer had crossed out great and put in good. That to me is more of an opinion rather than correcting a mistake. (And I really did think it was great - not good - use of imagery.)

OP posts:
430West · 23/02/2018 12:15

I'd have to agree with that OP, 'Great' is a more emotional word than 'good' and therefore less appropriate and authoritative in an academic context.

It's also rather bland in its meaning; you could have used more sophisticated language that better conveyed exactly what you thought was 'great' about the use of imagery rather than just saying it was 'great'.

lljkk · 23/02/2018 12:23

Great could mean == I like it, whereas Good = very high quality.
Does that make sense?

Floottoot · 23/02/2018 12:26

Great could also read as "extensive", maybe?
Good reads as "effective".

430West · 23/02/2018 12:27

Yes, better words would be:

"the visual/auditory/olfactory imagery used in the poem enabled the poet to incisively convey x meaning/theme"

IHeartKingThistle · 23/02/2018 12:32

I teach English and 'great' would grate (ha!) on me in an academic essay as being too informal.

BossWitch · 23/02/2018 12:38

I would stop my year 9s and up from using 'great'. It's not the appropriate academic tone.

I think you need to accept the advice and learn from it, as you said it's not affecting your grade.

Badhairday1001 · 23/02/2018 12:39

I agree with great being too informal for a formal piece of writing.

PurpleAlien · 23/02/2018 12:55

I'm currently at Uni. I'm not studying English I'm studying a science based subject. I don't think I would use the word 'great' in one of my assignments, it just doesn't convey an academic voice.

If was studying English I would expect to be picked up on those kind of errors. Sorry.

But, it's 1st year so learn from it and move on.

Swatsup · 23/02/2018 12:58

Remember that 55 is good for a degree! Seems low but it means the essay was good just not amazing :-)

Nikephorus · 23/02/2018 13:10

You can challenge it on the formatting / using the wrong advice grounds - I challenged one on referencing because my referencing was spot on according to the university guidelines (and I mean absolutely spot on) but the tutor had been using a version of referencing that she was used to from elsewhere. I got a higher mark. (I also challenged on other grounds and was proved right on that too). Don't assume that the tutor is always right - sometimes they just don't read what you've actually written, or comment too quickly when if they'd read the next line it would have negated their comment.
(I do agree to an extent on the great comment though - there are more academic ways of saying it)

Sprinklestar · 23/02/2018 13:25

I’d be interested to see an example of your use of semi-colons, as in my experience students use them incorrectly more often than not (while thinking they are using them correctly).

Exactly the kind of attitude I’ve encountered when requesting a remark. Oh yes, those stupid little students. Of course they couldn’t use a semi-colon correctly Hmm

FWIW, I was given a ridiculously low mark for a piece of postgraduate writing as part of a course last year. In fact, it was the lowest mark I’d ever got at university, any university, despite being awarded a first in my degree and then receiving a scholarship towards my MA. In a nutshell, I am not stupid! This was the third university I’d studied through and to be honest, I was appalled at the sloppy nature of the lecturers, the lack of attention to detail, assignment titles so vague and ambiguous that it was very difficult to answer any question correctly. I digress...

I messaged the course lecturer and asked her to point out examples of her various criticisms. Apparently my use of English left a lot to be desired. Guess what my other two degrees are in? Yep, languages. She had mistakenly (and not for the first time) awarded my marks to someone else and given me another student’s feedback.

The sad thing about all this was that the university was very keen to back its staff, I was the student and must be wrong, the silly little student who couldn’t cope with not doing well... Categorically not the case and arguably, I was better qualified than at least one of the lecturers due to industry experience. It was only because I was confident enough to challenge the lecturer due to past experience that any of this came out.

What did I take from my latest university experience? Most of the lecturers weren’t very good and would not have survived in the corporate world! They liked fresh faced young students that they could bully and who wouldn’t challenge them, who’d revere their God-like status. When it came to proper intellectual debate and challenge, they crumbled. With hindsight, this was also true when I was a student first time round, it’s just I was too intimidated to complain. Shocking really, given the price students pay for education.

OutyMcOutface · 23/02/2018 13:30

One would never use great in an essay unless with a capital as inAlexander the Great or the Great Depression. Even good is a bit off but acceptable. English studies are about interpreting the work not expressing your opinion in its quality.

VladmirsPoutine · 23/02/2018 13:32

Were you being asked to critically analyse something?

If so I can see why 'great' would be quite grating. 'Great' just means you thought it was great - did you actually analyse the text/imagery/whatever?

It's worth a shot anyway if you have nothing to lose. But I can't say whether or not YABU because I'd need to read what you wrote.