There were 11 full-length labs. Lab 5 had the AVL tree worksheet, which counted as 4 more points. And there was an in-lab 12. Thus , there were 34 lab parts (11 labs of 3 parts each, plus one for in-lab 12). So the total number of points for the labs was 34*10+4 = 344. Labs counted for 40% of the final course grade.
Each midterm counted for 15% of the final course grade, even though the total number of points on each midterm was different. The final counted for 25% of the final course grade.
The grade breakdown (how much each part counts for the final grade) is as listed on the course syllabus (md).
The stated curve on the exams (and one of the labs) is listed at the bottom of the CS 2150 page.
- In-lab 1 had a 1 point (25 percentage point) curve
- This is 1 point out of 344 lab points, and labs are 40% of the final grade, which means this is 1/344*40 = 0.12 points on the final grade
- The first midterm had a 15 percentage point curve
- Each midterm is worth 15% of the final grade, so this is 15/100*15 = 2.25 points on the final grade
- The second midterm had a 20 percentage point curve
- Each midterm is worth 15% of the final grade, so this is 15/100*20 = 3 points on the final grade
- The final had a 5 percentage point curve
- The final is worth 25% of the final grade, so this is 5/100*25 = 1.25 points on the final grade
The total curve, so far, is the sum of these values: 0.12 + 2.25 + 3 + 1.25 = 6.62 points.
Yes, we round grades. Note that round(x) = floor(x)+0.5. So we add 0.5 points to everybody's curve to take into account rounding. Note that this means rounding is already taken care of, so if you get an 89.9999999999999999999, it's still a B+, no matter how many times you ask - you don't get to round a second time (in reality, it was an 89.49).
So the curve so far is 6.62 from the exams and labs, and 0.5 for rouding, for a final course curve of 7.12. We rounded that up to 8. Thus, everybody got 8 points added to their average (your average being what the gradebook reports).
There were ten days where we took attendance. It's reasonable that somebody could miss a day for whatever reason. So the participation grade is out of 9 points, meaning everybody gets a "free" missed day. Unfortunately, if you made all 10 days, you do not get any extra credit. Note that there are 10 entries for the attendance, one for each day; these entries do not count toward your weighted average. There is also a 'participation grade' entry, which is what counts towards your weighted grade -- how that entry was computed is explained here.
The number of Piazza contributions is also listed in the gradebook (don't worry about the 'max points' for that one -- I just had to enter something; the max points value for this entry is completely ignored). This, also, does not directly contribute to the final grade, but instead affects the participation portion of the grade, as discussed below. This value is the number of contributions as reported by Piazza. This is mostly answers posted (among a few other factors), but does generally not include questions asked. Each contribution listed contributed 1 percent to your overall participation grade. While this may not seem like much, keep in mind that some students had over 100 contributions via Piazza.
Thus, the participation grade was determined by:
- taking your attdance score (or 9, if you attended all 10 of the attendance quizzes) out of 9 points, and taking that as a percentage
- adding 1% for each Piazza contribution
- adding in other contributions to the course (such as github contributions, etc.) -- students have already been mailed individually if this applied to them
For example, if you attended 7 of the 10 attendance quizzes, and had 12 contributions on Piazza, then your attendance score would be 7/9 = 77.78% for the attendance quizzes, plus 12% for the Piazza contributions, to yield 89.78% (or 4.49 out of 5).
This score was displayed out of 100, and rounded to two decimal places.
As stated at the beginning of the semester, each 10-point "decade" is a separate letter grade range (60-70 is a D, 70-80 is a C, etc.). The exact ranges, taking into account the course curve mentioned above, are below. Note: the following table ALREADY includes the course curve! So you take your exact average from the gradebook and see where it lies on this table. And rounding has already been taken into account (see above), so you don't get to round a second time.
| Minimum course average | Letter grade |
|---|---|
| 50.0 | D- |
| 55.0 | D |
| 59.0 | D+ |
| 62.0 | C- |
| 65.0 | C |
| 69.0 | C+ |
| 72.0 | B- |
| 75.0 | B |
| 79.0 | B+ |
| 82.0 | A- |
| 85.0 | A |
| 93.0 | A+ |
Note that the A+ range and the D- range follow a slightly different pattern. The A+ range is a percentage of the class (in this case, the top 6 students), and thus ended up being 93.0. The D- range extends down a bit more.
I've enabled the (terrible) Collab gradebook tool, and imported all the grades into there where they will live for all eternity. Or at least until UVa doesn't feel like keeping them around any more...