Teaching/Grading

[cainam_cisum]

I am a PhD student in math and this semester I was teaching an upper-level undergraduate course (juniors and seniors, math majors mostly). This is not the first time I am teaching this course, so I do have some experience. Now I am grading the final exams and I have no idea which grade I should give to one of the students.

Comments

[coendou]

It's likely too late to catch the midterm cheating, especially if you have no actual proof. I would give her zero for class participation (you say she pretty much earned that anyhow) and then give her the grade it all adds up to as it says in the syllabus - though if she's on the border between two grades she certainly hasn't earned a leg up. Then rejigger your grading so that you can't fail the final and get a B in the class!

[sweeny_todd]

this!

[tisiphone]

Yup. If you don't have any proof, you won't have a leg to stand on when she disputes her grade because you didn't follow the grading policy.

[cosmicwonder]

My thoughts exactly. OP, I also had a similar case in a class I taught and my advisor told me that I needed to treat that student just as I would treat anyone else in the class, i.e. follow the syllabus very strictly to give the final grade. I wasn't happy with the outcome either, but I certainly would prefer to save my behind than have to deal with even more crap from this student.

[cheez_ball]

You did the math and she got a B. That's exactly how she would justify it to your department head if you gave her anything else.