Grading Explanations, Spring 2018

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Grade parts

There were 11 full-length labs, and lab 12 which had only one part (since pre-lab 12 was cancelled). Thus, there were 34 lab parts (11 labs of 3 parts each, plus one lab of 1 part). Lab 5 had the AVL tree worksheet, which counted as 4 more points. So the total number of points for the labs was 34*10+4 = 344. Labs counted for 45% of the final course grade.

Each midterm counted for 15% of the final course grade, even though the total number of points on each midterm was different. The final counted for 25% of the final course grade.

The grade breakdown (how much each part counts for the final grade) is as listed on the course syllabus (md).

Grade curves

We decided to give a curve of 4.5 points on your final average (plus rounding, see below).

Rounding

Yes, we round grades. Note that round(x) == floor(x+0.5). So we added 0.5 points to everybody's curve to take into account rounding. Note that this means rounding is already taken care of, so if you get an 89.9999999999999999999, it's still a B+, no matter how many times you ask - you don't get to round a second time (in reality, it was an 89.49).

Course curve

The course curve is 4.5 (from the grade curve above) plus 0.5 (from rouding), for a total of 5.0. You can add this to the grade you see in your gradebook and look it up in the chart below.

Grade breakdown

As stated at the beginning of the semester, each 10-point "decade" is a separate letter grade range (60-70 is a D, 70-80 is a C, etc.). The exact ranges are below. Take your exact average and add 5.0 for the curve, then see where the result lies on this table. Rounding has already been taken into account (see above), so you don't get to round a second time.

Recall (again!) that rounding has already been taken into account! Thus, the cut-offs listed above are hard cut-offs.

Note that the A+ range and the D- range follow a slightly different pattern. The A+ range is reserved for people who have a 100 averege (post-curve). A 60 is the minimum passing grade. You must receive a C- (70) or higher to take CS courses that have CS2150 as a pre-requisite.

Grade Distribution

The following table shows the percentage of students who earned each letter grade. We've grouped it by general letter grade (i.e., A means all A+,A, and A- grades).