Exam Grades
When you receive your graded exams, you will find two
numbers on the first page. The one near your name will be your raw score,
the sum of the points you received for each question. The other number,
circled, will be your normalized score. The normalized score is computed
based on your raw score and on our perception of what constitutes an A,
B, and so forth. The normalized scores are in the range of 50-100, where
90-100 is an A, 80-89 is a B, etc. The final lecture grade will be a simple
weighted average of the four normalized scores - there will be no curve.
Giving you a normalized score means that you know as much as we do about
your final grade. Just go through the computation.
Final Grades
You may compute your own grade, just as we will, by the
following simple calculation:
| Normalized Score on Exam I x 0.14 | = |
| Normalized Score on Exam II x 0.16 | = |
| Normalized Score on Exam III x 0.19 | = |
| Normalized Score on Exam IV x 0.21 | = |
| Sum of Scores for Lab Assignments x 0.30 | = |
| ADD THEM UP TO COMPUTE YOUR FINAL GRADE |
Note that there will be no curve at the end of the course (nor any other time). You are not competing with anyone else in the class. If everyone does well, we'll be delighted!
Attendance Policy
Anyone missing one of the first three exams will be required
to take a comprehensive final exam along with Exam IV. Students who know
in advance that they will miss an exam should see us as soon as possible.
Any student missing more than one exam or missing the final will be given
an incomplete or an F, as deemed appropriate. Attendance of classes is
not otherwise a requirement for this course.