Attendance is not kept, as such, but makeup quizzes are not provided. If you miss a Class Quiz or Take-home, you receive a zero for that quiz. You are allowed one missed quiz before it counts against your grade (see below). NOTE: If you miss a class, it is important that you become familiar with the material that was covered in your absence, since it will appear on the next quiz, usually the next class session.
Grading for the course is based on three parts: quizzes/take-homes, a midterm, and the final exam.
Class quizzes or take-homes will be given at the beginning of most class periods. The quizzes are short (generally 5 multiple choice questions) and are based on the previous class period's material. We will have approximately 10 take-homes/quizzes over the course of the semester. Each quiz/take-home is worth an equal amount. The lowest score will be dropped before the quiz/take-home scores are averaged. In other words, one absence is allowed without penalty. Attending an optional outside-of-class observing session will allow a second quiz grade to be dropped. The average of all of the remaining quizzes/take-homes makes up 30% of the final grade.
The midterm exam composes 30% of the final grade. It will cover material for the first half of the course, including star identification and multiple choice / short answer.
The final exam composes 40% of the final grade and covers material from the entire semester. The format of the exam will be similar to the midterm.
The grading scale is a modified straight scale. The exact scale won't be determined until the final exam is taken, although it will be similar to the last time AST101 was taught. For estimation purposes, the following scale should provide a good approximation.
| 4.0 | 94-100% |
| 3.5 | 88-93% |
| 3.0 | 82-87% |
| 2.5 | 76-81% |
| 2.0 | 70-75% |
| 1.5 | 60-69% |
| 1.0 | 50-59% |
A typical grade distribution (number of students who receive each grade) is shown below.
| 4.0 | 7 |
| 3.5 | 12 |
| 3.0 | 13 |
| 2.5 | 6 |
| 2.0 | 5 |
| 1.5 | 2 |
| 1.0 | 1 |
Updated August 17, 2011