Should smart student not be allowed to get bonus points towards tests in college

[Beamin]

That thread about that other woman saying we should have all girl classes got me thinking about other courses and giving people extra credit for the way they are.

So this happened to me in more then one STEM course in college. During lecture the professor would ask 4-5 really hard questions during lecture and give you 1% grade increase on the next test if you could answer it. They seemed to think that maybe one student would get one maybe two extra points on each test with most of the questions not being answered at al.

The problem was that I could answer almost all the questions and it became evident that I would that I would get an A on every test with minimal effort. So the professor started saying can anyone but beamin answer this question and when they couldn't I would but not get any extra points. In one course I had above a 100 average in the end. Usually I wasn't eligible for any extra points about half way through the courses. These were not 101 classes but 200 level.

Is that fair to the other students? Is it fair to the students that get all the questions right but are not allowed to get any extra points? If it was a test would you tell them they were too smart and give them a harder test?


Is that really fair

[Ampera]

My guess is that the ship has sailed with that one, but if this happened to me I would most definitely complain. A college course's main goal isn't completely to teach you about something, it's goal is to ensure you are up to speed on enough to move onto the next one. Giving special treatment to a student for being smarter, even though it's all the same curriculum is bad teaching in my book. I'm currently a fairly successful student in my mathematics classes, but I have had the luxury of having very very good teachers with great policies that help me, at least, learn the topic, and not have to spend a massive amount of effort studying.

Teachers are a mixed bag. There will be excellent ones, and then there will be one, like my pre-calc teacher who I could straight up not understand, and was no good help explaining anything (I switched to an online class which was only slightly less shit).

[frozenfrogz]

Life ain’† fair and grades do not mean anything.
Instead of bragging about your smartness, make use of it and learn stuff others might not be capable of comprehending
Also, use that to build your self-awareness your inner strength and confidence.

Edit: Winky smiley added for semantic reasons.

[Ampera]

Life ain’† fair and grades do not mean anything.
Instead of bragging about your smartness, make use of it and learn stuff others might not be capable of comprehending.
Also, use that to build your self-awareness your inner strength and confidence.

Life isn't fair is a bit of a weak cop-out for something like this. The OP isn't bragging about their smartness, they are saying because they studied, and did the shit they were supposed to do, they are getting points they should have been getting taken away from them for no good reason. Not to mention, grades are at least somewhat important. GPA isn't a figure that is never asked for, at least where I am, and if you get a load of shit grades, opportunities won't be as plentiful.

[frozenfrogz]

Sure, my comment is captious and maybe even a little offensive.
The thing is, you are not going to change the system or a bad teachers habit. Your chances to succeed here are to either go in guns blazing or to find a way around the issue. Some people will like if you are up front with them in calling them out and give you credit for bringing forward your argument. Others don’t.

I should have added a winky smiley though.

[llkiwi2006]

I think the 1% is more of a token gesture to encourage students to think about some hard questions. If one person keeps answering (almost) all of the questions it becomes quite pointless, and I think it's better to give other people a chance at answering the questions. Although it might be better for the professor to find some other way to achieve this.

Also life isn't fair, sometimes you just have to accept it. Some things are just not worth fighting for.

[Fire Doger]

I got some 13/10 on grades and +3 on projects when maximum was +2 but it wasn't because I was smart, I got them because I worked harder than everyone else on same homework.
+ for being smart or having field knowledge is just wrong.

Also there are students who don't want to raise their hands on every question because they are shy or they don't want to look like nerds.
Life ain't fair but there is no reason to be unfair in a classroom, a proper teacher will try to be understood from everyone and make lesson interesting, not a contest.

I personally hate when they spend 1 hour asking questions, just explain the damn thing to finish early so I can go home and study or spend 1 hour answering questions...
Plus 90% Google will have better explanation than teacher...

[EEVblog]

I think the 1% is more of a token gesture to encourage students to think about some hard questions. If one person keeps answering (almost) all of the questions it becomes quite pointless, and I think it's better to give other people a chance at answering the questions. Although it might be better for the professor to find some other way to achieve this.

This.
Sometimes good ideas turn out to be not so good for reasons you didn't anticipate.

Given that I was one of the few students who had a hobby background, my teachers had to say the same thing, "anyone but Dave know the answer?" In the end I just pretty much gave up answering questions. No extra credit for me though.

[EEVblog]

Plus 90% Google will have better explanation than teacher...

It's a different world now.

[Beamin]

My guess is that the ship has sailed with that one, but if this happened to me I would most definitely complain. A college course's main goal isn't completely to teach you about something, it's goal is to ensure you are up to speed on enough to move onto the next one. Giving special treatment to a student for being smarter, even though it's all the same curriculum is bad teaching in my book. I'm currently a fairly successful student in my mathematics classes, but I have had the luxury of having very very good teachers with great policies that help me, at least, learn the topic, and not have to spend a massive amount of effort studying.

Teachers are a mixed bag. There will be excellent ones, and then there will be one, like my pre-calc teacher who I could straight up not understand, and was no good help explaining anything (I switched to an online class which was only slightly less shit).

They weren't expecting this to happen and I have hard courses where I didn't know the answers and one or two people got an extra point no "geniuses" in those classes, worked like it was supposed to. I bet those professors still teach the extra point thing because to have one student that can answer everything is rare. I actually would have passed one of those classes on extra points because I did not remember the calculous to solve the problems. So I got all the concepts but when it came to the exact number I would have to ask a calculous student. Use it or loose it I guess with higher math. I hind sight I should have taken calculous long with it but didn't work like that.

[Ampera]

Sorry to sound like one of those people, but it's spelled calculus, I am fairly sure.

I think I had a bit of a misunderstanding. If these were bonus questions claimable by only one student, I think that's just setting yourself up for a bad time, and is a bit of a stupid policy. I thought these were questions that he was exclusively asking each person on a test or the like. In this case, I believe that it's a stupid policy, but because of it's stupidity, this isn't a bad thing to do within the confines of said policy.

I just happen to be good at math personally, so I get good grades without a lot of work. I would be heartbroken if I was flunked just because I got everything right, but didn't work enough. As I stated, to me a college course may not be there to teach you something, it may just be there to give you the credit and prerequisite that you need and couldn't get otherwise.

[Rick Law]

I think the 1% is more of a token gesture to encourage students to think about some hard questions. If one person keeps answering (almost) all of the questions it becomes quite pointless, and I think it's better to give other people a chance at answering the questions. Although it might be better for the professor to find some other way to achieve this.

This.
Sometimes good ideas turn out to be not so good for reasons you didn't anticipate.

Given that I was one of the few students who had a hobby background, my teachers had to say the same thing, "anyone but Dave know the answer?" In the end I just pretty much gave up answering questions. No extra credit for me though.

The extra credit probably serve dual purpose of giving student an encouragement or  a reward for participation as well as giving students a hope of catching up.

I think there should not be a limit except to deal with the situation of "monopoly".  A class almost always reach the point that only a few students answers all the question.  When it reaches that point, it will likely no longer encourage participation.  Now you have a new problem: of the (randomly picking a small number) two student left, Eve may be smarter than Adam, but if Adam got picked more, Adam gets higher point.

Reaching perfect fairness if probably impossible.  Perfection is expensive.

I think it would be good enough for each course to have no limit of bonus points, and the graduation GPA is summed accordingly.

If you are a good student, may be that little extra may move you up scholarship renewal GPA requirement, or move up the graduating level with cum laude, magna cum laude, or perhaps even summa cum laude.  That you can put on the resume, or application to graduate school.

[Beamin]

Sorry to sound like one of those people, but it's spelled calculus, I am fairly sure.

Auto correct just takes the best match to the word and doesn't flag the word before it does it.  I will often assume if there are no red lines that there are no mistakes. Also I look at the key board when I type even though I learned to touch type by wearing a blind fold and turning on the computer voice when younger. Funny how that works. Maybe I'm lazy. Also I speed read so I don't pay attention to spelling even though it drives me nuts when I do notice other people doing it. If you mix up there their and they're you are a terrible person.

[Cerebus]

If you mix up there their and they're you are a terrible person.

But not as terrible a person as someone who writes 6 apple's or spells grammar grammer when they were educated at a grammar school. 

It is however permissible to make spelling mistakes in either RhabarberBarbaraBarBarbarenBartBarbierBierBierbarBärbelBarBezahlBankRhabarberBarbaraBarBarbar or Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch.

[Ampera]

I get a bit of an OCD tick whenever I see spelling mistakes, at least major ones. Knowing my luck I'm going to up making one in this forum post.

I actually never learned how to touch type. I still to this day have 0 clue how to do it, even though I can type 90 WPM. I don't look at my keyboard while I type either. I've just learned how to type by learning where all the keys are, using my general position over them as a reference point, and then just over time increasing the speed at which I know how to type.

[Beamin]

I get a bit of an OCD tick whenever I see spelling mistakes, at least major ones. Knowing my luck I'm going to up making one in this forum post.

I actually never learned how to touch type. I still to this day have 0 clue how to do it, even though I can type 90 WPM. I don't look at my keyboard while I type either. I've just learned how to type by learning where all the keys are, using my general position over them as a reference point, and then just over time increasing the speed at which I know how to type.

 

Isn't that touch typing?