How your Econ 2010 course grade will be determined
The course will be graded on a 100 point scale
90+ is an A
80-89 a B
70-79 a C
60-69 a D
less than 60 an F
I give pluses and minuses, except for D+
The Department of Economics has grading guidlines and I am strongly encouraged to have a course-grade average in the C to C+ range. With that in mind, I will guarentee that the the average grade for the course will be no lower than 75%. I will make this adjustment after the final, when I am calculating final grades. (Specifics: when I do this calculation, I will first eliminate from the calculation students who have effectively dropped the course, but failed to do it officially.).
When you get a midterm grade, you will need to estimate its significant in terms of how you did compared to the distribution for the class. For example, if you got a 91% that is at least an A-, but if you got a 67% whether that will contribute to your final grade as a D or a C something depends on the class average for that midterm and how you do on the other midterm. If you got a 67% on the midterm and the class average is 60%, keep in mind that you did better than average on that midterm, and that if one does average or better on everthing one's final grade will be at least 75%
Note that I give plus and minus grades, except for A+ and D+.
Class attendence and in-class quizzes will count for 10% of your course grade (as determined by clicker grades)
Attendence and participation in your recitation section will count for 10% of your course grade
Your final will count for 25% of your course grade.
Your best of the two midterms will count for 30% of your course grade.
Your online quizzes will count for 25% of your course grade.
If you take both midterms and get a B on both (80% or above), I will add 1% to your final course grade, which is extra credit.
If you take both midterms and get a B on one of them and an A (90% or above) on the other one, I will add 3% to your final course grade, which is extra credit.
If you take both midterms and get an A on both of them, I will 5% to your final course grade, which is extra credit.
(In explanation of these extra credit points: One can, without penalty, not take one of the midterms for whatever reason. But I do not want you to be encouraged to skip the second midterm because you did well on the first one. Not studying for the second midterm, because you did well on the first midterm, typically causes your final exam grade to be low.). I have made these points extra credit, so there is not penalty if you miss a midterm because circumstances beyond your contro.
You will have lots of online graded Sapling quizzes.
The worst 25% of your quiz scores will be dropped. for the caluclation of your aggregate quiz score. .
I recommend that you do not skip the first 25% of the quizzes.
There will be no make-up quizzes, not for any reason. I drop the worst because people get sick and/or have bad days. Remember that you can do the quizzes at any time before their due date. And, you can take them in Bunga Bunga at your sister's wedding, assuming you have an internet connection.
Your ability to take a quiz ends the moment its due time arrives.
Your grade for in-class attendence and any in-class quizzes will be determined at follows: On selected occasions we will take attendence in class using Clickers. Sometimes when we take Clicker attendence we will ask an additional question. Example grading: one point for being there and one point for answering the quiz question correctly, if I ask a quiz question. At the end of the term we will calcuate the the percentage of the points that you got. So, if you got 70% of those in-class points, and since this is 10% of your course grade, your points for this part of the course would be seven points out of a possible ten. Note that if you get all 10 points, your grade will increase by one whole letter grade.
There is no special accomodation for members of sports teams.
Your grade for recitation will be based on your attendence and productive participation in your recitation section. At the beginning of the term, the T.A.s and I will work out guidlines for determining recitation grades and maintaining grading consistency across the recitations. Your recitation grade will be based on your participation in your assigned recitation (attendence, along, will not get you a high recitation grade)
You will have two midterms, both in our class room during class time. The exact dates are posted in a separate section of the course web page.
The best of your two midterm scores will be 30% of your course grade.
Ideally take both midterms
To do well on the second midterm will require that you know the material that was on the first midterm.
No make-up or late midterms will be given--please do not ask. I drop the lowest of the two because sh__ happens, we all have bad days and members of a sports team might have a meet that they feel compelled to attend.
The native forms of the Sapling quizzes are alligned with the book, not the material as I present it in class. One learns concepts and models by seeing them presented in different lights. There are two types of quizzes: book-type quizzes and Edward-type quizzes. Edward-type quizzes will be based on my lectures and Edward-type questions from old exams. They will typically require a deeper understanding of the material. Edward, of course, likes to ask Edward questions on the midterms, so doing well on the book-type quizzes does not guarentee you will do well on the exams. (Note that all of the old exams are on the course web page.
The exams will consist of a combination of Edward-type questions (all of the old exams are on the course site) and booktype questions, more of the former, less of the latter.
All quizzes will be graded out of ten points. For the Edward-type questions you will have one change to answer so get either (100% or 0%) on each question. On the book-type questions you willl get 100% on the question if you answer it correctly on the first try, 80% if correct on the second try, 60% of correct on the third try, etc.
All of your quizzes and exams will be multiple choice. With hundreds of students there is no other option.
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Last Update August 28, 2017