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Grading Policy

Graded coursework will consist of roughly weekly homework sets, one in-class exam (November 5) and a final project. Final grades will be determined as follows:

• 20% Midterm Exam (in class November 5)
• 20% Problem Sets (analytic question)
• 40% Project Sets (researched-based problems)
• 20% Final Project (Observing Proposal + TAC)

Most lab-type courses grade on a "points-off" basis. That is, the exercise starts of with a maximum number of points and points are deducted for each omission or mistake. In this class, the Midterm exam and Problem Sets will be graded in this "points-off" way.

There are several problems with this kind of grading. First, it presumes the existence of a "perfect" paper, one which has zero points deducted. Good students are thus prompted to try to figure out precisely what the instructor wants, both in content and in format, and hit that target as closely as possible. In addition, "points-off" grading discourages all kinds of creative or out-of-the-box thinking. Since one can only lose points by venturing into unknown territory, it seems best to stick as closely to the precise assignment.

The Project Sets and Final Project are designed help you think as a research scientist which is very far from a "points-off" way of thinking. To encourage students to think as a researcher, we are going to modify the "points-off" model for these assignments. Each assignment will start with a particular number of points (typically 100), and mistakes and omissions will result in point reductions, just as in the standard model. BUT I will also add points when a student does something interesting, clever, or creative. Thus there is no maximum number of points, and students can gain points by unusually good work.

We will help guide you in this process, and will periodically update the class where everyone stands in terms of a letter grade. If everyone is doing well, there will be a lot of As - under no circumstances will a student gain from another student's poor performance. So the question "do you grade on a curve" has two answers. I do grade on a curve in the sense that I do not expect that 90%=A, 80%=B and so forth. But I don't have a fixed overall grade distribution or a set fraction of As, Bs and Cs in mind, so in that sense I don't grade on a curve - students are not competing with each other, but will be evaluated on their mastery of the material, regardless of the performance of others in the class.