Ana Ramírez Chang
CS 302
Assignment 8 (Grading Policy)

Graded Material:

There will be three exams in my course to minimize the anxiety in each exam. The final will be worth more than a midterm, but not more than the two midterms put together. This is so that the final exam is important, but cannot completely mess up someone's grade.

There will be 7 homework assignments. Students should learn the material on the homework assignments, together they are worth less than a midterm. They will be graded on effort.

There will be three individual projects.

The exams will be graded according to the model developed by Carter, according to highest scores and percentages thereof. I will modify this method slightly and draw the grade boundaries at natural breaks in the distribution close to the boundaries suggested by this method. This hybrid method will compensate for any problems with the exam, but will not make students competitive. I would want my students to want to help each other, so I wouldn't want to grade on a curve. I also would not want to punish the students as I learn how to write good exams or for any unexpected problems on the exam. This method will accomplish both of these goals.

The projects and homework will be graded on an absolute scale.

I don't like extra credit assignments. In my experience the good students are the ones who do the extra credit assignments and not the students who need them. I would not offer extra credit assignments.

Students on the borderline will be considered on a case by case basis. I will look at their homework grades for a sign of effort to bump a student up. I will not bump students down.