The scale for each assignment or exam below is created after the assignment or exam is graded. These are the cutoffs that will inserted into the announced grading formulas to determine the "raw score" cutoffs for final grades.The cutoffs given below are the bottom for the "flat" grade, not the minus grade. (For example, if the cutoff listed for a B is 50 points, then 50 is a B and 49 is a B-). The A- cutoff is 1/3 of the way down from the A cutoff to the B cutoff, the B+ cutoff is 1/3 of the way up from the B cutoff to the A cutoff, the B- cutoff is 1/3 of the way down from the B cutoff to the C cutoff, etc. (except that I do not give D-'s; anything lower than the D cutoff is an E).
A cutoff like "17.5" in a grade-scale does not mean that any half-points were given to any student on the corresponding assignment or exam; it simply means that I thought 18 was too high for the cutoff and 17 was too low.
Each average and median below, except for homework totals, was computed from the scores of only those students who took that exam, or who turned in that assignment and did not receive a large penalty for lateness or cheating. The average for total homework points was computed just from currently-registered students, and therefore does not reflect students who may have turned in earlier homeworks (and are therefore reflected in the averages for those earlier homeworks) but have since dropped the class.
Homework
Scores (and cutoffs) for the different assignments are simply added together at the end of the semester. Example: if there are only two homework assignments, worth 60 points and 80 points respectively, and the "A" cutoffs are 50 and 70 respectively, then the "A" cutoff for the homework component of the final grade is 120 out of a possible 140. A student earning 55 points on each of the two homeworks would have the same homework grade as a student earning 30 points on the first assignment and 80 points on the second.
A B C D class average Assignment 1 (32 points) 28
(88%)23.5
(73%)17
(53%)12.5
(39%)26.0
(81%)Assignment 2 (43 points) 33.5
(78%)26.5
(62%)18.5
(43%)11.5
(27%)34.1
(79%)Assignment 3 (44 points) 35
(80%)26.5
(60%)16
(36%)9
(20%)30.7
(70%)Assignment 4 (23 points) 18.5
(80%)14
(61%)8.5
(37%)5.5
(24%)18
(78%)Assignment 5 (42 points) 34.5
(82%)26.5
(63%)18
(43%)11.5
(27%)30.5
(73%)Homework totals (184 points 149.5
(81%)117
(64%)78
(42%)50
(27%)
139
(76%)(Average of post-penalty scores of assignments
that were submitted. Zeroes for unsubmitted
assignments have not been averaged-in.)
Midterm Exams
A B C D class median class average Exam 1 (132 points) 90
(68%)69
(52%)42
(32%)18
(14%)58
(44%)66
(50%)list of scores Exam 2 (96 points) 67
(70%)54
(56%)35
(36%)22
(23%)42.5
(44%)49
(51%)list of scores
Final Exam (94 points)
A B C D class median class average Final Exam (94 points) 64
(68%)50.5
(54%)29.5
(31%)16
(17%)53
(56%)51
(54%)list of scores
Current raw-score cutoffs for each grade
See Canvas "Assignment" and syllabus for explanation. `Current' means "As of the last exam or homework whose grade-scale is above."
max possible to date A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D 1000 724 672 621 569 499 428 358 307 256 206
Distribution of final grades for course
A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D E Number of students receiving grade 8 2 3 1 4 3 1 0 0 1 2 The students who received E's took no exams other than the first midterm, and are likely in the process of petitioning to drop the course.
This semester's remote-teaching environment posed unprecedented difficulties for students. This factored heavily into my grade scales for this course; if anything, I overcompensated. This year, 10/25 = 40% of the students who were still registered at the end of the semester received A's or A-'s. Last year, that figure was 6/19 \( \approx \) 32%; in 2018 it was 4/11 \( \approx \) 36%. Further back that that, my classes were much smaller, and this statistic less meaningful. But FWIW: in 2016 I gave just one A- and no A's (to the six finally-registered students), and in 2015 the highest grade I gave to the five finally-registered students was a sole B-. (You can find these distributions as far back as 2016 very quickly: just change "f20" in the URL for this page to f19, f18, etc. For anything older, go to https://people.clas.ufl.edu/groisser/ and navigate to "Past classes.")