Prompt
You are a teaching assistant for a large first-year chemistry course, and you grade the lab reports and exams for your section of 40 students. One of your students, Jenna, is struggling. She asks whether she can hire you for private tutoring once a week at $60 an hour. The department has no rule against it, and you could use the money, since your stipend barely covers rent. She says the free help sessions are too crowded for her to ask questions, and her parents are willing to pay. Other students in your section cannot afford private help. What would you do?
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What this question tests
- Ethical reasoning
- Professionalism and integrity
- Critical thinking
How to approach this question
This MMI station tests whether you can recognize a conflict of interest when no rule forbids it, because you'd be paid to tutor a student whose work you also grade. Name the people affected: Jenna, who needs help, the other 39 students who can't afford it, and you, who need the income. Ask aloud whether you could swap grading with another assistant, or improve the free sessions instead. Weigh accepting, declining, and accepting with safeguards, and commit to a choice. When the station tests your choice at the moment of grading, explain how you'd protect fairness to every student and your own integrity.
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