“Seven and eight, Professor.”
“Thank you. Everyone pass your homework to Mr. Kapoor.”
His classmates didn’t look at Matty as they handed over their papers, except for Kelvin who had another glare of bitchface saved for him. “Suck up,” he muttered.
What did Kelvin and the rest of them expect? They should’ve done the homework. He didn’t see the big deal about turning it in.
Professor Chertok took the stack of homework off Matty’s desk. He swapped them with another stack of papers in his bag. “And I have your tests!” He waved them in the air. “Now, I know these grades may be a bit of a shock to you. I don’t make my tests easy. They’re not supposed to be easy, or else you don’t learn.”
He distributed them to students face down so nobody could peek at someone’s grade. Which Matty would never do. He didn’t need to see their tests. His classmates’ reactions said enough.
“Now, I do give students the option to drop one test for the class. You have three days after you receive your grade to decide. You can’t wait until the end of the semester to drop your lowest grade. I never liked that method. Getting to drop a grade shouldn’t just be a privilege. It should be a warning that you need to work harder.”
Professor Chertok handed Matty his test. He waited for the professor to move on before looking at his grade. His face sunk.
92.
I barely got an A.It was an A-minus, and the minus part stung. Matty preferred A’s that were 94 and above. That planted him firmly in the A range. This was warning enough for him.
Kelvin raised his hand. “Professor, do you grade on a curve?”
“I have when appropriate.”
Kelvin held up his test, folded in half to shield his grade. “I think this may be appropriate.”
“Not this time, Mr. Zhang.”
“I thought all classes in the department graded on a curve.”
Professor Chertok was losing patience with Kelvin, even though Kelvin had a point. It was common practice for engineering and computer science courses to grade on a curve. It mimicked how the tech industry ranked employees. Plus, schools didn’t want to turn out graduates with poor GPAs who couldn’t get accepted into graduate programs because it made them look bad.
The professor picked up Matchbox and placed him carefully in his bag, right on top of their homework. “One student scored over twenty points higher than the rest of the class, thus making the curve unusable. With a curve, your grade would still be the same.”
“Twenty points higher?” Kelvin asked. He looked down at his test, incredulous.
“It’s true. Only one of you scored an A. Well, technically, an A-minus.”
* * *
Usually, Matty left class without talking to anyone. But this time, Kelvin pulled on his backpack in the hall.
“Congrats on the A, Matty.”
“Thanks.”Technically, A-minus. He pressed his fingers into his backpack straps.
“Listen, since Professor Chertok grades on a curve, you can cool it.”
Other students passed them on their way out. They left in groups, class friendships already formed.Good for them.
“What do you mean cool it?”
“You don’t have to try so hard. If all of our grades are around the same range, Chertok will grade on a curve, and we’ll all benefit. It’s awesome that you were able to ace this test, but without that curve, we’re all screwed.”
“So you want me to get a C?”
“Why don’t we start with a B-minus and work from there,” Kelvin flashed him a smile reserved for used car salesmen. Each quarter, Matty hoped they wouldn’t be in the same class together, but Kelvin seemed just as interested in robotics as him. He was a zit that couldn’t be popped.
“Did you study for this test?”
