Sometimes students seem surprised by the
semester grade they get in a course. I
think it's because they may not be doing
effective grade math. Let's try a little.
here. Let's start with the idea that you
get a 100% score on your first
assignment. That's clearly an A in the
class so far. On your next assignment
though, you don't do it. Maybe you had car
trouble. Maybe you had a family
obligation. But you just didn't get it
done. You now have half of all the points,
or 50%. That's a letter grade of F. But on
your next assignment you're once again back
in the groove, and you get 100%. So you've
scored two perfect scores. Two perfect
scores and that's 60... well,  67% and
that's a "D." You were perfect two out
of three times but you have a "D."
That's just the way the math works. But
let's look at another story. Let's assume
that you get 90% on your first
assignment, out of ten, and then from then
on you get nothing but 100% scores. Every
Time. Except for the last time because
you may have another class that you want
to concentrate on and you know that you
have got this class completely nailed, so
you just don't turn in the last
assignment because you had to work on
your another class. Let's see how that
affects your cumulative score for that
class. So 90% after the first one. But
then you keep getting hundreds, so you
are average score, your cumulative score,
keeps going up. You have such an a until
your last assignment, which brings your
score down to 89%. That's a "B." You earned
an A 9 out of 10 times, and got a "B" this
semester just because you didn't turn in
one assignment.It may not seem fair, but
it's, it's just the math.
Now, sometimes you can make grade math
work for you. Like this: Again, ten
assignments, 100 points each, and you get
a 90 which is an "A." 90 "A", 80. 70. 60, 65, 75,
85, 95, 75. Let's look and see how that
works with your cumulative scores. So, you
have a 90 for the class, and as you do
less well the score drops you're down to
78 now back to a "C," and even though you
get a "B," an "A" and a "C" you have a
cumulative grade of this class of 78%.
But let's look at something good that
can happen. Most teachers offer a little
extra credit somewhere along the way. If
you take that extra credit, if you can
get just 15 points for something, you
will bring your semester grade up to a "B."
That's right. Just one little assignment
one little extra credit assignment, you
go from a "C" to a "B." I'm hoping that
you'll take advantage of that. Let's look
and see what you can do to make grade
math work for you. The obvious thing is
turn in every assignment on time because
even a low score is better than a zero.
And no matter what the late penalty is
do the assignment, turned in late, and at
least get some points. We saw what a
difference just 15 points made. Take
every opportunity for any extra credit
you can get your hands on, and don't wait
till the last minute. Any time in the
semester do the extra credit. And one
last thing is to check Canvas regularly.
Make sure that your grades are entered
correctly, and it can let you know if
you're missing anything. I'm hoping that
this grade math will help you get a
higher grade and maybe the grade you deserve for your classes.
