Why is it that students ask, "How well must I do on the final to earn ...?" If you them that they must get 80% on the final to earn a B, are they somehow more capable of getting an 80%?
Non-rhetorically, why do students ask this absurd question? I don't know, but I think it's all an illusion and I dislike it. Instead of the "do the best you can" mentality I hope for students to have, the exam is seen as a game of grades. Yes, the assessment leads to a grade, but the grade is the afterthought to the educational value of the content being taught. The right question is "What can I learn?" not "What must I do?"
Thinking about this question has made me contemplate the type of response I should have to students who ask that question. I have gone through a few which I've listed here along with some commentary:
- "Your best chance of getting the best possible grade is to get a perfect score." - I'm not happy with this because it brings the grade into focus, and not the act of learning.
- "Just do the best you can." - While this is better, I don't think it demonstrates to the students that I care. Instead, this sort of sidesteps the question and doesn't give a helpful response (of course they will do the best they can).
- "Does it matter?" - It's getting closer. A question puts the ball back in their court to try to justify why they care. I'm not quite happy with it because I know the answer. It matters because they care about their grade.
- "Would it change anything if I told you?" - This is the best answer I have so far. It puts the responsibility on them to look at their question in a different light. I'm not denying the importance that they have put on their grade (as misplaced as I believe it is), but I am leading them to realize that this question is ultimately unhelpful to them.
