What happened
- Friend of mine scores 86.6% in class using unweighted grades
- Professor adds "5%" to this, says his/her grade is a 90%, gives him/her a B+ (90-91) in the class.

What should have happened
- Friend of mine scores 93.3% (A) in class by weighting the grades [i.e. tests 20%, hw 20%, etc] with the percentages that were supplied on the syllabus.

Action thus far
- My friend emailed the professor asking why the grade reported was unweighted, and the professor explained that the grade was actually weighted (it was not), and that he added a 5% curve to the class.
- Now my friend emailed their professor again, showing the raw calculations of how the weighted average should have been determined.
- It should be noted that the grades were listed/calculated online, and there is clearly two scores listed, a "Total" row (86.6%), and a "Weighted Total" row (the 93.3%).

What should my friend do next (assuming the professor's response is unfavorable)? Is the syllabus set in stone? The professor did say that the online grading system was using the weighted totals in its final grade reporting, so we assume that he intended to use the weighted grades, and isn't actually renigging on the syllabus.

This may sound somewhat nitty, but it is a difference in a 3.5 and a 4.0 in a class that is worth 8 credits, and is a determining factor in magna cum laude status at graduation.

CLIFFNOTES:
- Friend's final grade in class is reported incorrectly
- Professor says final grade reported is correct
- What's the best play?

my roommate had to deal with this, it can be a nightmare, especially if the professor really doesn't care. go to department, find all the paper work, try to get someone high up to move this along. when it happened to my roommate the professor just input the wrong grade accidentally (accidentally wrote B- instead of A-) and it took almost an entire semester to get it in order.

just make sure they keep at it and talk to everyone necessary, its hard but avoid leaving it up to administrators/professors to sort. tell them to get as much of the paperwork transported themselves (at my school they wouldn't let students transport the paperwork so it took forever waiting for everything to change hands). its annoying but if its in the syllabus it should get sorted out.

I'm about to go through the same thing (in a 100 level grade boosting class so fml). Grades were submitted today and it said I had a 1.5 (should be a 3.5+ as i crushed the 2nd midterm and final). I emailed and asked what was up and he said he never got my final paper that's worth a lot of our grade. It's been a few days and I'm waiting to hear back after I told him I turned it and if he still doesn't have it that I'd email it right away. Obv I have a feeling he doesn't really care that much since it's a class no one really cares about and that it's going to take forever to sort out.

LoooooooooooooooooooooooooooL
1.5, gtfo

in any and all cases such as this, immediately get in contact with the dean of your particular school within the university

as an aside, the information in a syllabus is a contract between the instructor and student. it is completely unacceptable for the instructor to alter or otherwise ignore the syllabus without full disclosure of the changes well in advance of each change going into effect. again, get in touch immediately with the dean and even the overall dean of students, as that is a large part of their jobs

Including adding 5%. You can't have it both ways.

of course you can't. but if the agreed upon scoring metric for the class is thrown out and a new one created, 5% added or not, that is not acceptable and a breach of the contract in the syllabus

(also if you read the OP the grade under the correct scoring is higher than his current grading +5%, so it would be asinine to say that "you can't have it both ways" when she only wants it one way, the correct one.)

The OP's case is fine since they cleared it without need for bonus.
The comment was more of an aside loosely relating to the other thread about scoring a 61% on the final exam.

I'm simply saying that you can't go protest to the dean for the professor not following procedure outlined in the syllabus to the T unless you want to forego any bonus points also given outside of what is outlined in the syllabus.

How can a new scoring metric be established once the class has begun? Majority vote? 100% agreement?

Also think about if you potentially have to take more classes with the professor, b/c nothing pisses them off more than students complaining to the Dean about them.

I would speak to the department head.

Wait to hear from the professor. Most professors are reasonable and are not out to screw anyone. Changing a grade is easier than dealing with the BS from a chair or dean anyway.

If the prof stonewalls and/or doesn't sort it out, though, go first to the dept. chair, then to the dean. But make sure you have your ducks in a row. Print out anything posted online re: grades, keep copies of returned assignments, and keep all email correspondence from professor.