CSE 8A: How Grading is Done

CSE 8A Basics

You will receive the same grade in CSE8A and CSE8AL. Your grade will be based on the weighted average of your scores on PSAs, quizzes, exams, clicker participation and labs. The final grade will be weighted as follows: 

		In-Class Quizzes	8%
                Clicker Particiation	2% (for clicking in at least 80% of time)
		Midterm			20%
		PSAs			25%
		Final			35%
                Lab 			10%
I will grade on a 90%, 80%,70%,60% scale. "Plusses" and "minuses" are given out only at my discretion. All grades are FIXED within 7 days of the grade being posted on gradesource -- no regrade requests will be taken after that time.

Note: 35% of your grade is based on the final exam. Different people master new material at different rates. We encourage you (through weekly quizzes and assignments) to constantly be working on your masterly of the core computing concepts developed in this class. Computing is a practical profession -- which means you need PRACTICE to really master it.

We give significant weight to the final exam to provide the opportunity for learners at all rates who do master the material to succeed in this class. No matter if you are a sprinter or a long-distance runner in the classroom, as long as you cross the finish line with mastery of the required material and have kept a reasonable pace throughout the class, you should succeed.

This is why we also require that you must score at least 55% on the final exam to pass the course. Anyone who scores le4ss than a 55% on the final exam will receive an F -- regardless of the percentages described above.

See the quizzes writeup and the PSAs writeup for specifcs on grading of each.

CSE 8AL Basics

The grade for the lab portion is determined by your weekly attendance and participation in lab, as recorded through your completion of short, weekly "lab quizzes". These short quizzes are done in the last 5-10 minutes of each lab, individually. They ask basic questions whose concepts were studied during the day's lab session. Your lowest lab grade will be dropped -- so if you have to miss a lab session and cannot make one of the other lab sessions that week, that will be the lab that you drop.