[ORIENTATION]: Book aims to demystify grading

Jeremy Hyman didn’t know what to expect in terms of
academics when he entered college as a freshman. Like so many
others before and after him, he worried about whether he would take
the right classes, how the professors would be, and whether he
would get good grades. Now he’s the one telling students what
to expect.

Hyman had his fair share of problems learning how to earn good
grades in college. In one class during his freshman year at the
University of Michigan, Hyman had a professor who handed out an
assignment that directed students to answer a question in a six- to
eight-page essay. When a student asked for more detailed
instructions, the professor simply restated the initial directions,
leaving the class with little understanding of how to approach the
assignment.

Hyman decided then that if he ever became a university
professor, he would be sure to make his expectations and grading
method clear and precise.

Four decades later, Hyman is a UCLA alumnus who has taught at
UCLA, MIT, Princeton and the University of Arkansas. Along with his
wife Lynn Jacobs, Hyman is co-author of “Professors’
Guide to Getting Good Grades in College,” which will be
published in July.

The book is their way of letting students in on the mystifying
code of grading and professors’ expectations.

“Professors often believe “˜this is college; students
are supposed to figure it out for themselves,'” Hyman
said. “So the professors oftentimes don’t give enough
explanation for grading.”

Some professors Hyman interviewed for his book choose not to
speak about grading in courses for a number of reasons: Competition
is already high and there is no reason to add to that; focusing on
grades detracts from real learning; if students know what
professors expect, they may play the system.

In response, Hyman contended that grades are the currency of
college, and since professors are the ones making up the system,
they should not worry about students using it to their
advantage.

“You’re not going to stop those who will be
competitive from being competitive, so professors might as well let
students in on what they exactly expect from their student to get
As,” Hyman said. “A student only interested in getting
an A may end up becoming interested in the subject.”

Kim Kowsky is a UCLA alumna who is well familiar with the other
side of Hyman’s book. Kowsky, who once took an introductory
philosophy class with Hyman as her teaching assistant, made some
common mistakes when she first arrived.

“I took too many classes. I took things that were too hard
in areas that I hadn’t studied before,” Kowsky said.
“That was a disaster for me. I got lost in the system, and I
ended up withdrawing. I wasn’t emotionally up to
it.”

Kowsky took six months off before returning to a more successful
undergraduate career, eventually graduating with college and
departmental honors.

Although many students like Kowsky learn how to get good grades
by the time they reach upper division courses, by then, their GPAs
leave little room for change. Hyman’s book emphasizes the
importance of getting a strong start.

Many students think that since they got good grades in high
school and good SAT scores, college will be the same. But a study
by the University of California system showed that SAT scores
accounted for less than 14 percent of the variance in GPA, making
them unreliable in predicting college grades.

Inevitably, many students find that college is not the cakewalk
that high school was. Many students blow off the first few weeks of
class because grades are often based on work from the last few
weeks: tests, papers, projects and presentations. But students
often miss crucial concepts, Hyman said, which affects their work
later on.

“(In high school), a student goes to all the classes, does
all the homework, and expects to get a good grade in the
class,” said Hyman. “In college, the product is more
important.”