Professor Rosenthal's Regrading Policy

Students are sometimes unhappy with the grades they receive on assignments (tests, exams, homeworks, essays, etc.), and want a regrade. This document explains my policies about that. In brief, it distinguishes between grading errors, and grading judgements. For grading errors, a regrade should indeed be requested as soon as possible. But for grading judgements, a regrade is not advisable and might well lead to a lower grade. Further details follow.

Grading Errors

Grading errors arise when the grader makes an actual mistake, usually due to rushing too much. Examples of grading errors include:

Adding up the grades incorrectly.
Copying a grade incorrectly.
Thinking that the student did not explain something, when they had actually explained it elsewhere in their solution, so their solution is actually completely correct.
Thinking that the student did not calculate something, when they had actually calculated it elsewhere in their solution, so their solution is actually completely correct.
Etc.

These are genuine grading errors, which should be brought to our attention as soon as possible, to be corrected appropriately.

Grading Judgements

Grading judgements involve the grader deciding, as best as they can, how many points a solution is worth. Unless a solution is absolutely perfect, and also perfectly explained, then some judgement is required to determine how many marks should be awarded. Examples of grading judgements include:

If a solution is correct but is not well explained, does it deserve just one point off? Or two? Or three? Or more?
If a solution is on the right track but contains some minor errors, should it receive half marks? More? Less?
If a solution has some correct elements, but many incorrect elements too, does it still deserve some marks? How many?
If a solution is mostly incorrect, does it still deserve one mark? Two? More?
Etc.

These are grading judgements, for which regrades should usually not be requested, as I now explain.

Why Shouldn't Grading Judgements Be Regraded?

Grading judgements do not have a clear right or wrong. There are no 100% clear guidelines for how many part-marks a partially correct or poorly explained solution should receive. The graders do their best to be fair and consistent in their grading, but they will never be perfect.

Also, in my classes at least, explanations are very important, so even a perfect answer poorly explained should not receive full marks (but an incorrect solution with a good explanation of the method might still receive part marks). Furthermore, the grader can only grade based on what is written on the page, not what was going on in your head. You might well have understood the material well and just made some mistakes in your solution, but if there is no clear evidence of this in your written solution, then it will not earn you extra marks.

In every assignment, there will always be some questions where you feel you deserved a few more marks, and others where you were lucky to get as many marks as you did. This is all part of the usual grading practice, and is unavoidable. It is not a basis for a regrade.

What Happens if I Request a Regrade?

If you request a regrade, then the professor (not the TA) will examine your request carefully.

If genuine grading errors are found, then they will be corrected immediately as appropriate, and no further action will be taken.

However: If it is found that there are no genuine grading errors, but just grading judgements, then the professor might regrade your entire assignment, firmly and with a critical eye. In that case, your mark might well go down rather than up.

Is It Fair to Lower My Mark on a Regrade?

Yes it is! By requesting a regrade, you are saying that you are not satisfied with the judgements that the grader made when grading your assignment. As discussed above, those judgements probably included some questions where you feel you deserved a few more marks, and others where you were lucky to get as many marks as you did. When a regrade is requested, the professor might discard all of the grading judgements made during the original grading, and replace them by their own firm and critical judgements, which might lower your grade.

What would not be fair would be "penalty-free" regrades, with no possibility of a lower grade. Such regrades would confer an unfair advantage on students who request a judgements regrade, and hence an unfair disadvantage to students who do not. The only way to make that fair would be for every student to get a regrade, i.e. for every single assignment to be regraded twice and always count the higher grade. This would be a huge waste of effort and resources, leading to slightly inflated grades and no real benefit.

Instead, my firm policy is that regrade requests for grading judgements might well lead to lower marks. Thus, regrade requests should only be made for genuine grading errors, not for grading judgements.

Can the Professor Review my Assignment to Check for Grading Errors Before I Request a Regrade?

Sorry, no. I wish I could help. But if every student were allowed to get their assignment checked penalty-free for grading errors, then as above that would be unfair to students who do not make such a request. And the only way to make it fair would be to first check every student's paper for grading errors, which again would be a huge waste of effort and resources.

So, instead, you need to decide for yourself whether or not there are genuine grading errors. The following section might help to clarify.

What Are Some Signs that I Have a Grading Judgement, Not a Grading Error?

Before submitting a regrade request, you should think very carefully about whether it is a grading error or a grading judgement. Signs that it might actually be a grading judgement include:

Regrading requests for multiple questions. (It is quite unlikely that a grader made so many different errors. It is much more likely that you are repeatedly questioning the grader's judgement.)
Requests like, "I know I didn't solve this problem correctly, but I knew how to do it, I just messed up on the test." (That might well be true, but again, the grader can only grade what is actually written on the page.)
Requests that begin, "I know I got this question wrong, but I had the right idea, and/or some of my solution was correct, so I deserve more marks." (That is definitely a grading judgement, not a grading error.)
Requests that begin, "I got the right answer, so surely I deserve full points." (As discussed above, explanations are also very important, and the right answer does not necessarily deserve full points. Again, that is a judgement, not an error.)
Requests with explanations like, "All I did was write 3 instead of 2, and 2 instead of 1, and lambda instead of mu, and ...". (You may well have an idea in your mind about why your solution was "almost" correct, but if that is not clear from the written answer then you will probably not earn points for it. Once again, that is a grading judgement.)

In general, if you are not sure if there is a genuine grading error, then there probably isn't, i.e. it is probably just grading judgement so a regrade request should not be made.

So When Should I Request a Regrade?

The bottom line is that you should only request a regrade when you are confident that there are genuine grading errors, not just grading judgements or "wishing" you had a higher grade or thinking that you "deserve" a higher grade.

Reminder: If it is found that there are no genuine grading errors, then the professor might regrade your entire assignment firmly, and your mark might well go down rather than up. Every year, there are a few students who ignore my warnings and request a regrade despite no genuine grading errors, and their marks nearly always go down -- don't be one of them!

What if I Want a Regrade Anyway?

If, after reading this entire page, you are convinced that your assignment has a genuine grading error, then you should proceed as follows.

For in-person submissions returned to the students:

Write or type a complete explanation of your concern (together with your full name, student number, e-mail address, and telephone number) on a separate piece of paper (not anywhere on your the actual assignment!).
Give this separate piece of paper, together with your original unaltered assignment paper, to the professor (not TA) within one week of when the graded work was first available (not counting Reading Week).

Or, for online or Crowdmark submissions:

Send an email to the professor (not TA), within one week of when the graded item was first available, which includes:

The phrase: "I hereby request a regrade of [whatever assignment] in [whatever class]. I have carefully read the entire document at http://probability.ca/regrade.html. I understand that my mark might go down."
Your full name, student number, e-mail address, and telephone number.
Your section number (e.g. "L0101"), and your Crowdmark booklet number (e.g. "Booklet #27"), if applicable.
The specific question number of your concern (e.g. "Question 5(b)").
A complete, detailed explanation of your specific grading concern.

Your work will then be regraded by the professor (not TA), as described above, and your mark might go up or down.

Note: Regrade requests might be held for later consideration, so you might not get a reply for some time.

Note: For undergraduate final exams, the different Faculty-wide submission process should be followed instead.

-- Jeffrey S. Rosenthal, Professor of Statistics, University of Toronto