GRADING
PSYCHOLOGY 101; FALL 2012
There will be four hour exams during the semester, scheduled for September 27, October 23,
November 20, and December 6. Each (except the final exam; see below) will cover only
material since the previous exam. For each exam you will have a choice of 50 multiple choice
questions (worth 1 point each) or five essays questions (worth 10 points each) for a total of 200
possible points during the semester. You can let us know on the day of the exam whether you
would prefer the multiple choice or the essay option. If you choose the multiple choice option,
you will need to bring parSCORE answer sheet #F-289 to the exam (the best advice is to buy
four #F-289 answer sheets at the beginning of the semester and bring one to each exam)1. If you
are unable to attend an exam, please let us know before the test period. If the reason is
legitimate, you may take the essay make-up exam. Lectures will overlap the readings but will
not mimic them, so you must know the material from both lectures and required readings to do
well on the exams. For the fourth exam (December 6), half the questions (25) will be from the
short period since the previous exam, and half (25) will from the remainder of the course. The
purpose is to encourage you to review the material we have covered throughout the semester,
since this often gives you a perspective you would not otherwise have. There will be no separate
mandatory final exam. I will arrange for a review session a few days before each exam where
you can come to clarify any material you did not understand.
We have tried to devise a system of assigning grades that rewards you for either (1) reaching a
certain absolute standard of achievement (the absolute test score below), or (2) achieving a
certain standing in your class (the relative score, or class curve). The class curve guarantees that
the class GPA will be at least 2.50, but your absolute performance as a class could allow it to go
higher. We will calculate your grade by both systems, and you will receive whichever grade is
higher.
A. Absolute test score
87 - 100% = A
78 - 86½% = B
69 - 77½% = C
57 - 68½% = D
00 - 56½% = F
B. Relative test score (class curve)
top 15% = A
next 35% = B
next 40% = C
next 6% = D
next 4% = F
We will use +’s and –‘s as well. Therefore, each grade will be divided into three subcategories,
e.g. B+, B, and B-.
1
Students with documented disabilities should contact Student Disability Services (594-6473) in the Capulli Center,
Suite 3101, to arrange appropriate administration of exams.
There is also an extra credit way to raise your grade. Weiten is a comprehensive text with more
information than we can cover in one semester. Thus we have assigned fewer than half the pages
(a total of 320) as required reading. On your syllabus, we have included the remaining 380
pages as optional reading. If you choose to learn this additional material, you will not only
enrich the course for yourself, you will also earn the opportunity to raise your grade. During our
final exam period (December 13, from 1:00-3:00), we will offer a multiple choice exam (100
questions) to anyone who has done the optional readings. All questions will come from the
pages in Weiten that are listed under the optional readings. If you get at least 60 correct, your
final grade, determined by the means described above, will be raised one subcategory (e.g. B to
B+). If you get at least 70% correct, your grade will be raised by one full category (e.g. B to a
glorious A). If you get fewer than 60% correct, there are no consequences. However, please do
not waste your time and ours by taking the exam without having done the reading.
Finally, the Weiten text offers a companion guide, called CourseMate, that will permit you to
explore psychology in other ways and do exercises that will help your understanding. I will not
require that you use CourseMate, but you should know that it’s available to you on line. On the
first day of class, Lauren Faison (who represents the publisher of your text) will come to class to
describe what CourseMate can do for you.
Readings are from Psychology: Themes and Variations, 9th Ed. by Wayne Weiten. Always read
to or from the largest heading on the assigned page.