Life Science Connections - Understanding Your Grades

Understanding Your Grades

General Grading Information

The letter grades are assigned as follows:

97%-100% A+ 93%-96% A 90%-92% A- 87%-89% B+ 83%-86% B 80%-82% B- 77%-79% C+	73%-76% C 70%-72% C- 67%-69% D+ 63%-66% D 60%-62% D- Less than 60% F

Breakdown of Grades
The final average is a weighted average with the following breakdown: Labs=25%, Homework=25%, Quizzes and Tests=40% and Effort/Participation=10%.

How I Grade/What I look for in an assignment
All papers must have a title and heading (samples are provided in class). Any assignments that are handed in must be completed in pencil, blue ink, or black ink. Work that is written in another color will not be accepted.

Lab Reports and Other Projects
Lab reports and other projects will be scored on a scale of 0% to 100%, unless otherwise specified. 30% of the grade is deducted for every school day that a report or project is late.

Daily Homework
Daily homework is due the day after it is assigned, unless otherwise specified. Grading is on a ten point scale: 10 = 100%, 9 = 90%, 8 = 80%, 7 = 70%, 6 = 60%, etc. Homework that is one day late will lose half credit. Homework will not be accepted 2 school days past the due date. Each grading period I will drop your lowest daily homework grade.

Effort and Participation
The criteria for this section is based on student performance IN CLASS. This includes the time a student is on-task (focused) and the quality of student participation.

Can't find your grades on the Web site?
The grades are sorted by class number and then by an assigned code name. If you are a parent, ask your child or contact me and I will gladly provide the information to you.

Why do I have a 0% in a category?
Don't worry. Typically during the early part of a marking period, grades have not been given in all categories. Or, the first assignment may not have been completed. If this is the case, the category will show a 0%. It will remain 0% until a grade has been entered.

How to Calculate Your Own Grades
First you need to figure out the average for each section of your grade (Labs, Homework, Quizzes, Tests and Effort & Participation). Calculate your percentage grade for Labs. For each Lab grade, add up all of the numerators (the top part of the fractions). Then add up all of the denominators (the bottom part of the fractions). Then divide the total of the numerators by the total of the denominators. This is your average for Labs. For example, pretend I grade and return to you two lab reports. The grades for them are: 8/10 that means 8 out of a possible 10 points. 22/25 that means 22 out of a possible 25 points. Add the numerators (the top numbers) together (8+22=30). Then, add the denominators (the bottom numbers) together (10+25=35). Now, divide 30/35 which equals .86 or 86%. You would have an 86% Lab Average. *Pretty easy huh?* Just repeat these steps for each of the other sections to find out the averages.
Now that you have the average for each section, you need to be able to calculate your final grade. You need to know that that your final average is made up of these percentages: Labs=25%, Homework=25%, Quizzes and Tests=40%, and Effort & Participation = 10%. The formula for your final average is: (LabAvg x .25) + (HmwkAvg x.25) + (QuizandTestAvg x .40) + (E&PAvg x .10) Don't get intimidated by this! I'll give you an example.Pretend your averages for each section are as follows: Lab Avg.=90%, Hmwk Avg. = 100%, Quiz and Test Avg = 88.5% and E&P Avg. = 95%. Substituting the data provided above into the formula, the calculation would look like this: (.90 x .25) + (1.00 x .25) + (.885 x .40) + (.95 x .10) which equals .93 Therefore, your final average would be 93% - An "A".