Grades anxiety (Re: grades)

[Subbarao Kambhampati <rao@asu.edu>]

Someone asked:


>   I was wondering what sort of a grading system you would be using as I was
>unsure where I stand in this class and what my grade would be as of now. What
>sort of ranges approximately are you looking at for an A?


The usual--95% or above is A.

Seriously... I don't decide grade cutoffs until I see the natural 
distribution of the final cumulative totals.

I can however provide you the grades and grade cutoff information from the 
last year--which you can use as a rough yard stick

        http://rakaposhi.eas.asu.edu/f00-marks1.html

    In general, I find it much more appealing to make the course 
challenging, my expectations high, and *then* make the letter grade 
assignment relatively forgiving, than making the course easy, my 
expectations low, and nitpick between 93.5 and 94.7.   Part of the 
rationale is my conviction that the content of a  course should not depend 
on where the course is being taught, although the letter grade a student 
gets in a course is of course relative to the others taking that course in 
that place.

Rao