Psylutions -- Dr. Snyder's Blog
Grading Scheme
Please note that this course is NOT graded on a curve. Assignment, paper, and exam marks will be tallied at the end of the course and converted to the 4-point University grade scale using the grading scheme shown in the table below.
There are several reasons that this course is not graded on a curve. First, statistically there are issues with fitting a normal distribution curve to a class of this type. Second, if this course was curved some students would have to be failed, regardless of how well they performed; this strikes me as unfair and somewhat arbitrary. Related to this, curved courses can produce unpleasant consequences with respect to competition to the restricted number of high grades that can be handed out. By not being curved, the only person you are competing with for your grade is yourself. Finally, by not being graded on a curve students can calculate exactly where they stand going into the final exam and use this information for more effective time management with respect to studying.
Please note that the University recommendations for grade distribution are just that: recommendations. Finally, remember that both an A and an A+ equate to a grade of 4.0; an A+ is, therefore, meant to represent students performing well above the course level (in this case, on par with a beginning Master's student, for example).
| 94-100% | 4.0 | A+ | Excellent |
| 88-93.9 | 4.0 | A | Excellent |
| 83-87.9 | 3.7 | A- | Excellent |
| 78-82.9 | 3.3 | B+ | Good |
| 73-77.9 | 3.0 | B | Good |
| 68-72.9 | 2.7 | B- | Good |
| 63-67.9 | 2.3 | C+ | Satisfactory |
| 58-62.9 | 2.0 | C | Satisfactory |
| 55-57.9 | 1.7 | C- | Satisfactory |
| 52-54.9 | 1.3 | D+ | Poor |
| 50-51.9 | 1.0 | D | Minimal Pass |
| 0-49.9 | 0.0 | F or F(R) | Failure |