Grading scheme for Physics 161 Spring 2003

The total grade in the class is calculated according to the following scheme:

In addition, I will drop the lowest 10% portion of your total grade.  I'll give two examples. 

Example 1

Let's say you have the following scores, after dropping three homeworks, two discussion quizzes, and one lecture quiz:

HW (Homework)	78
DQ (Discussion Quiz)	92
LQ (Lecture Quiz)	100
EX1 (Exam 1)	82
EX2 (Exam 2)	86
EX3 (Exam 3)	84
EXF (Final)	85

Without subtracting the lowest 10%, your total grade would be:

0.3*HW + 0.1*DQ + 0.1*LQ + 0.1*EX1 + 0.1*EX2 + 0.1*EX3 + 0.2*EXF = 84.8

With subtracting the lowest 10%, homework is your lowest score, so I would count homework only 20%, and because the total is 90%, I would divide by 0.9 at the end to get the total out of 100:

(0.2*HW + 0.1*DQ + 0.1*LQ + 0.1*EX1 + 0.1*EX2 + 0.1*EX3 + 0.2*EXF)/0.9 = 85.55

Example 2

Let's say you have the following scores, after dropping three homeworks, two discussion quizzes, and one lecture quiz:

HW (Homework)	99
DQ (Discussion Quiz)	92
LQ (Lecture Quiz)	100
EX1 (Exam 1)	64
EX2 (Exam 2)	72
EX3 (Exam 3)	90
EXF (Final)	81

Without subtracting the lowest 10%, your total grade would be:

0.3*HW + 0.1*DQ + 0.1*LQ + 0.1*EX1 + 0.1*EX2 + 0.1*EX3 + 0.2*EXF = 87.7

With subtracting the lowest 10%, Exam 1 is your lowest score, so I would drop Exam 1, and because the total is 90%, I would divide by 0.9 at the end to get the total out of 100:

(0.3*HW + 0.1*DQ + 0.1*LQ + 0.1*EX2 + 0.1*EX3 + 0.2*EXF)/0.9 = 90.33

Note: The lowest scores tend to be on the exams, so likely what the "drop lowest 10%" policy will mean is that you will drop your lowest exam score (or 1/2 the final).  However, if you missed both lecture quizzes, or you didn't turn in a lot of homeworks or discussion quizzes, this policy might save you by allowing you to drop that portion (or some of that portion, in the homework case) of your grade. 

Final grades

Once I have the total grades for everyone in the class, I will rank the class according to total grade, and then assign A's, B's, C's, etc. as I go down the rank.  I will assign "+" and "-" grades.  I don't have a predetermined cutoff for A, B, C, etc., but typically about 50% of the class gets A's and B's.