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General Grading Comments

• Points on homework, exams, class participation etc. are only comparable among different assignments in the same category. Average scores in the various categories are combined using the weights indicated in the syllabus. While I am somewhat influenced by the traditional grading scale of 90% as the minimum for As (including A- at Loyola), 80% for Bs (including B+ and B- at Loyola), 70% for Cs (including C+ and C- at Loyola), and 60% for Ds (including D+ at Loyola), I often relax these criteria. I do not specify absolute, fixed cutoffs in advance, because it is hard to judge exactly how hard each assignment is until it is given and student performance is evaluated. I will give some individualized feedback during the term to indicate how you are doing on a letter-grade basis. If you are thinking about making an early decision to drop the course, it would probably be a good idea to talk to me first.
• In general, credit is subtracted for any answer on a multipart problem only if it is incorrect given what comes before it. If it is a correct calculation based on an earlier part, but the earlier part is wrong, you only lose credit on the earlier part. I refer to this as the rule of ``no double jeopardy''. Sometimes, however, this rule must be bent. That is, sometimes, a bad interpretation of an early part of a problem can trivialize the rest of the problem, in which case I can't, in good conscience, give full credit for the rest.
• Incorrect material in a problem solution can lead to a loss of credit even if the correct solution also appears. If this seems unfair, think about it a little more. If you write down several solutions, and it turns out that one is correct, but you were unsure which is correct, I can't give full credit. Your credit will be closer to $f/x$, where $f$ is full credit and $x$ is the number of different solutions offered. Similarly if you are asked a question such as ``Identify all the lines in the following program that reference an uninitialized variable'', you will lose credit for each such line that you do not list as well as each line you list that shouldn't be listed.
• Occasionally, fractional points may be given as partial credit on some item of a homework, exam, or other graded assignment, but the total score for that assignment usually will be rounded up to an integer. (This doesn't mean that fractional points are likely to have much effect on overall grade, but they may occasionally be used to give more precise feedback.)