Scores on homework and examinations will
be weighted as shown below in determining your grade.
- 15% Homework
- 20% Each Hour Examination
- 45% Final Examination
To avoid fractions, the Final Exam is worth a maximum of 225 points,
the Hour Exams are worth a maximum of 100 points each, and your
average homework score is normalized to a maximum of 75 points.
Your Grand Total score thus has a maximum of 500 points.
In computing your average homework score, I will not include the lowest
of your homework scores (which may well be a 0 for homework turned
in late or not turned in at all).
You can see how you are doing in the course by checking your scores
in the Campus Gradebook for this course.
Letter Grades:
After computing each student's Grand Total score
as the sum of the average homework score,
hour exam scores, and final exam score, I find the mean m and the
standard deviation s of the Grand Total scores.
Letter grades are assigned using cut-offs that
are based roughly
on a mixture of
- objective criteria (85% = A, 70% = B, 55% = C, etc.),
- statistical criteria (above-average scores = B or better, etc.),
and
Thus, provided
that m-s is at least 250 and that the ranges stated below make
sense when the scores are all recorded, I intend to award
- A's to scores greater than min(m+s,425)
- B's to scores in the range min(m,350) to min(m+s,425),
- C's to scores in the range min(m-s,275) to min(m,350)
- D's to scores in the range max(m-2s,225) to min(m-s,275)
- F's to scores below max(m-2s,225)
The percentages of A's and B's awarded in ECE 313 are comparable to those
awarded in other 300-level required courses in the ECE Department.
On the other hand, more D's and F's are usually recorded in ECE 313 than
in most other 300-level required courses.
Trivia regarding grading practices
- The reason for saying roughly
is that I reserve the right to make minor adjustments
(upwards or
downwards) to each cut-off
to avoid discriminating between students on the basis of very
small differences in scores.
- + and - letter grades are sometimes
awarded at the edges of these
cut-offs, usually on the basis of performance on some specific
aspect of the course, e.g. an above average score on the Final
Exam and a Grand Total score near an upper cut-off will often
result in a + letter grade, while lacklustre performance on the
Final Exam and a Grand Total score near a lower cut-off might
receive a - letter grade.
- Regardless of your exam performance and the settings of the
cut-offs, however, you will receive the same grade as everyone who has
the same Grand Total score as you, and nobody who has a lower
Grand Total score will receive a higher grade than you.
- ECE 313 is intended to be a course for undergraduate students.
In recent semesters, ECE graduate students have begun registering in
ECE 313 for hours credit and graduate students from other Departments
have begun registering in ECE 313 for unit credit. To prevent
superior graduate student performance from skewing "the curve",
all the above averages, standard deviations, etc. are computed from the
undergraduate student scores only. In other words, all cut-offs etc.
are determined from the performance of undergraduate students only,
and undergraduates compete only against their peers, not against
graduate students. Graduate student grades are determined by where
their scores fall in comparison to cut-offs based on the
undergraduate scores.
- The above grading scheme applies only if m-s is at least 250
points. I have a great deal of difficulty in giving passing
grades to those who score less than 50% of the total points on
the course. If the number of such students is large, well ...
that's when the soul-searching begins.