Appeal Guidelines
- Read the current appeals before submitting your own. Your challenge may have already been submitted by someone else. Only submit a new appeal if you feel you have additional points to contribute or cannot find an existing appeal for your question.
- The due date for challenges is usually 5 days after the exam. It may need to be closer to the test date in some cases, i.e. during finals week.
- Challenges should be submitted through the class web page. The AVP's won't remember if you tell them in class.
- Carefully explain the problem with the test question. Always include supporting information from handouts or textbooks. Challenges based on the class notes cannot be accepted.
- All challenges should be directed to the AVP's. Please do not take challenges directly to the professors. This includes issues like when an obviously wrong answer is listed on the key and questions with no correct answer.
- After the AVP's have met with the faculty (typically 5-10 days after an exam), a list of all challenges and results will be emailed to the class mailing list.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How does the challenge process work?
Because of the large number of challenges received, not all can be taken to the faculty for review. They are read by the AVP's and triaged based on how strong the argument is for the challenge and on the impact that the question had on the class as a whole. The AVP's then meet with the course director and/or the professors that wrote the questions and discuss the challenges, starting with the strongest. After the meeting, the AVP's will email the results, including explanations for why challenges were triaged or rejected by the faculty.
- How many questions can be challenged on one exam?
There is no real limit. However, most of our instructors have been teaching for several years, and it would be extremely rare that there would be serious problems with more than [5-10%] of the questions on any given test.
- If I know that a question has been challenged by a classmate, should I also submit a challenge?
Usually, yes. You may present the issue from a slightly different angle that helps the AVP's understand the challenge better. Also, sometimes people forget to submit challenges.
- Why can't class notes be used for challenges?
When the notetaker listens to a taped lecture, they are faced with several problems, including understanding the speaker, translating spoken English into written English, and arranging the points in an easily read format. Mistakes occasionally happen in this process, and so the faculty have stated that they cannot be responsible for the content of student notes.
- What if my challenge gets triaged or rejected, but I still have a valid point?
After the results of the challenge process are announced, you are free to discuss the issue with the faculty if you desire. However, please keep in mind a few things:
- Be polite to the faculty and their staff.
- It is not likely that you will get points added to your score. Your goal should be to explain your reasoning and to learn why the professor feels that another answer was more appropriate.
- Please talk to the AVP's about the problem, especially if your challenge was triaged.
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