# worst grader ever **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 13, 2007, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029 "2007-09-13T04:39:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029/21 "2007-09-14T02:45:22Z")
Nerd Alert! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029/22 "2007-09-14T03:13:48Z")
I probably should have mentioned this earlier but I require all posts to have the words listed in alphabetical order and to have a hyphen between each syllable and to have all punctuation (including the above-mentioned hyphens) in italic font. Being as nobody has followed this simple format, I’m afraid I’ll have to fail everyone in this thread including myself. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029/23 "2007-09-14T05:05:53Z")
[QUOTE=zelie zelerton] How in Og’s name can you get a minus score? We were always told to use pen in ‘final’ work and exams. That way nobody could erase your work and put something else there. I can’t believe anyone insists that people use a pencil in an exam. [/QUOTE] Similarly, I had a chem lab prof who inSISted that we turn in lab books only in pen, to prove that we’d not been fudging the data. If you make a mistake, cross it out and just admit it. That way you have a record. Of course, if you jot notes off to the side, you can eventually calculate what measurements you need to have made to get your percent error within the full credit range. I swear, I didn’t really understand the math of the complicated equations until I had to see if my acid ml added needed to go up or down to create a good answer 6 steps later… ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029/24 "2007-09-14T05:08:22Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] I probably should have mentioned this earlier but I require all posts to have the words listed in alphabetical order and to have a hyphen between each syllable and to have all punctuation (including the above-mentioned hyphens) in italic font. Being as nobody has followed this simple format, I’m afraid I’ll have to fail everyone in this thread including myself. [/QUOTE] Too late; I refer you to post 11. See me after class, Mr. **Nemo**. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029/25 "2007-09-14T05:21:49Z")
I want to thank everyone for reminding me again why I never went to graduate school… ---
**Author:** ![Omi\_no\_Kami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Omi\_no\_Kami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omi_no_Kami)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029/26 "2007-09-14T14:02:26Z")
I must, of course, refer people to a list of [unusual answers to exam questions](http://www.shoutwire.com/viewstory/103279/The_Most_Funniest_Exam_Answers_Ever_). (Warning: profanity!) ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029/27 "2007-09-14T14:41:12Z")
[QUOTE=Yllaria] Someone else here went to GMI? In Michigan? Cool. If it is the same GMI, then according to Wikipedia, “On January 1, 1998, the school’s name was formally changed to Kettering University.” I was only there a year, but I can completely believe that one of their professors did that. I missed having Fast Eddie for Calculus by a whisker. He wrote at the board with the chalk in one hand and an eraser in the other. If you didn’t get your notes fast enough, you’d better get them from somewhere else. [/QUOTE] Yep - same GMI. It was General Motors Institute when I went there. I left just as it became GMI Engineering & Management Institute (where the GMI did not officially stand for anything). It later became (& still is) Kettering University. I heard about Fast Eddie. I did not have him. I _did_ however experience the test on day 1 of Calc 2 that covered everything that you were supposed to have learned in Calc 1. That was a trip. ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029/28 "2007-09-14T14:43:04Z")
[QUOTE=zelie zelerton] How in Og’s name can you get a minus score? [/QUOTE] # Right - # Wrong = Final Score. My Organic Chem final was like that. It was supposed to prevent you from guessing at the answers (I guess). ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029/29 "2007-09-14T15:07:10Z")
We were suppsed to send in a map of what the concept “collection developement” meant to us in grad school. She asked, “what does CD look like to you?”. I was so tempted to send in a diagram of the London Tube (or a one eyed, one eared flying purple people eater). I refrained. Kinda wish I hadn’t, now. Love the exam answers! ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029/30 "2007-09-14T17:28:38Z")
[QUOTE=zelie zelerton] How in Og’s name can you get a minus score? [/QUOTE] I took (and then TAed/graded for several semesters) a Data Structures course in college in which it was not only possible to get a negative score on an assignment, it was possible (though difficult) to submit a completely functional program and still get a negative score. The grading was as such: Each program was run through a series of automated tests to check that it met the spec of the assignment. Passing all the tests gave you 100 points. Then the graders read the source. Part of the point of this class was to teach people to write well-designed easy-to-read code, not just something that works. So there were style guides and commenting guides and formatting consistency issues (no one really cared what formatting you used, you just had to be consistent and readable). We also looked for bugs that weren’t caught by the automated tests. All of these things subtracted points from your score. Badly named variable? -1 point. Failed to initialize a pointer? -5 points. Misspelling in the comments? -2 points (to be fair, we used an open source spellchecker for this). All of the penalties (and there were many more than I mentioned here) were detailed in the syllabus and on the website and mentioned in class several times _and_ added specifically as grader comments in the code that was returned to the students. Even the spellchecker we used was made public. But a few times a semester, someone would submit a barely working program that was written badly and would drop into the negatives. I never actually saw a program that passed all the tests and still got \< 0, but it was possible according to the rubric. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029/31 "2007-09-14T21:28:26Z")
[QUOTE=Dag Otto] It’s fluid mechanics, don’t get your hopes up. [/QUOTE] I agreed with you, but turned out to be dead wrong. Although I didn’t get to discuss it with her, I had to ask for a regrade and she had left by the time the professor told me what I need to do for that. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029/32 "2007-09-14T21:30:25Z")
[QUOTE=ASAKMOTSD] # Right - # Wrong = Final Score. My Organic Chem final was like that. It was supposed to prevent you from guessing at the answers (I guess). [/QUOTE] Pick one you’re 100% sure of and just answer that one? ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029/33 "2007-09-14T21:38:26Z")
and get 1 out of 50 points? ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029/34 "2007-09-14T21:50:53Z")
[QUOTE=Taber] and get 1 out of 50 points? [/QUOTE] Hmm, I read that differently than you, and wrongly I suspect. That can’t be much of a detriment to guessing though if you don’t know much of them. You’d still need to guess to pass. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029/35 "2007-09-14T22:10:12Z")
[QUOTE=Omi no Kami] I must, of course, refer people to a list of [unusual answers to exam questions](http://www.shoutwire.com/viewstory/103279/The_Most_Funniest_Exam_Answers_Ever_). (Warning: profanity!) [/QUOTE] Hee. Number five looks like some of the answers I turned in in my 9th grade algebra class. Which I almost flunked. I had nightmares that my teacher was chasing me with a big cooking spoon and yelling, “FACTORING!! FACTORING!!” Here it is almost 20 years later and I still haven’t figured out what factoring is or why I’d ever want to do it. I really did flunk geometry the following year. The teacher kept trying to make me do proofs and wouldn’t accept “Because I said so!” as a valid response. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029/36 "2007-09-14T22:31:59Z")
[QUOTE=Omi no Kami] I must, of course, refer people to a list of [unusual answers to exam questions](http://www.shoutwire.com/viewstory/103279/The_Most_Funniest_Exam_Answers_Ever_). (Warning: profanity!) [/QUOTE] #7 had me laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029/37 "2007-09-14T23:28:49Z")
[QUOTE=Marlitharn] I really did flunk geometry the following year. The teacher kept trying to make me do proofs and wouldn’t accept “Because I said so!” as a valid response. [/QUOTE] Please tell me you didn’t go on to become a lawyer, or a mystery novelist. “The defendant is guilty, your honor!” “What proof do you have?” “Because I said so!” ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029/38 "2007-09-15T04:55:26Z")
Hey, if it’s good enough for my kids… ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029/39 "2007-09-17T15:33:09Z")
When my little niece was certain of something but had no proof of it at all, she would defiantly say, “I know it in my head!” It became something of a family catchphrase. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2007, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029/40 "2007-09-17T16:45:11Z")
[QUOTE=Snarky\_Kong] 10 points off for not following a format that has never been mentioned by the professor or the TAs or anybody else. [/QUOTE] Amazing. Some magical, mystical format. . .that no TA or professor or anybody else ever mentioned. . .worth a full fifth of the entire grade!! How many of the other students just happened to follow this “format” that was never mentioned by the professor or the TAs or anybody else? I can’t even figure out what you might mean by “format” in this regard. Can you clarify? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-grader-ever/419029.md?page=3)