Elias Economou, a junior majoring in finance, is a Hatchet opinions writer.

You take your last final and the semester is over. As excited as you are, you think back to that one question that gave you trouble. As you arrive home you begin to think about what you could’ve done to improve your test score. The influx of old friends and family members distracts you for a bit, but once grades are posted, your brain is back at it.

In past classes, I’ve had to email professors several times to see what I received on my final exam, which is unacceptable. No matter how your class performance was, it would be nice to see the breakdown of your final grades – including your scores on final exams – once all is said and done, instead of just receiving your overall semester grades. This would give students more closure and a better understanding of how they did in a class.

Students should be given preliminary grades over break and have their final grades posted the Friday following the end of winter break. These five days would give us time to discuss our grades if we have issues, see our final exams and look over anything the professor did not hand back in time.

In an introductory course in which there are hundreds of papers to grade, grading errors are not out of the question. Countless times, even in small classes, students receive their graded quizzes and notice that some questions are graded incorrectly. A view of the final grade’s breakdown would open up a chance for student to catch those types of mistakes.

Of course, there are professors who are open with students about their grades. Some, though not many, diligently update Blackboard and send their students emails about their performance in the class. But even though these communication tools exist to make both students’ and professors’ lives easier, some professors still don’t use them. Hopefully, giving students time to review grades will encourage more professors to utilize Blackboard.

Although this setup would create more work for professors, I believe it’s an important part of their job. They’re responsible for educating students and evaluating how much they learned, and they should want students to understand that process. It is simply unfair to students not to see all the grades they received in a class – especially when we’re paying so much for those classes.

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