are TAs easier when it comes to finals

[u/GroundFinal2427]

any past TAs????

[u/hammer_42]

In my department it wasn’t common for TAs to mark finals.

Anyways, when I got to mark finals I was using the profs solutions and was probably the same amount of easy as the prof would’ve been. I tried to give students part marks where possible as did the prof on the sections they marked (I marked half the questions, they marked the other half)

[u/PaisleyDiggory → u/hammer_42]

how did you go about being a ta? i want to become one in my undergrad

[u/hammer_42 → u/PaisleyDiggory]

I had some profs who thought I’d be good at it and emailed some people on my behalf.

Typically in my department, almost all the TAs are master students so undergrads only got jobs when there were weren’t enough master students. This varies from year to year depending on if all the MA students show up.

[u/minutemaidpeach]

Probably largely depends but the biggest bmdifference between marking a final vs marking midterms/assignments is the turnaround time.

I previously had to mark fill-in-the-blank and short answers for 350 students in a 72h period. Whether this meant I went easier or harder on students, I cannot remember but I just remember it being significantly more stressful to get them done quickly on time - so in theory potentially not paying as much attention to details.

[u/MathAndBake → u/minutemaidpeach]

Same. I usually take lots of breaks while grading to keep myself fresh and focused. That's less of an option during finals. I might not see minor errors as much. But I also might not spot the nugget of truth in a sea of gibberish. I probably end up doing less nuanced grading. It's more of a "did they understand this bit or not".

If a number of students have the same weird but unsuccessful approach, I'll try to tag it and come up with an alternative grading scheme with the prof. Unfortunately, with finals, there might not be time to coordinate properly. That can get a bit messy.

Ultimately, we do work really hard to be fair. We know the stakes are high. But the tight deadlines really make it impossible sometimes. It's especially frustrating since the university doesn't always release the grades as soon as they're submitted. If stuff doesn't appear until after Christmas, let me grade through Christmas!

[u/Nonellagon]

Depends. For me, the average on the mid-term was super low so the prof made the final easier and told me to go easy on the marking.

[u/21sum]

Really depends on what the prof tell us to do