PZ Myers. 2007 May 09. The penultimate grade update!. <http://genetics.pharyngula.org/gen/commentsthe_penultimate_grade_update/>. Accessed 2008 Aug 21.

Posted on M00o93H7pQ09L8X1t49cHY01Z5j4TT91fGfr on Wednesday, May 09, 2007

The penultimate grade update!

All of the grades on WebCT are now updated, including your last lab report. All that remains is the final exam.

The most important thing for everyone to look at is the column titled "CurGrade". This is what you are getting in the class right now: it is the minimum grade you are guaranteed to receive. If you do not take the optional final, you will get that grade. If you do take the optional final and bomb out horribly, that is still the grade you will get — the final cannot hurt your grade.

The next important column is titled "MaxGrade". If you take the final, this column optimistically assumes that you get 100%, and that that perfect score replaces your lowest exam grade. This is the very best grade you can possibly get in the class at this point.

I'm getting a lot of requests asking me to figure out exactly how well you have to score in the final exam to raise your grade a notch. There's too many of you for me to calculate that for everyone! It also sets yourself inappropriate goals — don't study to get a 79 on the test, always aim for 100. But here's what you can do to estimate whether you should take the final for yourself:

1. Look at your scores for exams I, II, and III.
2. Look at your lowest exam score.
3. If you think you can get a score on the final that is 10-15 points higher than that lowest exam score, you can expect to be able to raise your grade — for instance, from a B- to a B. You should take the final.
4. If all three of your exam scores are consistently in the same range, you should expect to have to study much harder for the final than you did for the other exams. You can take the final — it can't hurt you — but if it means compromising on studying for your other classes, think about it … it's not likely to improve your grade.

If you want to take the final just for fun, of course, feel free to do that, too.