ABOUT Course grades. 7 May 2004

We have calculated tentative course grades. Your grade can be seen on the CMS. You have received an email about it.

To the right, you see the grade distribution.

By Monday, we will have fixed the CMS so that you can tell us whether or not you want to take the final.

If you do not take the final, your grade will be as given on the CMS. In addition, you are expected to submit project A7 by Wednesday night, 12 May. If you don't, your grade MAY drop up to one notch (e.g. from A to A-). This project is intended to get you to modify a GUI program and thus become slightly familiar with GUIs, but in a fairly easy manner. We guide you through the modification of a progam to achieve the result.

If you take the final, your course grade may be lowered as well as raised. In the past, with 40-50 students taking the final out of 200-300, perhaps 1-2 dropped, 3-4 raised their grades, and the rest remained the same. We cannot promise a similar result; this is simply past experience.

Thanks.

Grade
A-..A+
B-..B+
C-..C+
D-..D+
INC
NGR

Number
74
66
47
6
1
2

Histogram
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ABOUT PRELIM II

Average: 69

To the right is a histogram for the prelim. The letter grades are only approximate, to give you an idea where you stand.

Regrade requests.
The prelims are in the consulting room, Upson 304. If you believe it was graded unfairly or your grade is wrong, write your name and netid on a piece of paper, state your case, and give the paper and the prelim to the consultant. Please do not email anyone, saying you want a regrade.

Please note that simply believing that too many points were deducted for a mistake is not a good reason for asking for a regrade. We tried to be consistent in our grading, and cannot change the grading scheme at this point.

Grade
(rough)

A
A
B
C-B
C
C
D
F

range and
number in it

90-99: 16
80-89: 32
70-79: 49
60-69: 47
50-59: 30
40-49: 06
30-39: 04
20-29: 04

Histogram


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ABOUT PRELIM I

Average: 76.              Median: 78          

To the right is a histogram for the prelim. The letter grades are only approximate, to give you an idea where you stand.

We suggest that those with low D's and F's either (a) drop the course or (b) see Gries or a TA to plan a program to learn the material better. To make an apptmnt with Gries, call Cindy Pakkala at 255-8240. You can also get peer tutoring help from student services in Olin 167.

Regrade requests.
The prelims are in the consulting room, Upson 304. They can be looked at (but not taken away) any time that room is open. If you believe it was graded unfairly or your grade is wrong, write your name and netid on a piece of paper, state your case, and give the paper and the prelim to the consultant. Please do not email anyone, saying you want a regrade.

Please note that simply believing that too many points were deducted for a mistake is not a good reason for asking for a regrade. We tried to be consistent in our grading, and cannot change the grading scheme at this point.

Grade
(rough)

A
A
A
B
B
B
C
C
C
D
D
F
F
F
F

range and
number in it

95-99: 14
90-94: 20
85-89: 27
80-84: 24
75-79: 25
70-74: 26
65-69: 22
60-64: 11
55-59: 11
50-54: 08
45-49: 04
40-44: 03
35-39: 03
30-34: 02
<30

Histogram


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On test taking
One thing we don't understand is how people could not get 18 out of 18 on the binary-search question. The mean could be well over 80 if everyone did. It was known that one of three algorithms would be on the test. It takes 15 minutes to practice developing one of them to the point where one can develop them at will. Doing this not only gets you to learn the algorithm; it also gives you an appreciation for the use of an invariant in developing a loop.

A surprising number of people had no clue about how binary search should be written.