First figure your homework grade. Your HW percentage is your total
number of HW points divided by the number of HW points which are possible.
If I have counted correctly, there are 1800 possible HW points for the
entire semester. However, we will figure the final HW percentage out of
only 1600 points. You can't get more than 100% though, so once you have
1600 points you don't need to submit any more HW (although hopefully you
will find the process of submission and feedback to be good practice for
the tests).
Your MP gradebook ("My Scores") gives you a percentage of possible
MP homework points. Multiply this fraction times the number of MP
homework points possible (50 per assignment, less 10 or 20 points for each
problem that had to be written up and turned in -- there turned out to be
1770 MP homework points possible), then add your scores on the written
problems to this number (max possible on the written problems is 30); what
results is your total number of HW points. As an example, say you have
earned 75% of all possible MP points, and 25 points on the written
problems. Your total HW points for the semester would then be:
0.75*1770 + 25 = 1352.5 total HW points
With 1352.5 HW points for the semester your HW percentage would be:
1352.5/1600 = 84.53%
HW is worth 12 points overall, so you would have earned 10.144 HW points
(i.e. 88.53% of 12)
Now figure your PRS grade. There will be about 50 PRS questions
for the semester (there turned out to be 46), so a total of 150 PRS points
are possible (turned out to be 138). However, we will figure the final PRS
percentage out of only 135 points (or about 90% of all possible PRS points
should the number of possible PRS points change - I decided on 120). Once
again, you can't get more than 100%. Say you have earned 113 PRS points for
the semester. Your PRS percentage would be
113/120 = 94.17%.
PRS is worth 3 points overall, so your PRS points for the semester are
2.825 (94.17% of 3).
Now figure your LAB grade. We will drop one of the 11 labs.
Take the average of your best 10 lab grades and multiply by 0.2, since
LABS are worth 20 point overall. For example, say the average of
your best 10 labs is 91.0, then your LAB grade is
0.2*91.0 = 18.20
Now figure your test total. Take your best 4 tests and average
them and multiply by 0.5. For example, say your test grades are 79,
85, 83, 72, and 91. Your test average is then
(79+85+83+91)/4 = 84.50
We now multiply by .5 since the Tests are worth 50 points overall.
84.5 times 0.5 = 42.25
OK, now you have your pre-exam total.
HW 10.144
PRS 2.825
LAB 18.200
TEST 42.250
total 73.419
The pre-exam maximum is 85 points, so your pre-exam percentage is
73.419/85 = 86.375%
Will you be able to get an A? That depends on what the final
grade scale is. I start with no curve. That is
90 and above A
80-90 B
70-80 C
60-70 D
below 60 E
If the class average is 75 or higher, there is no change. If the
class average falls below 75, I feel obliged to relax this scale
somewhat (the midterm average was 68.7 -- I will figure a pre-exam
class average as soon as I get the final lab grades from Candi).
Look at
121 Fall 2004 web page
to get a rough idea for what this year's scale might be. I will make
a guess at the final grade scale during the week before the exam,
but the true final grade scale ultimately depends on overall class
exam performance.
Let's get back to our example. You have 73.419 points going in
to the exam. The exam is worth 15 so the best you can do is 88.419
not enough to get an A if the class average is 75 or higher. On
the other hand, you need at least 6.581 points from the exam to insure
yourself of a B. The exam consists of 40 multiple choice questions,
so you need to get at least (6.581/15)*40 right, or 18 out of 40, to
insure yourself of a B.