Well, it’s that time of year again, when I grade thesis papers and final projects, and students begin the equally arduous task of protesting their final grade. To make the whole process flow a bit more smoothly, this year I will using a universal grade change petition. Students may fill in the appropriate blanks and submit the petition to the Dean, Provost, or University President, saving everyone a lot of time and hassle.

—————— copy and paste from below —————–

To: (professor/teacher/instructor)________________________

From:_____________________

I think my grade in your course,_________________, should be changed from___to___for the following reasons:

1. ___ The person whose paper I copied got a higher grade than I did.
2. ___ The person who copied my paper got a higher grade than I did.
3. ___ This grade will lower my GPA, and I won’t get into (__) Medical School, (__) Dental School, (__) Chiropractic School, (__) Graduate Program, (__) Starbucks Managerial Training.
4. ___ I need an “A” in this class to balance out my “F” in ___________ .
5. ___ I’ll lose my scholarship.
6. ___ I’m on a varsity sports team, and my coach couldn’t find a copy of your exam.
7. ___ I didn’t come to class, and the person whose notes I copied did not cover the material asked for on the final exam.
8. ___ I studied the basic principles, but the exam wanted every little fact and vocabulary term.
9. ___ I studied every little fact and vocabulary term, but the exam asked for general principles.
10. ___ I understood the material, I just couldn’t do the problems on the exam.
11. ___ I can do all the problems, but the exam expected us to understand the material.
12. ___ You are just prejudiced against (__) Males, (__) Females, (__) Jews, (__) Catholics, (__) Muslims, (__) Atheists, (__) Blacks, (__) Whites, (__) Asians, (__) Jocks, (__) Adult Learners, (__) Young People, (__) Progressive Thinkers, (__) Libertarians, (__) People.
13. ___ If I don’t pass, my father will stop sending me beer money.
14. ___ I have a learning disability that prevents me from (__) understanding new ideas, (__) writing, (__) following directions, (__) applying concepts, (__) doing research, (__) critical thinking.
15. ___ You told us to be creative, but you didn’t tell us exactly how you wanted that done.
16. ___ I tried to finish the paper but my computer doesn’t like me.
17. ___ Your former students all said the class was easy; it was totally unfair for you to suddenly give a hard exam.
18. ___ The lectures (__) were too detailed to pick out the important points, (__) did not give sufficient detail, (__) too boring, (__) all jokes and no substance.
19. ___ All my other profs have agreed to raise my grades.
20. ___ This course was (__) too early, I wasn’t awake, (__) too late, I was always tired, (__) at lunchtime, I was too hungry to think.
21. ___ You never said we couldn’t do our thesis paper in groups.
22. ___ My (boyfriend / girlfriend / sibling / grandmother / roommate) was (ill / dead / sleeping around / going through a hard time) and I (needed to be there / was very emotionally involved / had to confront them) so I didn’t finish the final project.
23. ___ The one time I went to work on my paper library was closed.
24. ___ The Wikipedia entry on this subject was insufficient.

plagiarized from here