Grades

Your cumulative score for the semester is a weighted sum of component scores, with the following weights:

  • 15.0%: Daily quizzes

  • 45.0%: Machine problems

  • 10.0%: Midterm 1

  • 10.0%: Midterm 2

  • 20.0%: Final exam

Extra Credit

  • Extra credit is available on all MPs. This counts for up to 10% of whatever points the MP is worth. The extra credit part of an MP can be turned in late, for a penalty of only 5%, and without affecting your score on the main part of the MP. Extra credit points are added to your cumulative course total, so, for example, it’s possible for your cumulative course score to be above 100%.

  • Extra credit is also available for correctly answering the questions of other students on CampusWire. This counts for up to 1% of your cumulative semester grade.

Grade Cutoffs

Grade cutoffs are approximately as follows, where \(\mu\) is the class average, \(\sigma\) is the standard deviation. These thresholds are not guaranteed, but they rarely change by much.

\[ \begin{align}\begin{aligned}&A+:\min\left(0.99,\mu+1.5\sigma\right), A:\min\left(0.94,\mu+0.5\sigma\right), A-:\min\left(0.90,\mu+0.25\sigma\right)\\&B+:\min\left(0.85,\mu\right), B:\min\left(0.80,\mu-0.75\sigma\right), B-:\min\left(0.75,\mu-\sigma\right)\\&C+:\min\left(0.70,\mu-1.25\sigma\right), C:\min\left(0.65,\mu-2\sigma\right), C-:\min\left(0.60,\mu-2.25\sigma\right)\\&D+:\min\left(0.55,\mu-2.5\sigma\right), D:\min\left(0.50,\mu-2.75\sigma\right), D-:\min\left(0.45,\mu-3\sigma\right)\end{aligned}\end{align} \]