What have I been watching?: Euphoria
What have I been listening to?: Fuck Somebody - The Wrecks
Last meal I ate: Barrio - single soft shell flour taco with thai chili tofu, cilantro rice, and chihuaha cheese + chips and salsa and queso!
I had the craziest day. So this morning I finally got a meeting on Zoom with a professor from last semester. I had been trying to set up a meeting for a couple weeks but things were busy for him so it took a while to get ahold of him and find a time. The purpose of the meeting was to go over my final exam essay answers from the class I took with him last semester. It was my worst class, grade-wise, which is why I wanted to go over the exam. It was for a class that I knew would be my hardest exam, so when it was my worst grade, I was a bit disappointed but not utterly baffled. I had felt good about my performance by the time I submitted the exam, as I had studied really intensely to prepare, so I was surprised that I didn't get a higher grade.
After catching up and chatting a bit, we finally got to the exam. The thing about law school exams (and probably exams in most scenarios) is that you kind of purge the information at some point after the exam. You just have to, to make room for studying for your other exams and for retaining information for the classes you take next. Forgetting what you learned and what you wrote for your exam is pretty common. I have looked at past exam answers that I wrote, maybe a month afterwards, and genuinely been like "I wrote this??" Which is why I wasn't sure at first when he put up the exam answer on the shared screen and I thought "I don't think this is my exam answer..."
He was reviewing what the questions were about since I had forgotten a great deal of what the exam covered. It took me a few moments, as I looked at some of the sentences from the answer in front of me. I didn't recognize the sentences or the writing style. It seemed choppy, poorly written, disorganized, poorly planned. There were a few spelling errors that stood out to me right away on the screen--a "their" that should have been a "there." I interrupted and said "I am not recognizing this. Can you scroll to the next question?" Because there had been two main essay questions. The second involved arguing for a specific side--prosecution (state) or defense. I recall that you were supposed to identify at the beginning which side you would be writing for. He scrolled down and the first line of the second essay answer said "Counsel for defense." And that is when I knew for certain that the exam wasn't mine, because I had written for the prosecution, and I remembered that point specifically because I remember thinking I wouldn't have expected that to be my choice. And then I said, "Oh my god, I think I still have my outlined notes that I handwrote before typing up my answer." And I pulled them out and indeed, top of the second page of handwritten notes: "Counsel for state/prosecution." That's how I knew definitively that something was wrong.
The spelling errors and poor, hastily written sentences could have been mine, as you go through an exam so quickly that you don't think about those things and you don't have time to go back and proof. You're flying so fast in typing that little things like that happen inevitably. Had that been the only thing I noticed, I am not sure what would have happened in this situation. I would not have felt so certain about the fact that I didn't really recognize the answers as mine. Because it is easy to forget this stuff, and it's been over a month since I took the exam. But the fact that the second essay was arguing for the opposite side from what I had argued--both what I remembered having argued, and also what I had my handwritten notes to prove that I argued--was pretty conclusive. And like I say, I just really did not recognize the writing voice as mine. I outlined my answers in advance, so my answers would have been clearer. I am so fucking glad I still held on to my notes. Frankly, I'm not entirely sure why I did. I think I was going to hold onto them until after going over the exam with him. I think maybe deep down a small part of me wondered if there had been some mistake with my exam, and so I retained all my handwritten notes from studying as well as from the exam to prove that I studied so hard and that I identified all these various legal issues in the essays.
He wasn't sure what to make of all this. The exam was done through Canvas. I am not sure how it works, nor how there could have been a mix-up. The grading is blind--I think a number is attributed to us in place of our names. I don't know how someone else's exam was attributed to my name, but I am so certain that is what happened. My professor was definitely confused. He confirmed that, according to Canvas, this was my exam. But it wasn't mine. I did not write those answers. So, presumably, someone else in my class got a grade for my exam answers. I can't say for certain whether it was a higher grade or not, but my inclination is that it is.
My professor said he would reach out to IT to see if they can look into if something happened on Canvas. And if there was indeed a mistake on his end or on Canvas's end, my final grade can be corrected. That was a tremendous relief to hear because I had feared that after a certain point the grades were final, could no longer be altered, and that I would just be out of luck. I am just worried now that I'll get pushback. If IT says "Nope, there is no problem in Canvas. It says this is her exam." Then what happens? Will I have to fight this? Luckily, I have my handwritten outline. Everything I outlined went into my exam answer, in the order that I outlined it. So I can compare more closely with the answer that was purportedly "mine" and show how it isn't actually mine. My head has been absolutely spinning since this morning. Hanging up that Zoom call and sitting there like...if I should have received a better grade (which, at this point is my inclination, but again, I don't know), then my GPA would be higher (it went down because of this specific class grade). My ranking would in turn be higher. Minimal differences, but here's the thing. I have submitted many clerkship applications based on the GPA and rank which were calculated based on this grade that potentially is lower than it should have been. Clerkships are quite competitive. Competitive enough that having one's ranking go up a few spots could make the difference--between being selected for an interview and having your materials rejected. So, like I said, my brain has been absolutely spinning.
I want this resolved as soon as possible, obviously. I don't know how long it will take to figure this out, and like I said, I'm worried they'll be like "It's not possible." I don't know how it happened, but that shit was not mine. Where is my exam answer, and who got the grade for it? I will update as soon as I know more about what's going on with this.
Then I had a kind of busy day of work. I had a meeting with a supervisor for one of my positions pretty much right after the zoom meeting with my professor, so I was so overwhelmed at that point. I have to turn in a revised version of an assignment for that job tonight/tomorrow morning. Then I also was busy with work in the afternoon for my other position with the school's law clinic.
After that, luckily, I got to enjoy dinner out with my friend from school. I've had a number of classes with her and we are finally hanging out outside of school. We went to Barrio in Cleveland Heights, and it was great. We spent a good hour and a half catching up with everything. She had a crazy weird day too with some issues at her apartment, so we both had a lot to share.
I am home now, it is a slightly rainy evening, and it is hot as hell. My room is quite uncomfortable in the heat, as the only AC we have is from a window unit in the living room. I don't spend too much time in the living room, except for when I'm working at my desk out there. My room gets terribly hot, but apparently not so bad that I get up and go to the living room instead. I'm just not as comfortable out there.
I will leave it at that for now.
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