Grading Policy

Split of course total

Exams and homeworks will be weighted by the following percentages:

New Deal Rule

If midterm 2 (M2) and final exam (Fin) are much better than midterm 1 (M1), say
M1 < 0.9 *(M2 + Fin)/2,
then I'll drop the first midterm score and replace it by 0.9*(M2 + Fin)/2.

Same rule for the second midterm but not for the final exam.

Cutoffs

There will be straight cutoffs for letter grades:

Half Grades

There will be half grades within 2pts of the cutoff. For example: 98-100 A+, 94-98 A, 92-94 A-.

Homeworks

Each homework problem will be graded as 3 points if it is completely correct, 2 points if almost correct, 1 point if there is something - even if it's almost wrong, 0 points if the problem is missing.

The lowest homework score will be dropped. Missing homeworks count as 0 points. Late homeworks will not be accepted. No exceptions from this rule. You can always submit homework assignments before the due date.

Grade appeals

For exams: Write a short note of your concern, and hand it to me together with your exam. If you find someone with more points for the same answer, show me both exams. I will not downgrade the other exam.

For homeworks: I will consider grade revisions on homeworks only within a week after returning the homework (except of course outright grading mistakes like wrong addition of points etc.)

thanos@stat.duke.edu
Last updated 8/26/00