GRADING POLICY FOR BIOL 102
Course Coordinator: Dr. Adrienne Alaie

Laboratory Attendance

Laboratory attendance is mandatory. You are allowed to miss one laboratory over the course of the semester. If you did not attend your first laboratory period, you may not miss another period for the duration of the semester. Any missed laboratory period (beyond the first absence) must be made-up with another instructor during the week in which that lab exercise is conducted.  If you do not make-up labs you have missed in excess of the first absence, your total lab score will be reduced as follows:

1 absence= (total lab score) will be multiplied by 0.9

2 absences = (total lab score) will be multiplied by 0.8

3 absences = (total lab score) will be multiplied by 0.7, etc.

Grade Based on 1000 Points

 There are also 50 possible extra credit points to be earned (please read last line below)

Your grade in this course will be based on a total of 1000 points as follows:

·    300 points earned in laboratory. You will take 4 practical exams (each worth 100 points). However, the lowest score of the four practical exams will be dropped. This means that only 3 practicals will be counted.  There will be no make-up practicals -if you miss a practical- that will be the one that is dropped

·    450 total points earned from two midterm exams – each midterm exam will include 125 points from multiple choice questions and 100 points from essays question.

·    250 points earned from the final exam (this exam will include only multiple choice questions)

Grading Note: If your final exam grade is higher than the sum of the grades from the multiple choice portions of your two midterms, then your final exam grade will count twice and your multiple choice grades from your two midterms will be dropped. (The midterms can not count twice in place of the final exam.) Your grades for the essay portions of both midterms will be counted in all cases.

In summary:

Lab………………………….……………..................................……....…..…….300

Essays (2@100 points each from midterms)………...........................................200

Multiple Choice (2@125 points each from midterms)……...........................…250

Final Exam (all multiple choice)……………….....................................…....….250

                                                                                  Total Points: 1000

*50 extra credit points can be earned from a combination of weekly quizzes (8 quizzes @ 5 points each) administered at the start of each laboratory period and a  10 point extra credit experiment (given during the animal behavior lab).