Announcements

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August 01
Final Exam Posting:
Exam scores have been posted to the Course Standing page. Note that there will be no question-by-question histogram in this case; all that you will see is your overall score on the exam. Look for exam scores at the very bottom of all the posted data. Anyone who has questions about their final exam, or wants to look over their work, is welcome to drop by my office, but please don't think of this as a chance to "go fishing" for extra points. The only changes I plan to make at this point will be to correct outright grading errors on the exam.
Exam Score Adjustments:
The highest raw score on the final exam was 97 points, so all scores were scaled up by three points. Note that the adjusted score posted on the Course Standing page already reflects this addition.
Course Grade Adjustments & Final Grades:
After considering the "Big Picture" for the term, I felt that it was appropriate to make some sort of "adjustment" to course scores, before computing final grades. In particular, I felt that the students who made a good-faith effort to meet me on my terms–and devoted significant time and effort to the three areas that I considered important (attendance, early homework, and extra homework)–did not end up with scores that adequately reflected their efforts. Consequently, I am adopting a curve of up to five points (i.e. half a letter-grade), based on the following criteria:
 
  • A "Curve Percentage" was calculated as the average of: (1) your raw attendance rate; (2) the percentage of homework assignments completed for the early bonus; and (3) the percentage of bonus assignments for which any level of effort was recorded.
     
  • Note well that for cases (2) and (3), it was not the score that you earned, but simply the fraction of assignments for which you made the effort, that was counted. (Also note that these percentage scores have been posted to the Course Standing page.)
     
  • The Curve Percentage (which has also been posted to Course Standing) was multiplied by five points and added to your overall score, and a final letter has been computed based on that final score.
     
I have no doubt that the students who did not take the Attendance, Early Homework, and Bonus Homework policies seriously will feel short-changed because they are getting a smaller curve than others. To those students, I can only say that I'm sorry they paid no heed my (repeated) admonitions that anyone who did not make an effort to earn these points would not be getting "freebies" from me at the end of the term...
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