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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">A couple of people have asked about the curve. Well, it’s a bent line.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Seriously, the question was about the class average being lower than<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">their previous chem course. You can’t compare the curve in one course<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">to that in another or even another semester for the same course.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Averages are not the same for 1220 across the different semesters in<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">a year, even with very similar exams. I won’t go into reasons for that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Also, please keep in mind we’re doing exams under some unusual<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">circumstances. You’re not allowed to move backward in the exam.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">That can lead to slightly lower scores and averages. We’re using<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">some of the fill-in-the blank numeric questions. That can sometimes<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">lead to slightly lower scores.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">We are fully aware of this and all of this will be taken into consideration<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">when we curve the grades at the end of the semester. I’ve been<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">teaching 1220 during summer semester for many years, except last<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">year when we didn’t have classes. I know what the averages on<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">summer exams generally are in normal semesters and I have a pretty<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">good idea at this point what the above changes have had on scores.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The same applies to the quizzes. Normally we would have had<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">paper quizzes with partial credit. While I’ve included many questions<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">in the on-line quizzes which give partial credit I know it’s not quite the<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">same.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">That doesn’t mean the curve will have to be huge and we’re going<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">down to 40% for passing. If you’re exam and quiz scores are in the<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">upper 40% range you could still wind up overall in the 50% range due<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">to lab and the Mastering. However, I’ve seen several students who<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">have done little to no Mastering. It’s worth 7.5% of your overall grade.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">I know this makes people wonder about what they need to get on<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">the final to get a certain grade. That’s not an easy thing to say.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Carmen allows you to see what you would need on the final and<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">the last quiz to get certain percentages for the course. I’m not<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">sure it helps to sit around and worry about this. Just do the best<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">you can between now and then studying and then on the quiz and<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">final. That’s really all you can do and need to worry about and not<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">worry about the quiz and final.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">I’ll be sending another e-mail with more info about the final and<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">the review for it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Dr. Zellmer<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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