GRADING POLICY
MTH 254

Grades:
Your grade consists of two parts, an exam grade and a recitation grade.
Quizes, Midterm, Final, Final
For example, if you do poorly on the midterm (and well on everything else), then the midterm doesn't count. Note that the final counts twice, so that a poor final still counts (at least) once.
If your recitation grade is satisfactory, that's it. If your recitation grade is unsatisfactory, your course grade is lowered one step, from A- to B+ to B to B-, etc. (The one exception is that a solid A will not be lowered.)
Recitations & Homework:
Several homework problems will be assigned each week. You should bring your written solutions to the recitation period. Usually, only one of these problems will actually be corrected.
There will also be a short group activity most weeks during recitation. Most of these activities will involve some sort of presentation at the end of class, and/or a written summary due the following day.
A grade of satisfactory requires participation in all but two recitations.
Participation in turn requires attendance, including on-time arrival, not leaving early, and turning in the homework assignment, including the activity summary.
Exams:
There will be two quizes during recitation, a single in-class midterm, and a final. All exams will be closed book; calculators will not be permitted. The use of (both sides of) a 3×5 index card of notes is permitted. The final is comprehensive, and will be roughly 35-40% on material covered prior to the midterm, and roughly 60-65% on material covered after the midterm.
(The index cards are cumulative: you may bring all previous cards to all subsequent exams.)
Absences:
Absences for whatever reason are normally covered by the ability to drop the lowest exam grade and to miss up to 2 recitations. If you are absent from more than the allowed number of exams, you will normally receive a grade of I (incomplete), which would be made up by taking the appropriate exam(s) the next time the course is offered. If you miss more than the allowed number of recitations, this will reduce your course grade as noted above.
Please note that missing the final automatically results in a grade of I.
(If you are not doing passing work otherwise, missing the final results in a grade of F.)
Makeups:
Makeup exams will only be given in truly exceptional cases. There will be no makeups of the group activities, although it is usually possible to arrange to participate in another section the same day.
Cheating:
My policy on cheating can be found here.