MAA 4930 — Curves and Surfaces
Spring 2014
The scale for each assignment or exam below is created after the assignment
or exam is graded. These are the cutoffs that will inserted into the announced
grading formulas to determine the “raw score” cutoffs for final grades.
The cutoffs given below are the bottom for the “flat” grade, not the minus-grade.
(For example, if the cutoff listed for a B is 50 points, then 50 is a B; 49 is a B-).
The A- cutoff is 1/3 of the way down from the A cutoff to the B cutoff, the B+ cutoff
is 1/3 of the way up from the B cutoff to the A cutoff, the B- cutoff is 1/3 of the way
down from the B cutoff to the C cutoff, etc. (except that I do not give D-‘s; anything
lower than the D cutoff is an E).
A cutoff like “17.5” in a grade-scale does not mean that any half-points were given
to any student on the corresponding assignment or exam; it simply means that I
thought 18 was too high for the cutoff and 17 was too low.
Each average and median below, except for homework totals, was computed from
the scores of only those students who turned in that assignment or took that exam.
The average for homework totals has the zeroes averaged-in for assignments that
were not turned in, hence are lower than the sum of the indicated average scores
on the assignments.
Homework
Scores (and cutoffs) for the different assignments are simply added together at the end
of the semester. Example: if there are only two homework assignments, worth 60 points
and 80 points respectively, and the “A” cutoffs are 50 and 70 respectively, then the “A”
cutoff for the homework component of the final grade is 120 out of a possible 140. A
student earning 55 points on each of the two homeworks would have the same homework
grade as a student earning 30 points on the first assignment and 80 points on the second.
| A | B | C | D | class average | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assignment 1 (35 points) | 31 (89%) |
27 (77%) |
23 (66%) |
19 (54%) |
32.5 (93%) |
| Assignment 2 (33 points) | 26 (79%) |
21 (64%) |
16 (48%) |
12 (36%) |
25.9 (78%) |
| Assignment 3 (49 points) | 42 (86%) |
35.5 (72%) |
28 (57%) |
21.5 (44%) |
37.8 (77%) |
| Homework totals (117 points to date) | 99 (85%) |
83.5 (71%) |
67 (57%) |
21.5 (44%) |
91.7 (78%) |
Midterm Exam
You may need to scroll down to see the table. WordPress sometimes inserts several inches
of blank space between text and tables, and I haven’t figured out why, or how to stop it.
HTML code that works perfectly in browsers does not work the same way in WordPress. If
anyone reading this knows what’s causing the problem, and how to fix it, please let me know.
| A | B | C | D | class median | class average | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Midterm (157 points) | 137 (87%) | 118 (75%) | 91 (57%) | 75 (46%) | 121.5 (77%) | 123 (78%) | list of scores |
Final Exam (105 points + 54 Extra Credit points)
| A | B | C | D | class median | class average | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 89 (84%) |
78 (74%) |
64 (60%) |
53 (50%) |
102 (97%) |
103 (98%) |
list of scores |
Please remember that I will not communicate any grade-related information by email, and will not respond to email requesting such information.
Distribution of final grades for course
| A | A- | B+ | B | B- | C+ | C | C- | D+ | D | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of students receiving grade | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |