Calculating your Grade

Calculating Your Grade
MOST of the assignments in this course (homeworks, quizzes, exams, and the final) will be based on percentage points. However, some are based on RAW point totals (addon01 and extra01). This makes it real easy for you to know where you stand grade-wise. Please also note that the Homework Service DOES NOT calculate your final grade (score) - I do that via my own local files. I DO extract your SCORES (percentages and in some cases, RAW scores) from the Homework Service for each assignment though.

Exam Curves All of your assignment scores are kept on the homework service. Unfortunately the HW Service does not allow for any curves (add-on percent points). So use the following add-on percentage points for each of your exams to get the "official gradebook" score. Find your PERCENT score from the homework service, then add the following amounts to those scores and you'll have your official gradebook score.
Exam 1	Exam 2	Exam 3	Exam 4	Final
+3	+4	zero	zero	+2

Your Overall SCORE for the Course
Quizzes (average best 4 of 5)	5 %
Exams (average best 3 of 4)	65% or 45%
FINAL yes, you HAVE to take it	30% or 50%

G R A D E B R E A K S

88.50

78.50

68.50

58.50

< 58.50

Remember: You get to add the points for extra01 and addon01 (3 max each) to your exam scores before the averaging. To get your exam average, add your 3 highest exams (with the curves) and add your extra points from extra01 and addon01 to that total. Then divide by 3 for your exam average.

I will also substitute your 4-exam average (no drops) for your quiz average IF it is a higher score.

YOUR FINAL LETTER GRADE

Will there be a curve? Maybe - maybe not. Don't count on it though. You must make at least the cut-off score or higher to get the appropriate grade. Yes, some students will miss the cut-off by as little as a tenth of a point. Please read the following about being on the bubble.

On the Bubble - Borderline cases for letter grades

What is "on the bubble"? The bubble is when you have an overall score of 79.33 and the break for getting a "B" in the course is set at 79.50. It simply means that you have NOT met the criteria for a particular letter grade but are very very close - as in a few 1/10ths or even 1/100ths of a point. How do I decide such cases? Read on...

Yes, you get to DROP one exam grade. Yes, you can have all ZEROES on the homework and still get an A in the course. However, be forewarned! I WILL look at your performance on those things (your dropped exam score, your dropped quiz score, and your homework scores) when you end up on the bubble (ie borderline). What's my method? First, I look at your score on the final exam. If you did much better on the final than other work AND it is considerably higher than the grade break you will receive the higher grade. Next, I look at what your score was on the dropped exam. If you completely bombed the dropped exam, you will most likely NOT get the higher grade. If your dropped exam is actually quite close to the average of the other 3 AND your overall score is only a few tenths (as in 2 or 3 tenths, not 2 or 3 whole percentage points) away, you'll probably get the higher grade. And third, I'll look at your homework scores. Did you do all of them? Are the scores in keeping with your exam averages? Did you do ALL the work for the course? Did you do all the quizzes?

There you have some of the criteria for beating the bubble. The only SURE way to beat the bubble is to NEVER be on it to begin with. Stay on the high side of the grade breaks and you'll never have to worry about these details.