Math 55 Grading
The course grade will be based on a weighted average
of the final (40%), midterm (20%), and classwork (40%).
Classwork includes homeworks, quizzes, and section participation.
Each quiz and homework grade below the (weighted) average
of your final and midterm grades will be boosted up to that average.
The course grade will be curved.
Here is an example.
Suppose that your homework and quiz grades are
80, 60, 0, 100, 90, 0, 70,
where the zeros were a quiz and a homework
skipped because of illness.
Suppose also that your midterm and final grades are 60 and 90,
respectively.
Then your midterm-final average is (60+90+90)/3 = 80,
since the final counts twice as much as the midterm.
Your adjusted homework and quiz grades are then
80, 80, 80, 100, 90, 80, 80,
making your classwork average approximately 84,
and your final numerical grade
(0.4)90 + (0.2)60 +(0.4)84 = 81.6.
Your letter grade would be calculated from this number,
using a curve yet to be determined.
The point of this grading scheme is that the homeworks and quizzes
are your chances to make mistakes, while you are just learning the concepts.
Even if your scores on these are far from perfect, you can still do
well in the course provided that you learn from your mistakes;
it is your final understanding of the material that I consider important.
On the other hand, if you are the sort of person whose exam performance
often does not measure up with your understanding,
because of nervousness or whatever,
the homeworks and quizzes can serve as a partial safety net.
If you miss a quiz due to illness, there will be no makeup.
Instead take whatever time and energy you would have devoted to
studying for a makeup quiz, and devote it towards studying for the
midterm and final, since the zero grade on the quiz will be boosted up
to your midterm-final average, whatever that turns out to be.
WARNING: When I used this grading scheme in the past, some students decided
to skip all or most of the homeworks and quizzes,
and gambled on getting good scores
on the midterm and final. Most of these students ended up getting
grades far lower than they expected, and many of them even failed the course.
It is virtually impossible to learn the material without
working through problems.
Also keep in mind that it is the raw exam average that
is used in the adjustment.
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