Can you explain the instructions?

[Puget]

I told the student that I offered a lot of resources and support in advance of the deadline (willingness to look at drafts before deadline, sample paper in required format to type over). The comments I provided on the paper should help the student improve for the next assignment, so I anticipate the student will continue to maintain an A in the course. Also, the course is based on points, so out of a possible 250 for the entire semester, the student lost 4 points, which is not a big deal. I received a reply thanking me for the feedback I provided on the submission, but the student was the only person that did not speak at all in class this week, which is unusual.

Hmm, is this student a major? Is this an intro course? I wonder if the student is having trouble understanding the difference between an essay and an exam.

It is a freshman honors seminar, and students are in a variety of majors across colleges.

Oh yeah. I think this is just a student who needs to understand how college writing assignments are graded.

My place is fairly selective, so just about every freshling is used to being at the top of their class, often without having to work too hard at it. There are any number of freak-outs about B+/A- grades, though this student seems to have turbo charged that up to freaking out about an A.  I have a whole little speech for them about perfectionism, and adjustment to college standards. One of my favorite lines to use on them (which I can't remember the source of), is that if you are always the smartest person in the room you are in the wrong room. It seems to help them reframe things a bit.

[Caracal]

I told the student that I offered a lot of resources and support in advance of the deadline (willingness to look at drafts before deadline, sample paper in required format to type over). The comments I provided on the paper should help the student improve for the next assignment, so I anticipate the student will continue to maintain an A in the course. Also, the course is based on points, so out of a possible 250 for the entire semester, the student lost 4 points, which is not a big deal. I received a reply thanking me for the feedback I provided on the submission, but the student was the only person that did not speak at all in class this week, which is unusual.

Hmm, is this student a major? Is this an intro course? I wonder if the student is having trouble understanding the difference between an essay and an exam.

It is a freshman honors seminar, and students are in a variety of majors across colleges.

Oh yeah. I think this is just a student who needs to understand how college writing assignments are graded.

My place is fairly selective, so just about every freshling is used to being at the top of their class, often without having to work too hard at it. There are any number of freak-outs about B+/A- grades, though this student seems to have turbo charged that up to freaking out about an A.  I have a whole little speech for them about perfectionism, and adjustment to college standards. One of my favorite lines to use on them (which I can't remember the source of), is that if you are always the smartest person in the room you are in the wrong room. It seems to help them reframe things a bit.

Exactly. "This was a good paper, but it is definitely not a perfect paper. You should feel pleased with your work, but that doesn't mean there aren't some things to work on improving for future papers." It also might help to tell the student that we all have to deal with this. When academics present something at a conference or seminar they frequently hear "This is really exciting, interesting work, but..." followed by critiques of everything about the paper. The thing is-this is usually good. People have suggestions and criticisms when they engage with your work. When people don't have much to say, its often because they think the work is pointless and they don't care.