Quote:
Originally Posted by soltintal
i'm having difficulty with my TA and i'm wondering if anyone has any advice. the problem being that we are asked to do things without any real guidelines and then AFTER the fact when we're getting our marks back, we're told how it was supposed to have been done. i don't feel that the TA necessarily marks as fairly as the other TAs.
the second part is that information was missed and not taught to our class, but it showed up on the mid-term. the question wasn't worth much, so i didn't argue the point with the prof. but it is annoying.
i have approached this person asking for feedback, but to date, it hasn't helped.
anyone else have problems like this? suggestions?
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Getting back on topic, as a TA myself, I'd like to re-iterate some of the things other users have said.
One of the things about university that shocks first year students (and I would argue something that still continues in second year) in general is the fact that you're not spoon fed like you were in high school. Profs (and sometimes TAs) give you a syllabus that has due dates, test dates, information on plagerism and how your marks are determined. Most students don't bother to use their syllabus to find the information they need.
As for the assignment, If you don't understand something, you have to ask for clarification. If you do your assignment wrong, the onus is on you for not understanding the instructions, not the TA for not explaining things to you. If no one asks us questions, we assume everyone gets it. Which is why you should always ask. This also goes for when you are in smaller classes without TAs as well.
Marking is a subjective process, unless the answers are clear-cut (e.g. in math where you get x marks for the final answer, y marks for process etc) it is often up to the marker to determine what something is worth. Essays are also usually marked comparatively to the rest of the class, in some ways.
Also, most high schools completely under-prepare their students for university. That's why its considered normative for students' marks to drop around 15% from high school to university.
Lastly, for tests, if your syllabus says you are supposed to cover certain topics for a given lesson or week, again the responsibility is yours to learn it. If it isn't covered in your tutorial then either a) ask your TA to talk about it in the next one or b) ask to make an appointment with them so you can go over it outside the classroom.
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