Micro 301- Grading System
Spring
Quarter
The information provided below is designed to inform you in advance how you
will be graded. We believe the approach taken has a number of advantages for
you. The first element in this approach is that the standards by which grades
are to be determined in this course are set in advance. The second element is
that your grade will be decided by your level of performance in relation to the
material in the course, not in relation to all of the other students in the
course. There are no limits to the number or proportion of students who can
achieve any numerical grade. Finally, with this system it will be possible for
you to approximate your current numerical grade based on the exams taken up to
a particular time. We expect that the present system will remove much of the
uncertainty usually associated with grading.
There will be two midterms and one final, all multiple-choice. The tests
will cover the lectures indicated on the syllabus. The final will be
comprehensive with the main emphasis on the last section of the course. There
may be several short graded assignments as well.
The grade you receive will be determined by your performance relative to the
set of standards given below. These preset standards give the equivalence
between the percentage of correct answers attained over all the exams and the
numerical grade you will receive. There are two considerations you should know relative
to these standards.
a. The percentage grade and hence the numerical grade you receive will not
be based on an absolute standard. The 100% level for the quarter will be set by
the average grade received for all three examinations by the top five percent
of undergraduates in the course. Thus, if the scores of the top five percent of
undergraduates average 108 out of a total of 120 questions during the quarter,
then 108 points will be set as the 100% level. This step serves to adjust the
exams for their difficulty.
b. To pass the course we have decided you must achieve a 50% or greater
score, i.e., 50% or more of the number used to establish the 100% level as
noted above. Therefore, we have set 50% as equivalent to the lowest passing
numerical grade of 0.7. The remainder of the scale rises in uniform increments.
|
% |
Grade |
% |
Grade |
% |
Grade |
|
98 or greater |
4.0 |
80 |
2.8 |
62 |
1.6 |
|
96.5 |
3.9 |
78.5 |
2.7 |
60.5 |
1.5 |
|
95 |
3.8 |
77 |
2.6 |
59 |
1.4 |
|
93.5 |
3.7 |
75.5 |
2.5 |
57.5 |
1.3 |
|
92 |
3.6 |
74 |
2.4 |
56 |
1.2 |
|
90.5 |
3.5 |
72.5 |
2.3 |
54.5 |
1.1 |
|
89 |
3.4 |
71 |
2.2 |
53 |
1.0 |
|
87.5 |
3.3 |
69.5 |
2.1 |
51.5 |
0.9 |
|
86 |
3.2 |
68 |
2.0 |
50.1 |
0.8 |
|
84.5 |
3.1 |
66.5 |
1.9 |
50 |
0.7 |
|
83 |
3.0 |
65 |
1.8 |
less than 50 |
0.0 |
|
81.5 |
2.9 |
63.5 |
1.7 |
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In determining the numerical grade the table will be used as follows: Fifty
percent will yield a numeric grade of 0.7. From 50 through 51.4 the grade will
be 0.8; 51.5 through 52.9 a grade of 0.9, etc., and finally, 98 through 100 or
more a grade of 4.0.