Grading System for EE42 - Fall 2000

But we find that it would be fair to give you a good final grade if you do very well in the final, even though you didn't perform so well in the midterms. So we're going to apply the following system (it's complicated, but I'll do my best to make it clear!).

1. First of all, we're going to draw a curve for your “global grade”, i.e. averaging all the grades from your homework, midterms and final with the propostions reported above. According to the mean and standard deviation of such curve you will be assigned to a grade bin (A+, A, A-, B+, B ...), i.e. you'll be given your first “global grade”. It may get better with what follows, but not worse.
2. Now, we're going to draw another curve, which we'll call “midterms curve”, which will only account for the two midterm grades, each one with the same weight. Again, we shall compute mean and standard deviation, and assign you to a certain grade bin, which we will call “midterms grade”.
3. We'll perform the same operation with the final's grade ALONE, i.e. we'll draw a curve with the grades you got on your final. We'll compute mean and standard deviation, and assign you to a grade bin, that corresponds to your “final's grade”. So now you have three letter grades: your first “global grade”, your “midterms grade”, and your “final's grade”.
4. Now for the fun part. IF your “final's grade” is lower or equal to your “midterms grade”, then your first “global grade” becomes your definitive grade, the one you'll get on your transcripts. BUT, if “final's grade” is higher than your “midterms grade” (e.g., your “final's grade” is an A and your “midterms grade” is a B), then we're going to take your homework, midterms, final's points and re-average them with the following new proportions: Homework: 10%,
   Midterm 1: 15%,
   Midterm 2: 15%,
   Final: 60%, (!)
   and find the grade bin in the global curve described at point 1 of this list. The corresponding grade (which is likely to be higher than your first “global grade” if you performed better in the final than in the midterms) will become your definitive grade, i.e. the one that will go on your transcripts! Not bad, eh?
5. Note that if you're not among the people who get this “grade promotion” your grade won't be lowered, but you'll just keep your first “global grade”. In other words, we're not going to rescale the original grade curve (point 1), which will be calculated using everybody's grades, using the original proportions.

*phew!*... That's it! Good luck !!!