Physics & Astronomy 107 Grading Policy

Grading will be done on the plus-minus system (A,A-,B+ etc.).
Grades will be comprised of participation (10%), homework (average counting 15%),
quizzes (in-class, average counting 25%) and three Big Quizzes (25% each, top two counted).
The lowest homework and lowest quiz grades will be dropped. 
Mini-quizzes will be summed to form some of the regular quizzes. 
Participation is based on clicker points, participation points from in-class assignments and other class contributions. 
Pre-tests give bonuses on quizzes and Big Quizzes, but you must actually take the quiz or Big Quiz to get the bonus. 
Taking a quiz gives a  bonus participation point. 
Bonus participation points can also be awarded by the instructor for contributing to the class. 
Homework grades are scaled by the  percentage of problems attempted divided by the problems assigned,
plus an extra two points for getting a randomly selected problem done correctly. 
The selected problem will be announced for each homework set  after that homework is collected. 
The grader can give extra points for doing a good job on the homework.
RE-GRADING: If a student asks me to re-grade something, and I did not grade it
the first time, then I will re-grade ALL of it.
This is to be consistent. It is more accurate to have one person grade all of something
than for two people do it piecewise. Therefore, there is a (small) possibility that re-grading
will result in a score being lowered. Do look over your work before you ask for re-grading.

TEST/QUIZ POLICY: Once you leave the room, you cannot come back in. Go to the bathroom beforehand.
Absolutely no devices with any communications capability are permitted during a test, quiz or mini-quiz.
Makeup tests (with excused absences) may be oral, at instructor's discretion.  The instructor reserves
the right to give a comprehensive final if it is needed to give a good measurement of a student's progress.

This class is graded on a curve, as is standard in many university courses.  It is not on a straight scale, as is
standard in many high school courses.  Therefore, it is impossible to give an exact percentage which
corresponds to a letter grade.  However, as a ROUGH guideline, 85% will be the maximum percentage for
an A.  40% will be the cutoff to pass (minimum needed for a D-).  Between the two, the grade boundaries
will depend on where the gaps are in the grade distribution.  Each grade band will be between roughly 3-6% wide.

That said, I reserve the right to relax the grading standards. Remember that random guessing, attempting all the homework
and full attendance will get you about 40%.   To pass the course, you have to show that you learned something. 

     Benefit of the doubt: If your participation grade (homework, clicker points etc. and extra credit)
is at least 90%, you show other evidence of trying (not missing many quizzes and
making an effort on the pre-tests) and you show a MAJOR improvement over the semester,
I reserve the right to give you  the benefit of the doubt and raise your grade if you are borderline
between two grades. 


If you attend every class, participate
in everything, just guess on the quizzes, Big Quizzes and final and do all the extra
credit you'll have about 40%.  If you miss many classes, then
it will get harder to get the same grade as if you had shown up.
To pass the course, you'll have to show me that you learned something
-- which is above and beyond the score you'd get from just guessing.
Note that with multiple choice tests, guessing randomly will result in a score
of about 15-20%.  Missing a quiz will result in a score of zero.  Therefore,
missing class (and thus quizzes) will substantially hurt your quiz scores and
also your participation grade -- not to mention missing material presented in
class which is not in the book.  Guessing is always better than leaving a blank.

If you:
1) attend all the lectures
2) take all the pre-tests and quizzes and know how to do the problems (afterward if not before!)
3) participate with your clicker and do any extra credit assignments
4) work with someone else in the class on the homework problems and
know how to do all the homework problems (afterward if not before!)
5) use AceAstronomy to pre-test yourself to know your weak spots, and
use the exercises to strengthen your grasp of the material
6) look over the unassigned homework problems and know how to answer the qualitative ones and how to approach the quantitative problems
7) go to the REACH center or get math tutoring if you have problems with the math
8) come and see the instructor, LA, A-stars or the grader when all else fails
then you will very likely get a decent grade (not guaranteed an A, but
you should do respectably well).


If you have more questions, see frequently asked ones here.