Grad postponed due to delayed grades

By Scott Strasser, January 15 2015 —

Fourth-year biochemistry student Mark Woodsworth will have to wait until next fall to graduate, since he hasn’t received his grade for the BCEM 544 final exam he wrote in December.

Woodsworth said he was set to graduate with his peers this spring, but the lack of a final BCEM grade means he will have to wait until November to cross the stage.

“I wrote the final for BCEM 544 on Dec. 16. and it’s the last class I need to graduate,” Woodsworth said. “The prof promised we’d have our final grades by Jan. 2, but it’s been weeks and I still haven’t seen that little red dot on D2L.”

Woodsworth applied for graduation through student centre earlier this week, but he was turned down due to not having an official grade for BCEM 544.

Biochemistry professor Laura Henwick said she postponed grading the final exams to go on vacation.

“My husband and I booked our flights to the Caribbean a few months ago. Our flights were the day after the BCEM 544 final exam. If I had time to mark the tests, I would have. But I had to pack my suitcase,” Henwick said.

Henwick said she has been working hard to return the grades since returning from the Caribbean. But marking final exams is a complicated matter that can take considerable time.

“It’s our responsibility to make sure students’ grades are handled properly. We don’t want to make any mistakes,” Henwick said, sporting a new tan. “When I’m marking a final exam, it’s important to ensure the student receives the grade he or she deserves. It’s a delicate process.”

But Woodsworth doesn’t buy it and claims Henwick is being lazy.

“The test was all multiple choice. I don’t think it should take so long,” Woodsworth said. “Doesn’t she just have to feed the scantron sheets into the scantron machine?”

After hearing Woodsworth’s allegations, Henwick provided a 15-page document describing the proper procedure for marking scantron exams. The document illustrated the complete 335 -step process for processing the bubble answer sheets.

“As you can see, it’s more than just feeding the scantrons into the machine. You have to make sure they’re facing the right way. You have to feed them in one at a time. It can be very complex,” Henwick said.

Henwick said she promises to return Woodsworth’s grade before convocation 2019 at the latest.