How to answer the teaching assistant grading mistake question in a medical school interview
- Kind
- Ethical dilemma
Prompt
You are a teaching assistant who marked 120 midterm exams. After the grades were returned, you realized you used an outdated answer key for one question: fixing it would raise 30 students' grades and lower 8 others'. The professor tells you to correct only the grades that go up and say nothing about the rest. What would you do?
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How to approach this question
What this question tests
- Ethical reasoning
- Professionalism and integrity
- Communication
How to approach it
This panel interview question tests whether you'll disclose and correct your own error fully when an authority figure offers a fix that avoids upsetting anyone. Recognize that the mistake was yours, and name who is affected: the 30 students marked too low, the 8 marked too high, the rest of the class whose standing shifts, and the professor. Weigh what correcting only the grades that go up would mean for fairness between students, and acknowledge the real cost of lowering grades after they've been released. Consider how you'd raise this respectfully with the professor, perhaps with options such as a full correction with an explanation, or dropping the disputed question for everyone. Land on a clear decision and say what you'd do if the professor still refuses.
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