PHYS 100 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Course Grading
View your grades in the gradebook
You can view your grades using the course gradebook ("Gradebook" on the course website)
During the term, you should regularly check that your grades are correctly entered in the gradebook. It is your responsibility to bring any problems with your assigned grades to the attention of your instructor as soon as possible.
Grading Scheme
Your final grade for Physics 100 will be based upon your total score on all the components of the course. The total possible score is 1000 points.
The points for the course are split up into two categories.
- 50% of the course points are given for participating in the learning activities of the course. People who put in the effort to do the work in and out of class get almost all of these points.
- The remaining 50% of the course points are for demonstrating what you've learned on quests and exams. This shows what you can do after completing in the learning activities.
In some categories, some number of the lowest scoring assignments are automatically excused. This exists because we know that you may miss a class meeting or assignment because of an unexpected illness or emergency over the course of the semester. This policy makes it so you do not need to (and should not) request an excused absence for the first 3 lecture or discussion absences. These will be automatically excused. Starting with your 4th absence, you can request an officially excused absence using the excused absence form under "attendance policy."
| Course Component | # of assignments | # of missed
assignments automatically excused |
Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course Learning Activities | |||
| Prelectures | 14 | 1 | 50 |
| CheckPoints | 14 | 1 | 50 |
| Lectures (respond to at least 75% of iClicker questions) |
14 | 3 | 50 |
| Homework | 28 | 0 | 200 |
| Discussion section participation | 14 | 3 | 150 |
| 500 points | |||
| Quests/Exams | |||
| Quests (each Quest = 40 points) |
5 | 0 | 200 |
| Midterm exam | 1 | 0 | 150 |
| Final exam | 1 | 0 | 150 |
| 500 points | |||
Exam Improvement Bonus Points
Learning is a process, and this class rewards you for improving over time. The course philosophy is that we're always improving. You have the opportunity to receive bonus points for improving over the semester. Each bonus point is added to the 1000 point total (i.e. is worth 0.1% to your final grade). There are three opportunities to get bonus points for improving your performance on quests/exams throughout the course:
- Midterm improvement points - The midterm covers the same topics as Quests 1 - 4. For every 1% that you perform better on the midterm than on your Quest 1 - 4 average, you will get one bonus point. For example, if you have a 50% average on Quests 1 - 4 and 80% on the midterm, you will receive 30 bonus points.
- Optional Quest 6 - There is an optional quest at the end of the semester. It covers all the course topics (a good final exam review) and will replace a lower quest grade (if there is no lower quest grade, it will not replace it.)
- Final improvement points - The final covers the same topics as the midterm and Quests 1 - 5. To determine the final improvement points, compute your pre-final weighted exam average: {(200 \times (Quest 1 - 5%) + 150 \times (Midterm %) + (Any midterm improvement bonus points)}/500. For every 1% that you perform better on the final than on your pre-final weighted exam average, you will receive two bonus points. (For example, if you have a 50% average on the pre-final weighted exam average and 80% on the final, you will receive 60 bonus points.)
Other Bonus Points
There are some bonus points available in lecture. Other bonus point opportunities will be announced throughout the semester.
EX, ABS, and blank scores
Excused (EX) scores: EX scores in the gradebook will become the average of the non-EX scores you have for that assignment type during the final grade calculation. For example, if there were 10 assignments, and you have two EX scores, 100% for seven of your homework scores and 0% for one of your homework scores, those two EXs will be assigned the average of the 8 non-EX assignments (which is 87.5%). So your final homework scores used in the final calculation should be:
0% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 87.5% 87.5%
Although some number of assignments in each category may be dropped, EX scores are calculated before these lowest assignments are dropped.
Absence (ABS) scores: Absences are counted as a 0 during final grade calculations.
Blank scores: A blank means that your grade for this assignment has not been uploaded yet. If you have a blank at the end of the course, this will be counted as a 0 during final grade calculations.
Final Grade Scoring
The following table will be used to assign final grades.
| Final Grade | Minimum Points |
|---|---|
| A+ | 970 |
| A | 930 |
| A- | 900 |
| B+ | 870 |
| B | 830 |
| B- | 800 |
| C+ | 770 |
| C | 730 |
| C- | 700 |
| D+ | 650 |
| D | 600 |
| D- | 550 |
| F | < 550 |