An
absolute grading system will be used, where 90% is required for an A, 80% for a
B, 70% for a C, 60% for a D, and anything below 60% is failing. Pluses and minuses will be given for grades
within 3 percentage points of the dividing marks. For example, a final total which is 80% or
more but less than 83% would correspond to a letter grade of B-, a total of 77%
or more but less than 80% would correspond to a C+, etc. The final grade will be based on the
following:
Homework 30%
Weekly Quizzes (12) 10%
Midterm Exam 20%
Final Exam 40%
Late
work will be accepted without penalty only if some compelling reason is
provided (preferably in advance) justifying the lateness. Without such a justifiable excuse, late work
will be penalized 5% for each calendar day that it is late (with a
maximum penalty of 50%).
Plagiarism
(intentionally or knowingly representing the words, ideas, or work of another
as one’s own) or any other form of academic dishonesty will not be
tolerated. Students who are guilty of
such dishonesty will receive no credit for the given assignment or exam and
will not be allowed the opportunity to redo the work in question. In addition, incidents of academic dishonesty
may be reported to the University and further disciplinary actions are
possible.
Quizzes will consist of several multiple choice questions
on the reading material. There will be a
quiz each week except for the first week, the last week and the week of the mid term exam. The
two lowest quiz grade will be dropped.
The exams may be “take home” exams or “in class”
exams. They may be open book or closed
book, but, in any case, they must be individual efforts. Discussing the questions on the exam with an
individual, other than the instructor, is not permitted.
Discussion
and collaboration with other class members on individual assignments is
permitted, and even encouraged, to the extent that said collaboration is a fair
and equitable exchange of ideas. That
is, one individual should not be doing all the work and sharing it with
others. It is permissible to ask other
students for help, but it is not permissible to copy the results of
others. If several students collectively
solve a problem, each should write up the results in his or her own words.
Updated: August 22, 2015