<p>hi everyone, I'd like a bit of input, so I thought a survey-type thing might be a good idea..</p>
<p>At my university I typically write two essays (worth 20-25% each) a semester for each of my 3 classes, and then take an exam at the end worth 50-60%. </p>
<p>How does your school determine your grades? Is a system such as the one I'm used to considered 'normal'?</p>
<p>Most of my classes we have about 8-10 quizzes (some are pop) and 3 Exams--2 regular and a final. Some classes have weekly homework--math, accounting, econ, physics, chem, etc--and some just have a few papers scattered through the semester. Alot of my classes have extra credit quizzes for showing up, which surprised me--like in bio we had 2-3 point 'quizzes' that you got atleast one point for putting your name and could discuss the answer with your neighbors but it's extra credit so not a huge deal if you miss. In accounting, we have the same thing only it's questions about sports and at the end of class the prof announces the answer so everyone who showed up got full credit. The first day of class was last Tuesday and the question was "Who won the NCAA Football championship?". Easy questions like that. I imagine once I get into the upper-division E.C. chances will end though :(</p>
<p>Hmm...I take a lot of studio classes which are much different than the norm. For the more regular liberal arts type classes, we usually have a midterm, a final and a paper due at the end of the term. They are usually weighted pretty equally, with the final being maybe 10% more than the other two. There's usually also 10% thrown in for attendance/participation. </p>
<p>In my computer science classes we had 2 or 3 exams (I forget, exactly), homework projects each week and a lab each week, and in my physics class we had a quiz based on the homework most weeks in recitation that was factored into the grade. My school is on a quarter system, though, so the terms are only 10 weeks long.</p>
<p>most of my classes are a midterm, a final, and a paper. Usually something along the lines of 30/40/30, and like BlahDeBlah said, sometimes a small amount for particpation.</p>
<p>One of my classes last semester was roughly 20/40/30/5 (for participation), and whatever you scored the best on was worth the last 5% also. Like if your best grade was the midterm, that would count as 25% instead of 20.</p>
<p>I don't really think comparing schools based on papers from this (hardly random) sample of students is a particularly valid test for comparison (especially due to the differences in majors), but anyway, depending on the class... for example, the music history/lit class I am in right now has 4 exams (3-4 pages straight of essay questions, including a larger essay--more of a short paper without looking at sources--covering a key topic of the course at then end of each exam as well as score analyses, including memorization of musical pieces from our anthology).
Additionally, we have a min. 10-page term paper as well as various other papers throughout the semester.
We take about 5 pages of single space, 12-pt font notes/class period.</p>
<p>The grade breakdown is something like
5%--Exam 1
20%--Midterm
5%--Exam 2
25%--Final
25%--Term Paper
10%--other papers and assignments
10%--Participation/Attendance</p>
<p>well, I'm not comparing schools per se, or judging them based on how they break down their grades - I was just curious!</p>
<p>All my classes seem to grade differently, but it's generally something like 5-10% participation (this does not include coming to class. Most classes, you can miss two and then you get docked anywhere from 1/3 to 1 full grade for each additional absence); 25% final exam; 10-25% homework (almost every class gives mandatory homework at least once a week); 20% essays/projects (where applicable, since not all classes do essays/projects); and about 10% per exam, with two to four exams per semester, not including the final.</p>
<p>most classes for me are 10% hwk, 20% for each of the two midterms, 50% final.</p>
<p>Ouch. Moldau, I hope you're a good test-taker.</p>
<p>It seems like a lot of my math and physics classes break it down as 40% problem sets, 20% midterm, and 40% final. We often only have one midterm because of the quarter system.</p>