Has anyone gotten anything in the 80s/90s on any of the reflection papers? I've gotten mid-70s on every single one so far, and I'm usually an 80s student when it comes to essay-based courses.
It seems that no matter how much I elaborate or how "deep" I go in terms of reflection, it's not good enough.
Any help would be great, especially since the take-home is coming up soon, I don't want to risk getting another B on an assignment weighing 40%.

Talk to the prof. The prof gives more meaningful comments than the markers.

I totally agree with you. I spoke to him already and he basically keeps going on about the same thing how we need to follow the main general idea and so go on and on with it. I did this and then was docked mark for repeating myself! There is no winning in that class. Also he gets the papers marked by T.A's which make a difference because he himself is not such a tough marker. But my friends and I are all getting mid 70's as well when we are used to mid 80's its so weird! Especially when the content is so chill in comparison to other courses.. *sigh.... lets try to kill the final exam lol
Not sure if I can really give help but just letting you know you are not alone lol!

Weird. I took this course a couple of years ago and didn't have a problem, despite having very few courses requiring essay writing (I was in science). Maybe try writing more like a science student?

You just explained my life right now lol.

The past reflection was my best mark but I tried really hard and applied all my critiques yet I still didn't even get an 80! I am at the point where I just cant win either. I have no idea what an A+ paper looks like for this class.

I may be wrong but I think Penner is a new prof for this course. Great teacher and person but I am not sure what is going on with the marking this year.

Originally Posted by firmanj

I may be wrong but I think Penner is a new prof for this course. Great teacher and person but I am not sure what is going on with the marking this year.

He's not new for the course. He was teaching it a few years ago when I took it.

I'm taking his 2R03 class this semester, and his reflections are tough! I'm just hoping the exam is marked a bit easier. This is definitely not a bird course!

I think that it has traditionally been considered to be more consistently and fairly marked (both 2R03 and 2P03) in the past. This year the people marking seem to be inconsistent (both between one another and from one reflection to the next) and also harder markers than Penner appears to be himself.

Or we are just an incredibly large cohort of unsuccessful people.....

I have the same issue as well. I also took Soc Sci 2R03 with him last year and always got marks in the 70s for reflections in that course too. Because of how he speaks in lecture and his way of explaining the content, I feel like he wants some crazy deep and philosophical writing to receive marks in the 80s+