Something i was hoping never to have to do happened today. I knew it was going to happen at some point, but anyway I hoped it wouldnt.

I had to fail a student. I have been an external examiner in computer science at the university for a few years now, It pays well and i get to choose if i think i have the time every time so it is a fairly flexible second source of income.
It has its down sides too though. it is done in my spare time, and i need to take time of for reading the assignments. and sometimes, you may have to crush the hopes of some young student.
So far I have been in the fortunate position that almost all the exams I have graded was above average.
It may have something to do with the fact that a lot of students choose to not hand in anything if they are not sure they can pass, and since most of what I have done was written assignments with oral defense, I have not had to fail anyone yet.
that is until today.
This particular exam was a programming assignment. The students had to program a raytracer, but the focus was more on the software development than on the graphics part. I know both so I was asked to be the external examiner, and said yes. It has been a long day. More than 10 hours and tomorrow will be just as long. right now I am on my way home in the train. the grades was fairly spread from 12(A) to this guy who got a Zero.
The danish system is more or less equivalent to the american A-F system but we use numbers in order to be able to easier calculate means. so from A to F it goes 12 10 7 4 2 0 03 where 03 is only used if people doesnt hand in anything.
I do not enjoy failing anyone but on the other hand. by failing he gets the chance for a re-eaxamination which will usually give him a better grade than 2(the lowest passing grade) that cold have an impact on his final results and thus his chances of getting a job so , for my own part I would rather have the opportunity to redo the exam than get a 2.
I hope he took it the same way.

Thanks for reading this. Im EvilHippie, a compulsive creative and jack o' trades. If you want to know more about me, check out my introduction post here

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