Section 13 Determining Course Grades

Over the past five years, all students taking the course have eventually earned either an “A”, a “B” or an “Incomplete” in 431. I don’t see a reason why this won’t also be the case this year.

13.1 Grading Breakdown

Grading standards apply in the same way for all students, regardless of whether they are enrolled in PQHS 431, CRSP 431 or MPHP 431. The courses are identical.

The course grade is based on four key areas of demonstrated accomplishment.

The Fall 2020 version of the 431 course will be graded differently than previous versions of this course. Across the past five years, no student has received a course grade other than A, B or Incomplete, and I anticipate that this will again be the case this year.

Course grades are based primarily on performance on labs, projects and quizzes. Your grade on each of these three elements will be determined separately. Then I will combine these elements as follows:

Element	Weight 1	Weight 2	Weight 3	Weight 4
Labs	35%	30%	25%	-
Projects	45%	40%	35%	-
Quizzes	25%	20%	15%	-
Participation	-	-	-	10%

Among Labs, Projects and Quizzes, your element with the strongest score will receive Weight 1, your element with the second strongest score will receive Weight 2 and your element with the weakest score will receive weight 3. The Class Participation score is worth 10% for all students.

I will determine your final course grade using the following scale:

• course averages of 89% to 100% will receive a A
• course averages of 85% to 88% will be reviewed more closely to determine whether the grade will be A or B
• course averages of 70% to 84% will receive a B

For students in the 85-88% range, students who have improved from the first half of the course to the second will be more likely to receive an A than those whose performance has declined.

Students whose course average is near or below 70% will usually need to take an Incomplete to improve their work before I assign a final grade.