About ICS 21 Course Grades

for Winter 2012

Yep, challenging final--and the midterm was no picnic either:) To account for this, I have lowered the score necessary to achieve an A- from 80 to 59, and the other cut-points accordingly, consistent with the grading scheme described in the Course Reference.

The scores in the spreadsheet are in order of the last four digits of student ID number.

We list the scores for each lab exam. Next comes the number of tests you passed, followed by the highest possible grade you could earn, as discussed in the Course Reference. (For instance, if all exams were passed, the highest possible grade is an "A+"; if one exam was not passed, the highest grade possible is a "C-".)

Next is the midterm score and the final exam score. Then comes the points for the the first pair programming evaluation. You can earn 1 or 2 points; typically, 1 point was awarded, with 2 points awarded for a particularly in-depth or insightful evaluation. (You earn no points if you did not turn in an evalution, or turned one in past the due date.) Then comes the pair programming adjustment; you can lose up to 2 points for not having a partner (wihtout permission) or not participating fully or being uncooperative with your pair programming partner. The next two columns are the pair evaluation and adjusment scores for the second pairing. Then appears the course point total, and the provisional letter grade to which it corresponds. They were computed from the midterm and final scores, the pair programming evaluation points and reduced by any pair programming adjustments, all as described in the Course Reference.

Your final course grade, the one reported to the Registrar, is next; recall it is the lower of your lab exam grade and provisional grade, again as discussed in the Course Reference. (If the grade is to be recorded as P or NP, the Registrar does that conversion.)

There are a fair number of F’s this quarter (as is typical, unfortunately). Also as always been the case, almost all of them are for students who did not complete the course work; that is, they did not take the final and often did not take all of the lab exams.

The spreadsheet also contains some statistics about the course grade distribution that might interest you.

Do check over your scores; if you find clerical errors that would change your final grade in the course, contact me about the problem via e-mail. (University policy allows changing grades only because of clerical or procedural error.)

My best wishes for an enjoyable break!

Norm