Your weighted average for the course will be
computed from your exam, homework, and attendance grades on
the 4-point scale (A=4.0, A-=3.7,...) using the item weights
listed in the table below. Your weighted average will
then determine your course grade by the ranges indicated in
the table on the course website / Course Grades. (For
graduate students enrolled in Math 719 only:
There is additional, graduate level coursework for Math 719
-- be sure to talk to Prof. Bray early in the semester about
this!)
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Item Weights
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Raw scores on each exam will be converted to corresponding
grades on the 4-point scale by a curve set for that specific
exam. All of these conversions will be informed by
department standards. The exam curves will be
posted in the Exam Curves section of
this class website.
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On each homework assignment, a subset of the assigned
exercises (one from each submission group identified in the
Gradescope item) will be graded, each out of 10 points.
At the end of the term homework averages will be computed as
the average of all scores after dropping the lowest
score for each student. A homework average
of 100% (of the max possible) will translate to a homework
grade of 4.0, a homework average of 65% (or lower) will
translate to a homework grade of 0.0, and homework averages
between 100% and 65% will be interpolated linearly
between these two reference points.
For example then, a homework average of 82.5% will translate
to a homework grade of 2.0.
For the attendance grade, being counted as present at a given
class meeting requires that the student be present before the scheduled start time.
At the end of the term attendance scores will be computed as
a percentage. The denominator for each student will be
the number of lecture days in which attendance was counted
minus the number of excused absences for that student; the
numerator for each student will be the number of those days
the student is marked as present (NB it is the student's
responsibility to make sure that they are marked as present
while physically in the classroom, before the lecture).
An attendance percentage of 100% will translate to an
attendance grade of 4.0, an attendance percentage of 65% (or
lower) will translate to an attendance grade of 0.0, and
attendance percentages between 100% and 65% will be interpolated
linearly between these two reference points.
For example then, in a semester with 31 lecture days with
attendance counted: a student with 1 excused absence and
3 unexcused absences would have an attendance percentage of
(31-(1+3))/(31-1)=90%, which interpolates to the 4-point scale
between the above reference points to an attendance grade of
~2.857, which is roughly a B/B-.
Note that this means that, in such a semester (fairly
typical!), each unexcused absence brings down your attendance
grade by about 0.38 (and even more if you have multiple
excused absences!). And with attendance counting as 3%
of the course grade, this brings down your overall course
average by about .012 on the 4-point scale. Keeping in
mind that the 4-point scale ranges for specific course grades
are mostly only about .300, each unexcused absence thus
carries a significant chance of changing your course
grade! Of course, all you have to do to avoid this is to
be present on time for all lectures.
Viewed more positively, if you just come on time to all class
meetings, you get a "free" A=4.0 counting as 3% of your course
grade! This contributes 0.12 to your course average; and
with a course average of only 0.60 required to pass the
course, perfect attendance alone will get you about 20% of the
way to passing the course!
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