Grading of Calculus

Assessment of Performance

There are many different ways to grade or determine performance of calculus students. This page is to describe various scenarios. You are welcome to pick and choose.

You are also very welcome to submit your own grading scheme> that may be added to this site.

The basis of assessing the preformance and assigning grade is given.

Grading Policy
Homework Grading Policy
Re-grades
Examination Weighting
How the Assignments and Examinations Count Toward the Final Grade
Letter Grades
Gray Area Grade Adjustment

Grading Policy

All assignments and tests will be graded using a point system.

Homework Grading Policy

The homework including Study Questions, Problem Sets, and Projects are graded on a three point basis.

Evaluation          Points  
-------------------------------------------

Acceptable                3
Minor Errors              2
Major Errors              1
No Show                   0
-------------------------------------------

Acceptable means that the submitted work met all the requirements of the assignment.
Minor Errors means that the submitted work was complete but there were minor errors.
Major Errors means that the submitted work was not complete and/or there was a major error in concept or application. Typically the effort would have to almost start from scratch to correct the error.
No Show means that the submitted work was not submitted or there was very little evidence that a serious effort had been made to complete the assignment.

The aim is for the majority of the class to get full credit on the problem sets and projects. Lots of help is available, so this aim should be achievable.

Direct any questions you have about your scores to course instructor within one week. (Go To:[TOC])

Re-grades

If you have a study question, problem set, project or examination that you feel has been graded incorrectly, you may request that it be re-graded. To request a re-grade, write your name, the course and section number, the identify the items(s) you would like re-graded and state exactly why you think you deserve more points on a separate piece of paper. Turn this sheet in with the item to be re-graded.

Anything that you turn in for re-grade will result in the or decrease your original grade. The re-graded score is final.

Re-grade requests must be submitted within one week to the course instructor after the item in question was returned to the student. (Go To:[TOC])

Examination Weighting

Anyone can have a bad day. Two compensate for this possibility, lowest mid-term examination test score will be counted only half as much as each of the two higher scores when the test score average is computed. (Go To:[TOC])

How the Assignments and Examinations Count Toward the Final Grade

Your final grade in this course will be determined according to weighting factors for the assignments and examinations as follows:

Component          Percent of Total Grade  
-------------------------------------------

Study Questions                 5%
Problem/Example Sets           15%
Team Projects                  15%                   
Individual Mini-Case Studies   15%                   
Mid-Term Exams                 30%
Final Exam                     20%
-------------------------------------------

The grade points are split evenly between assignments and examinations. And, the final examination has twice the weight of a single mid-term examination. (Go To:[TOC])

Letter Grades

Your letter grade for this course is assigned on the following basis:

  Percent of
Total Max Points  Grade
--------------------------

   >90%             A
   >85% to <=90%    B+   
   >80% to <=85%    B         
   >75% to <=80%    C+          
   >70% to <=75%    C            
   >65% to <=70%    D+          
   >60% to <=65%    D            
   <60%             E           
---------------------------

(NOTE: Any person satisfactorily completing five individual mini-case studies will have their grade will be adjusted upward 1/2 letter grade. And, for a person to receive an A grade, requires satisfactory individual completion of seven mini-case studies even if their score is >=90%.) (Go To:[TOC])

Gray Area Grade Adjustment

There is a "gray area" between each of two letter grades. Total scores 2% points below the cutoff points are considered to be in the gray area and may be adjusted upward. If your score is in one of these gray areas, whether or not the adjustment will be will be made depends on two factors: your performance on mini-case studies (how many attempted and grades achieved) and whether your test and homework performance improved (grades went up) during the semester. An ``All's well that ends well'' policy is followed. This means that if your last exam scores are better than your first exams, and your Study Question, Problem Set, and Team Exercise Grades have improved or are high, a gray area score grade will be adjusted upward 1/2 letter grade.

Note that the grading scheme is non-competitive, so it is possible for everyone to do well.

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mike@mathforum.org Updated: 13 June 1995