Exam solution and grading

Sorted scores and cutoffs (if grades depended on this exam only)

Exam 2 total (max 40)
40
39
34
33
32
32  A &ge 32
31
30
29
28
28
28
27
27
27
27
26
26  B &ge 26
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
24
24
24
24
23
22
21
20
20  C &ge 20
19
19
19
17
17
17
16
15
14
13
13
10
10

Overall course score

• The grades server now has your overall score based on the assumption that we will have a total of 8 projects and 5 exams with their weights as given below. Your overall score gives your current overall (i.e., assuming zeros in future entries).
  • Total project weight is 48%, with each project being 6%.
  • Total exam weight is 52%, divided as follows:
    Exam 1 (40 minutes) is 10%
    Exam 2 (30 minutes) is 9%
    Exam 3 (30 minutes) is 9%
    Exam 4 (30 minutes) is 9%
    Exam 5 (final, approx 100 minutes) is 15%
• Your current exam total, say Etot, is given by Etot = E1*(10/30) + E2*(9/40)
• Your current project total, say Ptot, is given by Ptot = (P1 + P2 + P3 + P4)*(6/100)
• Your current course total, say Ctot, is given by Ctot = Ptot + Etot

Should you drop the course (April 10 deadline)

• An optimistic C-cutoff for Etot is ≥ 10.00.
  So an Etot of 9.5 would almost certainly get you a D, if your course grade was based only on the exams E1 and E2.
• An optimistic C-cutoff for Ctot is ≥ 28.00.
  So an Ctot of 27.5 would almost certainly get you a D, if your course grade was based only on projects P1-P4 and exams E1-E2.
• So if your Etot or Ctot is below the C-cutoff, you should seriously consider dropping the course.
  About half of the course weight is over. The second half is similar in difficulty to the first half.
  My experience is that, in most cases, a student's performance in the second half is similar to that in the first half.