How to Approach an Unfair Teacher to Change Your Grade

Schoolar

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posted on 15 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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If you've received an unfair grade on an assignment from a teacher or professor, you're probably wondering if there's anything you can do to fix it. Luckily, you don't have to settle for an unfair grade—there are ways you can bring this up with your teacher and hopefully get a better grade that you deserve. In this article, we'll show you how to approach your instructor and ask them to change your grade.

Steps

Before Approaching

Think about this particular teacher. Have they been known to stand firm with their grades? Have they been unfair in the past? Thinking about these things will help you formulate your method for approaching the teacher.

Ask for opinions from others. Whether it be a family member, or a friend who's amazing at the subject you're in, getting a second opinion is important. They can tell you what they feel your grade should be. When you do this, make sure you tell the reader to be non biased, because this will help you get the most honest opinion possible.

Read over the assignment or assignments in question yourself. This is important, even if you've already done it once. Read through everything thoroughly, and make sure that in your mind, you definitely deserve a higher grade. If you can't find a reason for deserving a higher grade, then it might not be worth it to even approach the teacher.

Get your reason for deserving a higher grade into your head. Whether it be that you went above and beyond in some way, or your paper was spell-checked and read through for grammar errors many times, getting this reason in your head is very important.

Know the right time to approach the teacher. For obvious reasons, avoid doing that when they're in the middle of teaching. They likely won't appreciate the interruption. Either wait until you know they don't have a class, or go directly after school ends. These are usually the better times to approach a teacher.

When Approaching

Make sure you have every assignment in question in your hands when you walk in. This will show the teacher that you really feel passionate about receiving a better grade.

Avoid just barging in. Barging in will likely make the teacher feel annoyed. Instead, politely open the door and say "Mr/Mrs___? I'd like to talk to you about something, if you have a minute."

State that you feel you deserve a better grade on the assignments, and your reason why. This is why it's important that you keep your reason for deserving a better grade in your head. If they can't see it themselves when looking at your paper, tell them directly where you feel you did a great job.

Be willing to do anything to increase the grade and let them know that. Whether it be redoing the assignment, or doing a lengthy research paper. Whatever it'll take to increase your grade.

Thank the teacher either way. Even if they say no, thanking them will help them realize that you genuinely cared. If they said yes, thanking them will show them you appreciated what they did for you. If they said no, ask them for tips for what you can do for assignments the future, especially if this information wasn't included when they graded the assignment.