Phys 273 Grades, Fall 2000
The following table shows the final grades and the numbers
that entered them.
At the bottom is a bar chart showing the total scores. Below the chart
is an
explanation of the grading method.
| |
grade |
total |
max adjust |
pre-total |
final(crvd) |
ex1(crvd) |
ex2(crvd) |
hw |
| 6914 |
A+ |
100.0 |
2.3 |
97.7 |
103.0 |
84.7 |
101.0 |
98.1 |
| 4815 |
A+ |
99.2 |
1.3 |
97.9 |
101.0 |
91.6 |
99.0 |
97.6 |
| 8883 |
A+ |
98.3 |
2.1 |
96.2 |
91.0 |
94.4 |
106.0 |
97.0 |
| 0781 |
A |
92.7 |
2.5 |
90.2 |
94.0 |
88.9 |
77.0 |
96.5 |
| 2889 |
A- |
89.9 |
1.4 |
88.5 |
89.0 |
80.5 |
92.0 |
91.4 |
| 6038 |
B+ |
86.5 |
2.9 |
83.6 |
77.0 |
76.3 |
84.0 |
98.3 |
| 2353 |
B+ |
85.8 |
3.7 |
82.1 |
73.0 |
76.3 |
88.0 |
94.7 |
| 0207 |
B |
84.5 |
2.0 |
82.5 |
82.0 |
72.1 |
82.0 |
91.9 |
| 1492 |
B |
84.4 |
1.7 |
82.7 |
85.0 |
88.9 |
80.0 |
76.7 |
| 1791 |
B |
84.4 |
4.2 |
80.2 |
70.0 |
72.1 |
86.0 |
96.2 |
| 4509 |
B |
84.1 |
1.4 |
82.7 |
84.0 |
87.4 |
74.0 |
84.1 |
| 6996 |
B |
83.7 |
3.5 |
80.2 |
89.0 |
69.4 |
83.0 |
74.4 |
| 3878 |
B |
83.5 |
2.0 |
81.5 |
76.0 |
80.5 |
84.0 |
88.0 |
| 7484 |
B- |
77.3 |
2.7 |
74.6 |
74.0 |
86.1 |
78.0 |
63.5 |
| 4989 |
B- |
76.4 |
1.9 |
74.5 |
77.0 |
70.8 |
67.0 |
80.0 |
| 2601 |
C+ |
73.5 |
1.5 |
72.1 |
69.0 |
73.5 |
79.0 |
69.6 |
| 7824 |
C+ |
72.8 |
2.0 |
70.8 |
66.0 |
83.3 |
69.0 |
69.0 |
| 8440 |
C+ |
71.5 |
4.6 |
66.9 |
56.0 |
56.8 |
71.0 |
86.8 |
| 7887 |
C |
68.1 |
3.4 |
64.8 |
56.0 |
73.5 |
72.0 |
64.2 |
| 2514 |
C |
67.5 |
3.7 |
63.8 |
61.0 |
66.6 |
82.0 |
50.8 |
| 2697 |
C |
66.7 |
3.2 |
63.6 |
55.0 |
61.0 |
65.0 |
76.5 |
| 2274 |
C |
65.4 |
3.4 |
61.9 |
53.0 |
58.2 |
66.0 |
74.2 |
| 3798 |
C |
65.4 |
5.4 |
60.0 |
74.0 |
69.4 |
70.0 |
24.8 |
| 8483 |
C- |
62.1 |
6.3 |
55.9 |
59.0 |
63.8 |
82.0 |
24.3 |
| 1430 |
C- |
60.4 |
5.2 |
55.2 |
40.0 |
56.8 |
63.0 |
69.0 |
| 5315 |
D |
55.2 |
7.1 |
48.1 |
66.0 |
61.0 |
64.0 |
|
| 2135 |
D |
53.4 |
4.5 |
48.9 |
37.0 |
54.0 |
65.0 |
48.6 |
| 4767 |
D |
48.5 |
4.8 |
43.8 |
42.0 |
55.4 |
59.0 |
24.7 |
| 1905 |
F |
32.5 |
11.8 |
20.7 |
59.0 |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| average |
|
74.9 |
3.5 |
71.4 |
71.0 |
70.8 |
75.4 |
69.3 |
EXPLANATION OF GRADING METHOD:
-
hw: The average of all the homeworks, with the lowest two dropped. (For
the honors students the ordinary hw is counted for 80% and the honors hw
for 20% of the total hw score. The honors homework scores are listed below.)
-
curving: The second mid-term (ex2) was curved by adding 10 points to each
student's score. The final was curved by adding 8 points to each student's
score.
-
pre-total = 0.25*hw + 0.20*ex1 + 0.20*ex2 + 0.35*final
-
max adjust: what must be added to pre-total to maximize each individual
student's total score, by altering the percentages of hw, ex1, and
ex2 by plus or minus up to ten percent, and final by plus or minus
up to twenty percent, subject to the constraint that the sum of
all percentages is one hundred.* (To give each student a better chance
to show their best I modified what was said in the syllabus by DOUBLING
the variability in the percentages used in maximizing each student's score.)
-
total: pre-total + max adjust
-
letter grades: I increased the range of C's from what was in the syllabus,
so they cover 60-76 (rather than 65-76), and I shifted the range of D's
which now cover 48-59 (rather than 53-64).
*[In case you are interested, to implement the maximization using
the Excel spreadsheet application I made a list consisting of the five
numbers hw,ex1,ex2,final,final (with final written twice) for each student,
and ordered this list in decreasing order (using the sorting tool by hand
for each student---couldn't find a way to do this all at once.) "max adjust"
is defined by adding ten percent of the first two and subtracting ten percent
of the last two numbers on this ordered list. I'm pretty sure this is the
solution to the given maximization problem.]
Honors homework scores:
total
hw regular hw honors hw
6914 98.1
99.4
93
8883 97.0
99.3
88
0207 91.9
96.9
72
2889 91.4
97.3
68
8440 86.8
94.3
57
3878 88.0
97.3
51
6996 74.4
80.7
49
The honors students may wish to know how much difference the honors
hw
score made to their final grade. I determined this by recomputing the
total
score without the honors hw contribution. The result is that four students
letter grades were unchanged, one went from an A- to an A, and two
went
from B to B+.
Last Updated on 12/28/00
By Theodore A. Jacobson
Email: jacobson@physics.umd.edu