You may want to refresh this page each time you visit as I will update it as I get new questions that I think are worth answering.

• Do you replace our lowest exam score with the final exam score?

No.

• Is there anything extra or any extra credit I can do to help my grade?

No.

• How are the clicker points factored into our course grade?

Your clicker grade is calculated based purely on participation. It doesn't matter how many questions you got right or wrong. If your clicker participation grade is 90% or greater, I will add 2% to your final course grade. If your clicker grade is 80% to 89.9%, I will add 1% to your final course grade. If your clicker grade is less than 80% then you will not receive a bonus.

• Will you post an old/practice final exam?

No. The final exam will be a similar format to your regular exams, but a bit longer. You should use your old exams and the old exams from former semesters to help you prepare for the "old" material on the final.

• Do you round course grades?

No. Rember you have the ability to increase your course grade by up to 2% by participating in the clicker questions. This is the only way you can get a grade "bump" once the grading scales have been set.

An 88.5 + 2% bonus = 90.5 (A)

An 87.5 + 2% bonus = 89.5 (B)

To be somewhat blunt, you should not expect to receive an "A" in the course if didn't earn an "A" on any of the exams. You should be very proud of yourself if you earned exam grades in the 80's this semester, but you shouldn't expect to receive an "A" for "B" work.

• What is your typical course grade breakdown?

It varies somewhat, but Spring 2017 Paints a fairly standard picture:

• A - 19.2%
• B - 28.3%
• C - 20.7%
• D - 7.1%
• F - 9.1%
• W - 15.6%

• Do you assign +/- grades?

No. I just assign A, B, C, D, and F letter grades.

• Do you curve?

I may make some slight adjustments to the grade scale, but typically without curving my courses come out with a very high pass rate. Sadly, at many institutions, organic chem only has ~50% pass rate!

• What is the format of the final exam?

Very similar to your regular exams. There will be a multiple choice section and a written portion. The MC section will likely be a bit longer than usual while the completion seciton will likely be 3 pages. Expect ~25% new material and 75% old material. Much of the completion section will be "new" material while much of the MC section will be "old" material. My 234 final exam average is general ~70%.

• Do you drop any of the Sapling homework grades?

Yes. I will drop your two lowest online homework grades.

• When will you have our grades posted?

I promise to work as hard and fast as possible to get the final exam graded and the scores posted on eCampus. As soon as the grades are ready, I will post them. I will post your final exam grade, final course grade, and letter grade so that you don't have to wait for grades to be released on STAR. Emailing me to ask when grades will be ready will not help speed up the process.