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Grades in English 100

How college grades work

In general, each instructor has individual standards (read the syllabus to figure out what gets graded), but we try for some uniformity. In the English Department, we have regular meetings where we all grade the same papers and discuss how to make our standards consistent. What gets graded in this course is probably similar to what gets graded in other courses:

  • Finished essays
  • Small assignments and quizzes
  • Attendance and participation

The university standards for grades are a range, so for the course as a whole, you don’t have to achieve absolute perfection to get a good grade. Here’s how it works:

A = 93%-100%
A– = 90%-92.9%
B+ = 86%-89.9%
B = 83%-85.9%
B– = 80%-82.9%
C+ = 76%-79.9%
C = 73%-75.9%
C– = 70%-72.9%
D+ = 66%-69.9%
D = 63-65.9
D– = 60%-62.9%
F = below 60%

A couple of personal policies

Attendance

Excused absences don’t count against you. If you are sick, simply get in touch with me. Athletic coaches (etc.) usually let me know who is traveling with the team, and those absences are excused too.

At the end of the semester, I forgive a full week of unexcused absences; after that, unexcused absences do count against you. Showing up late and sleeping in class (which includes doing homework for other courses and playing on your phone) always count against your attendance grade.

Quizzes

This category also includes the four required Writing Center visits, Peer Editing, and the Sentence Combining exercises. I try to have enough items in this category that I can forgive a couple of the lowest grades.

Blackboard and grades

Normally, the only grades Blackboard knows about are the major essays. This is because the arithmetic necessary to knock out a couple of the lowest quiz grades and average the remainder is just too much for Blackboard, and I keep much more detailed attendance records than it likes (and Blackboard isn’t too happy about forgiving a week of unexcused absences). If you ever want know to how you are doing in the course, simply ask to see my computer file.

English 100 is unusual

The university requires us to report your grades according to the list above, BUT you don’t see those grades. What you should see on your grade report is “S” (which stands for “Satisfactory”) or “U” (which stands for “Unsatisfactory”). You must get an “S” to proceed to English 101. The minimum standard for “S” is C– or above (70% or better in the course as a whole).

The other oddity is that the grade in English 100 does not affect your GPA.

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