Course Assessments
The assignments for this course are weighted as follows:
- 20% Exam 1
- 20% Exam 2
- 30% Final Exam
- 15% Quizzes
- 15% Homework and Class Participation
Process and Product
When determining your final course grade, I will balance your process and product.
- By product, I mean the raw scores on each assignment. These are what you’ll see written on the work handed back in class or in the Grades section in Brightspace.
- By process, I refer to your change, growth, and improvement over the course of the semester. I cannot grade effort, but I can assess evidence of effort. I don’t expect you to come into this class already knowing the content we’ll cover; that’s why you’re enrolled, so you can learn these things. As the semester progresses, most students grow increasingly proficient in comprehending the course content, which is reflected in their assignment scores. This growth and improvement over the course of the term is reflected in the process portion of your final course grade.
- At semester’s end, then, I balance the two. For example, a student with a C for a product grade and an A for process might receive a B for the final course grade.
In addition, I participate in the college’s Early Alert program. This means that I will notify students who are in the D or F range before mid-semester; you should contact me immediately to work out a plan for improvement, since statistics show students who do so can often still pass the class.
As always, you’re encouraged to contact me to discuss your status in class at any time. (If needed, there is a college withdrawal date each semester and if you submit a course withdrawal form before that deadline, you will be assigned a W for the course. But let’s work hard to avoid this.)
SCCC Grading System
The SCCC grading system is as follows. Please note that SCCC does not use minus ( - ) grades.
- A — 90-100%
- B+ — 85-89%
- B — 80-84%
- C+ — 75-79%
- C — 70-74%
- D+ — 65-69%
- D — 60-64%
- F — 59% or below