Q&A for How to Get a Professor to Change Your Grade

Communication is the key to convincing a teacher of your improvement. Show the teacher that you are invested in the course and are working hard to address the areas that they have asked you to improve upon.

To get your grades up quickly, make sure to finish any incomplete assignments and to work through your assignments carefully (possibly with the help of a tutor or the university writing center). Arrange a meeting with your professor to discuss if there are other ways to boost your grade.

Getting a teacher fired requires documentable proof of wrongdoing. The process of firing a teacher can be long and difficult, so make sure that your reasons for pursuing it are valid.

Yes, if you are able to demonstrate that a grading error was made, your professor should be able to change your final grade.

This is what I wrote to my professor and he changed the grade from an F to a C. "Professor Williams, Hello, this is Madeline, your pupil in English. May I request a meeting with you on the seventeenth of May? If you recall, I recently was given an English assignment back, the one about Moby Dick. I had received a grade I was very dissatisfied with. I would love to go over the assignment with you and see where I went wrong. If there is any extra credit work I can do to boost my average, I would comply. If the seventeenth of May is free to you, please respond to this email. If not, we can evaluate together to find a better date that would comply with both of us. Thank you for your time."

Usually there are no set standards. If the class work snowballs (you need early information to do later information), the professor should be prompt in giving it back. If the assignments are small, then it should be a short amount of time (I'd ask after a week). If the assignment is large, such as a term paper, I'd give the professor 2-3 weeks before asking about them.

Just let it go. It's the professor's choice whether or not to change your grade. If you argue with them, you're not only being rude, but you're potentially jeopardizing your future relationship with this professor.

Your best best is to speak to your professor face-to-face. Sending an email shows that you're no willing to put in much effort and you don't have a desire to improve.

Professors can be busy people, and sometimes things slip through the cracks. A simple reminder can be helpful. See the professor after class and just say, "Professor ______, I haven't seen the change of grade that we agreed upon. Is there anything you need from me?" That's just a quick way to remind the professor and to give them the opportunity to get any necessary information from you. Grade changes can often take awhile; in some universities, it's a simple form from the professor, but at other universities, permissions to change grades may need to be signed by individual college deans.

Go over the course syllabus and check if it says anything about late work, you can set up a meeting about your late assignments or you can try to make all A's for the rest of the semester and try to get extra credit.