Hell no. Hell, I did the figgering in one class and didn’t do the time- intensive final project because I knew it would only take my A to a B.
Crap, if our Dean hears about this, we’ll all be out of work.:eek:
The last time I did that my teacher gave me an incomplete.
I found myself in a similar grading situation in a college class once. I determined that if I got exactly 0% on the final exam, I would still get an A in the class. (This came about because the prof had given us extensive opportunities to get “extra credit” throughout the semester, of which I had extensively availed myself.)
I came in for the final anyway, and remarked to the prof that I only needed 0% to get my A.
When I turned the test in, he pulled out his answer sheet and began grading it immediately. Upon grading Question #1 and seeing that I got it right, he turned to me and said:
Well, you blew it!True story!
Thank y’all.
He decided not to do them, and from the email he got from the professor today quite a few skipped the last assignments since it wouldn’t affect their grade.
For me, it depended on the area.
If it was one of my areas of interest or an elective I took because I wanted to, then I would definitely do all the work. I didn’t just want an A, I wanted to do the best that I could.
On the other end were mandatory courses outside my interest or electives I had to take to satisfy distribution requirements. If I knew I was in the A zone, then I’d back off a bit. My time was limited and I’d rather spend time on something important.
As a professor, seeing a top student slack off just because they had reached the A zone was not a good sign. It made them look like grade grubbers. This could affect how good a letter of recommendation the student got. A student that really tried to get the top grade in the class got extra help later in applying for jobs, grad school, etc.
(The latter didn’t matter to me as a student since I wouldn’t need anything from the off-area profs later. They didn’t know me from Adam and I’d never see them again.)
This is a case where the professor specifically mentioned to the student that he didn’t need to do the assignments. I would never skip assignments if I didn’t have any communication from the professor regarding them.
Good point. My college had a policy that skipping a final exam without permission resulted in an automatic course failure. If you really wanted to take a 0% on the final exam, you had the choice of asking the professor for permission or else going in and intentionally doing crappy work. The ramifications of turning in a blank exam with your name on it was never made clear, but I don’t know anyone who tried. It would be interesting to consider whether simply showing up for the exam and doodling a little crayon counted as fulfilling the requirement to take it, or whether there was a quantifiable minimum effort level you had to show (e.g. must make an honest attempt on at least 20% of the questions) in order to be considered as “taking” it.
Where I went, and when I went, not doing assignments was not an option.
I did this trick once – not on an exam, but on an English essay.
The teacher’s policy was that late papers would not be accepted, no way, no how, no exceptions, no kidding, period, end of discussion. HOWEVER, he also had a policy that a paper that substantially failed to do whatever the assignment was, would be given an “Incomplete”, which you could re-do and turn in again at a later date – BUT you could only do this once.
So, there was one essay assignment that I just could not get my head into. Came the due date, I still had nothing. So I turned in a paper with just my name and a generic title, and asked for my incomplete.
So I got my incomplete, and I was able to write the paper eventually and get full credit for it.
Depends on whether I think the assignment would be useful in terms of learning, my time constraints with work/other classes/family obligations, etc.
Normally I don’t mind if a student decides to forego completing an assignment because they’ve calculated that their grade can’t change, BUT I wouldn’t allow this for courses that are designated “writing emphasis.” In these, each student must produce a minimum amount of “informal” and “formal” writing, and the sums of my assignments tend not to exceed this university-imposed minimum.
No, I’m a parent with a full time job. I got other shit to do. If I’ve done well enough in the class that I can get an A without doing those assignments, then I’ve already mastered the material. Doing those assignments would be a waste of time for me.
I’m leaning toward Yes, I would do them, if only for the sake of completeness. In general I don’t feel compelled to finish reading a book, or watching a movie, or doing a job, that I’ve started if I’m not enjoying it and not getting anything out of it; but if I’ve already gotten 95% of the way through, it seems stupid to leave the last little bit unread/unwatched/undone.
If the assignments have some value, and/or if they complete the course in some way, I’d do them. Of course, if they’re superfluous busy work, or at least just something that won’t be missed, then screw 'em. But in that case, why would they have been assigned in the first place?
This I completely concur with.
I wouldn’t make the distinction. If it was a class in my major, I’d still do the assignment anyway. And as a prof. I’d take notice of any student that did optional assignments.