Huge Problem.. Please Help (editing an Adium conversation)

[derajfast]

I really apologize for the caps and all, but I cannot stress enough how important this is. Here is the problem:

I get my grades back today, and one of them is a full grade lower then expected. (B as opposed to an A). So I email my teacher, inquiring about my grade and showing mathematically how it should be higher. She says that I got a 71 on my midterm (25% of my grade), when I really got a 91. She must've recorded it wrong in her gradebook, and now I am on break so I do not have my test to prove it, and there is a good chance I threw it away. So now it is my word vs hers, and if I got an A in this class (like I deserved), I get on the deans list and am qualified for 10,000+ in scholarship money this year.
Now thankfully to spotlight (I love my mac now even more than I thought possible), I searched for "91 religion." (religion & science class). Sure enough, I get an adium conversation between me and my girlfriend from the day we got the tests back, and she asks me how I did, and I say how I studied so much etc etc and got a 91 and how happy I was. My teacher said she will give me the credit if I show this conversation to her when I get back to school, which will qualify me for 10,000 which would be rather welcome.
The problem is, that the conversation has some sexual inuendos and comments between me and my girlfriend following mention of the test. I know that its not worth losing 10k over, but is there any way I can edit this adium conversation or make it shorter? It comes up in safari, but I cannot edit it or anything. I am really stuck between a rock and a hard place. Could anyone please help me? thanks? If i can't edit the conversation to just take out the sexual stuff then I will still probably show her, because its not worth losing 10k over, but I'd rather it not be there.

Please help!
Thanks

 

[emw]

First, congrats on the Dean's List and the scholarship - that's great work.

Second, according to CanadaRAM this is the 2370th post with "Please Help" as the title, so it may limit helpful responses.

Third, you should be able to copy and paste the text from the conversation, if she'll accept that. Or, you could simply reduce the size of the Adium window such that only the part of the conversation about the test shows in the window. She shouldn't care about anything else.

Fourth, never throw away exams before grades come out.

 

[derajfast]

Yes I know....Thank you. I am not positive I threw it out, but I left my notebook in my dorm, and I am about 4 hours south of my school. So it's just killing me now wondering if I did throw it out.

 

[eva01]

who throws exams away before the class is over O_O

and doesn't the teacher know it is easy to fake a conversation and spoof it to take place in the past.....

 

[CanadaRAM]

You can always take a screen shot of anything on-screen - then bring into an image editing or page layout program as a graphic, and paste white blocks over the parts you don't want seen (like electronic white-out) and print it. It has the added advantage of being more "believeable" than sumply copying and pasting text into an email (both can be faked, of course).

 

[Doctor Q]

Another suggestion. Submit a signed letter saying that you did get a 91 on the midterm. If your girlfriend will write a signed letter saying she remembers hearing about it right after you got your midterm grade, that's great too.

It's still only your word (and your girlfriend's) word, plus the screenshot you can show, but the fact that you would put your school reputation on the line (cheating could get you thrown out) is very likely enough evidence for the teacher, especially if school records show that your grades in other classes prove you are an excellent student.

Good luck.

 

[i4k20c]

just giver her the whole convo.. and never pick that teacher again!

 

[derajfast]

Another suggestion. Submit a signed letter saying that you did get a 91 on the midterm. If your girlfriend will write a signed letter saying she remembers hearing about it right after you got your midterm grade, that's great too.

It's still only your word (and your girlfriend's) word, plus the screenshot you can show, but the fact that you would put your school reputation on the line (cheating could get you thrown out) is very likely enough evidence for the teacher, especially if school records show that your grades in other classes prove you are an excellent student.

Good luck.

that is a good idea. i will see what she says in regards to the saved convo first, and then weigh my options from there.

 

[FocusAndEarnIt]

just giver her the whole convo.. and never pick that teacher again!

Yeah... that's not very helpful . We're talking about $10,000 dollars.

 

[Seasought]

I think all of the suggestions here are perfectly fine. This conversation of yours could of course be faked, but I get the impression that this teacher of yours realizes how serious you are about doing well and thus, takes your word for it that this chat transcript is legitimate.

You could just copy and paste it into an html file with the omissions made on your part...you COULD offer to bring the laptop in (or a laptop) with the transcript on it and show her how you found the transcript and explain that parts of the conversation are private, etc...

You're probably freaked out, but it sounds like this teacher respects your ability as it is so showing her this chat (in whatever measure) will probably be enough.

 

[FocusAndEarnIt]

!!Just got an idea. Maybe, if she doesn't believe you with the proof that you already have, tell her, give me the test now and I'll prove you I did good on it. Right there. No studying.

 

[derajfast]

i could, but like i said im about 4 hours away from the school. so i really dont have any way of taking it on the spot. ill see what she says about the conversation and then take it from there. thanks for everyones input though. i greatly appreciate it.

 

[Doctor Q]

May I tell the story of my greatest grade-change triumph? No, it is NOT about hacking into the grade computer.

My girlfriend and I were in the same math class. I got an A on the final and she got a B. In fact, she had the highest B in the class, which I knew because the professor showed us the score distribution and told us the point cutoffs he picked.

I looked over her test and found a problem she should have gotten credit for that had been marked wrong.

She made an appointment with her professor to review her test and I came along. I showed the professor what I had spotted and he agreed that she should have gotten a few more points. That still left her in the "B" range.

But I noticed something about the class curve. He had chosen the cutoff between A and B based on a gap in scores in the class distribution. I told him that if she had had the point total she now had at the time he reviewed the scores and set the curve, he would have set the cutoff below her score instead of above it, because there was now a larger gap between her score and the next-best one in the class than between her score and the next-better one.

He was surprised but agreed, changed the grade cutoffs, and switched her grade to an A. I was her hero. And we lived happily ever after, since she's now my wife.

 

[Seasought]

i could, but like i said im about 4 hours away from the school. so i really dont have any way of taking it on the spot. ill see what she says about the conversation and then take it from there. thanks for everyones input though. i greatly appreciate it.

Good luck!

 

[FocusAndEarnIt]

i could, but like i said im about 4 hours away from the school. so i really dont have any way of taking it on the spot. ill see what she says about the conversation and then take it from there. thanks for everyones input though. i greatly appreciate it.

I'm saying when you get back.

 

[emw]

<snip>

Only you could romanticize statistics!

That's really a great story with a happy ending.

 

[mkrishnan]

He was surprised but agreed, changed the grade cutoffs, and switched her grade to an A. I was her hero. And we lived happily ever after, since she's now my wife.

This is such a cute story, Dr. Q. Thank you so much for sharing it.

 

[GFLPraxis]

Oh, that's nothing. I earned a 4.0 in a class and due to a mistake, the teacher logged it as a 0.0.

*DOH*