DEALING WITH ARGUABLY LEGITIMATE EXAM GRIPES - A POSSIBLE PARETO IMPROVEMENT

Students sometimes have heart-felt and arguably legitimate complaints about exam grading. This note suggests a strategy for dealing in a ser ious, judicious and seemingly fair and responsive way with such compla ints. The suggested strategy allows the professor to take such complai nts seriously, without giving him/her the reputation as an easy mark. Moreover, it uses a characteristic of letter-grade systems to lower th e transactions costs of dealing seriously with such complaints.