Context: One of our math quizzes was way to hard, so my math professor scaled it. The total amount of points that one could get was 15, but if anyone got 10 or over, s/he got a 100%. I got an 11/10. My professor asked us to email us if we wanted the extra points.

I emailed him. Here is what I received.

Note: My professor is the most German man, so make sure you read this in a slight German accent.

Hi Richard,

I could do that. But do you really want it? think about it. You are among the top 5 people in the class,

I have no doubt that you'll get an A in 234 which is generally a course that students struggle with. I could give you this point but I would like to tell you that you don't really need it. You have an almost perfect score on all the quizzes of which the average is way below. So, as a teacher I can assure you that it's almost impossible to do better than you and 3-4 other students in class of 70. If you insist on this point I'll give it to you, but if my praise of your performance is sufficient information then let's keep it at 10 (it's 100%). I will leave this decision up to you but you can be certain that you really don't need this point.

All the best,

Dirk Brockmann

This is one of those emails that you expect to receive, but never do (and therefore you never really expect it either. I'll probably ask him for the points after I do poorly on the midterm.

Second Note: I'm not a multi-variable calculus genius! We just haven't had a midterm yet, so it's just been homework and quiz grades. Also, I didn't get 100% on all of them, I got a 9/10 and a 8/10. The averages are around 7/10.

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My self confidence in math has been boosted way high, but at the same time I feel like a terrible grade grubber. haha...man