Your final grade is based on your overall percentage. We add up all points from homeworks and exams, and convert that to a percentage. At the end of the semester, we add up to 2% of extra credit. Grade cutoffs are listed farther down.
Homework assignments make up 40% of your score, exams 60%.
The grade cutoffs are fixed. There is no rounding up involved in computing the scores. If you have 79.99%, that is not an 80%.
# |
Assignment |
points each |
points total |
% each |
% total |
||
12 |
Homework |
40 |
480 |
2.7% |
32.0% |
||
4 |
Excel Homework |
15 |
60 |
1.0% |
4.0% |
||
4 |
Practice exam |
10 |
40 |
0.7% |
2.7% |
||
1 |
Practice Final |
20 |
20 |
1.3% |
1.3% |
||
HW Total |
600 |
40.0% |
|||||
4 |
exam |
150 |
600 |
10.0% |
40.0% |
||
1 |
Final Exam |
300 |
300 |
20.0% |
20.0% |
||
Exam Total |
900 |
60.0% |
|||||
1 |
complete all HW* with 80%+ score |
1.0% |
1.0% |
||||
1 |
complete all Exams with 50%+ score |
1.0% |
1.0% |
||||
Extra Credit |
2.0% |
||||||
Course Total |
1500 |
102.0% |
* Not including the practice exams.
|
In a class of 20 or 30 students, most instructors look for a reasonable gap as a grade cutoff. If three students have scores of 81%, 89%, 90%, the instructor would most likely put the cutoff for an A or A- at 89% instead of 90%. However, Math 150 has anywhere from 600 to over 1000 students. There are no gaps in the scores. There will always be someone just a fraction of a percent below the cutoff. If we move one person up to the next category, the next person below them will come and ask. We don't move the cutoffs. Also, there is no rounding up involved in computing the scores. If you have 79.99%, that is a B-, not a B. The only way to move up is to earn more points. It is better to do your best from the begining of the semester, not only Finals week. During Finals week your options are limited, but HW 11, Excel HW 4 and the final exam are still open. You may redo one of them to get a few extra points. The week before there is also Exam 4 still open. The registrar's current rules say that we have to give straight Ds for exam grades, and then we can give D+/D/D- for final grades. We are not set up for two different grading systems. If and when the registrar switches to the D+/D/D- scheme for all grades, we will switch. |
MyLabsPlus has a tool labeled Overall Score, but it was so misleading that we disabled it. Download a Math 150 Grade Estimator spreadsheet, and enter your scores. That will give you your actual current score. Your exam and final grades will be based on the same calculations. .