1. As much as possible, your grade should reflect what you know
at the end of the course.
2. Cheating should not be tolerated. See Academic
Integrity Policy.
3. Essentially the only information I have on which to base a
grade is exams, quizzes, and homework. (Your class may not include
all of these.)
4. People have bad days.
5. Makeup exams/quizzes and late homework are normally not accepted.
Q: I did poorly on an "hour"
exam, but I did well on everything else. Does this mess up
my grade?
A: I try to take into account
the fact that someone may have had a bad day.
Q: I did well on my exams
but had trouble with homework because it takes me time to learn
the material.
A: If you did the homework,
I'll make allowances.
Q: I did well on my exams.
The course required homework, but never bothered to do any homework.
Does this mess up my grade?
A: I'll somewhat ignore the
lack of homework, but there won't be any leeway for bad days on
exams.
Q: Can I be excused from
___ because of ___?
A: Required work and tests
are excused for reasons similar to those which allow you to get
an incomplete in a course; e.g. health problems.
Q: What if I miss handing
in a homework or taking a quiz and it's not excused?
A: The lowest homework and
quiz grade is dropped. (A missing grade is zero.)
Q: I didn't understand
some material in Chapter ___ at first, so I did poorly on that
homework or quiz. What can I do?
A: Remember, the lowest grade
is dropped.
Q: I can't attend
the class or section when my next homework is due. What
should I do?
A: Make arrangements with
me (class) or your TA (section) to hand it in EARLY, not late.
Q: Phrases like "take
into account" and "make allowances" are vague. What
do they mean?
A: If there is a clear difference
between the low item and everything else (for example, C-, B,
B+, A-), I'll simply ignore it. If the low item is just
the low part of a sequence (for example, C-, C, B-, B-), I won't
consider it to be particularly out of line and so will only make
an upward adjustment to your average when your course grade is
very near a borderline.