I hate New Zealand
Or, more appropriately, I hate the New Zealand school system. No, hate is too weak a word. I LOATHE it. I loathe it like Fox loathes not cancelling Tim Minear's shows. I loathe it like Activision loathes not sucking the money out of consumers, leaving them as empty, rotting husks. Yeah, I loathe it quite a bit.
What is this loathing focused on of late?
Well, my class finally got back the marks for the first research paper we submitted - way back in June (75 days ago in point of fact) - and my mark was a little lower than expected. Just a little.
Try "51%" on for size. It doesn't really fit, does it - a little long on the legs, a little tight at the hips, a little staunch in the sternum. Uncomfortable. Aggravating.
The paper was marked in three sections - 60% for content, 20% for grammar/spelling/etc, 20% for having your citations formatted properly. Or, at least, that's what they say. The comments I got in the little 'tutor feedback' boxes aren't all that helpful, and don't exactly match. So, that 51% is from the content section. I got D's in the other two, which I assume to be 0%'s.
"Isaac, you sterling fellow," I hear you say, astonished: "But, you can spell, and format, and what?" Well, this was my reaction, at least. The issue being this - Each mark: A, B, C, D, has certain requirements attributed to it, and if you don't meet all of those requirements, you don't get the mark. Seems straight-forward enough. It's what's used in NCEA - our secondary school system - which is why I suspect that they also might use it here. It's the only reason I can fathom for getting 0%'s. Because, the thing is, I do have a handful of mistakes, the problem is, they're concentrated mistakes. And the sections have stupid requirements like: "The work may exhibit three to four missing commas." So, yep, you can miss three to four commas and still get a B. But if you miss five commas, then you cannot get a B. Even if you get everything you need for an A+, you'll still get a C, at the most.
The reason why I think this is the case with my mark, is because of my being marked down in the citations part. My bibliography is perfect. My citations are all perfect, except for one thing. We're supposed to write multiple citations like so: "[1, 2]." However, I failed to realise this, and wrote them like so: "[1][2]." According to our marking criteria, we're allowed "one to two mistakes" in that section. But, because my work is peppered with this one mistake, I get a D. Because that's a requirement for an A, B, and C in those sections.
Yeah, I'm a little irked. I wrote a lovely letter of grievances I have with the marking - both in regards to my situation, and as a whole - and am planning on presenting it to someone more in-charge on the 'morrow (or today, however you want to look at it).
Also, what makes my situation really amusing - guy who got the highest mark in the class (got an A+ in that specific section), ran out of time and never finished his citations. The thing is, all the citations he does have are correct. If you read his paper, you're like: "Dude, there's citations until the middle, and then there's none!"
A+! Gotta love it.
What's even more annoying - I'm pretty sure I made that same mistake on the second research paper too. Cause, well, how was I to know it was wrong if we only just got our paper back?
So many angry words to pick from. So many.
What is this loathing focused on of late?
Well, my class finally got back the marks for the first research paper we submitted - way back in June (75 days ago in point of fact) - and my mark was a little lower than expected. Just a little.
Try "51%" on for size. It doesn't really fit, does it - a little long on the legs, a little tight at the hips, a little staunch in the sternum. Uncomfortable. Aggravating.
The paper was marked in three sections - 60% for content, 20% for grammar/spelling/etc, 20% for having your citations formatted properly. Or, at least, that's what they say. The comments I got in the little 'tutor feedback' boxes aren't all that helpful, and don't exactly match. So, that 51% is from the content section. I got D's in the other two, which I assume to be 0%'s.
"Isaac, you sterling fellow," I hear you say, astonished: "But, you can spell, and format, and what?" Well, this was my reaction, at least. The issue being this - Each mark: A, B, C, D, has certain requirements attributed to it, and if you don't meet all of those requirements, you don't get the mark. Seems straight-forward enough. It's what's used in NCEA - our secondary school system - which is why I suspect that they also might use it here. It's the only reason I can fathom for getting 0%'s. Because, the thing is, I do have a handful of mistakes, the problem is, they're concentrated mistakes. And the sections have stupid requirements like: "The work may exhibit three to four missing commas." So, yep, you can miss three to four commas and still get a B. But if you miss five commas, then you cannot get a B. Even if you get everything you need for an A+, you'll still get a C, at the most.
The reason why I think this is the case with my mark, is because of my being marked down in the citations part. My bibliography is perfect. My citations are all perfect, except for one thing. We're supposed to write multiple citations like so: "[1, 2]." However, I failed to realise this, and wrote them like so: "[1][2]." According to our marking criteria, we're allowed "one to two mistakes" in that section. But, because my work is peppered with this one mistake, I get a D. Because that's a requirement for an A, B, and C in those sections.
Yeah, I'm a little irked. I wrote a lovely letter of grievances I have with the marking - both in regards to my situation, and as a whole - and am planning on presenting it to someone more in-charge on the 'morrow (or today, however you want to look at it).
Also, what makes my situation really amusing - guy who got the highest mark in the class (got an A+ in that specific section), ran out of time and never finished his citations. The thing is, all the citations he does have are correct. If you read his paper, you're like: "Dude, there's citations until the middle, and then there's none!"
A+! Gotta love it.
What's even more annoying - I'm pretty sure I made that same mistake on the second research paper too. Cause, well, how was I to know it was wrong if we only just got our paper back?
So many angry words to pick from. So many.