There are plenty of times when you and your professors won't exactly agree. Maybe they think 400 pages of reading material a week is reasonable - and you don't. Maybe you think a broken leg is a decent excuse for being five minutes late - and they don't. But as you can guess, the biggest conflicts are usually over grades. What if you've thrown yourself heart and soul into this class, and you still got a B? Or what if you calculated exactly how much work would get you a C (because "Cs earn degrees", right?), but you ended up with a D? Definitely not part of the plan!

Time for a reunion with your loyal, reliable friend: the syllabus! Dig it out from under the stack of papers next to your bed, take a look, and ask yourself:

·       What were the key concepts for this course - did you learn them?
 
 
·       Have you been showing up enough to get high marks for attendance (if attendance is factored into the grade)?
 
 
·       Do you participate? And to paraphrase a wise elementary school teacher from this adviser's past, have you been raising your hand physically as well as mentally?
 
 
·       If your class has a large writing component, has your writing grown based on your professor's comments and suggestions?

And last but not least, do the math - when you add up your known points and estimate your grades for subjective areas like participation, do you get a letter very different from the one your professor came up with?

If you can say "yes" to these questions, a conversation may be in order. Hopefully, you and your professor can figure out how there came to be such a mighty gulf between his or her assessment and yours!