Want better grades? Move towards the beginning of the alphabet.

[davewill]

I suppose it isn't too surprising that grading gets harsher as the grader reads the same ideas and sees the same mistakes for 20th time. While 0.3 out of 100 doesn't sound like a lot, if it puts you on one side of a line instead of the other, it hurts.

https://phys.org/news/2024-04-grades-stu...etical.amp

An analysis by University of Michigan researchers of more than 30 million grading records from U-M finds students with alphabetically lower-ranked names receive lower grades. This is due to sequential grading biases and the default order of students' submissions in Canvas—the most widely used online learning management system—which is based on the alphabetical rank of their surnames.

What's more, they find, those alphabetically disadvantaged students receive comments that are notably more negative and less polite, and exhibit lower grading quality measured by post-grade complaints from students.