Chemistry 100/100L at Miramar College

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Chem 100/100L Syllabus, page 3 - Grades - Updated June 17, 2008

Chemistry 100/100L Syllabus, page 3 - Grades

Grades for CHEM 100 and 100L are not combined. You will get a separate grade for each course.

Chemistry 100 (Lecture)
Graded Item	Value
Exams (3 @ 30%)	90%
In-Class Activity Average	30%
Drop Worst Exam Score or In-Class Average	–30%
10% Bonus for Best Exam	+10%
TOTAL	100%

Your worst exam score or your ICA average, whichever is lower, will be dropped. Your best exam score will count 40% instead of 30%.

All exams are comprehensive. They cover all previous chapters, but focus mostly on the most recent chapters (i.e., those listed on schedule).

In-Class Activities are an opportunity for you to collaborate and learn from your peers and/or ask me questions about the types of problems that you'll see on exams. No make-ups, so if you're absent, you miss out.

Chemistry 100L (Lab)
Graded Item	Points
Experiments (11 @ 50 pts ea.)*	550
Problem Sets (10 @ 30 pts ea.)*	300
Lab Quizzes (8 @ 20 pts ea.)*	160
TOTAL	1000

* You will do 13 experiments, 12 problem sets, and 10 quizzes. The lowest two scores from each cateogory are dropped from the totals.

Solutions and explanations should be clear enough that one of your peers could easily follow what you did if they had not worked on the problem before. When a quiz, exam, in-class activity, problem set, or lab report calls for a calculated answer, no matter how simple, you have a better chance of getting the right answer (or partial credit) if you show a clear, step-by-step solution for the answer using dimensional analysis (unit converstions). This means that you need to show the units (dimensions) on each number and the conversion factor or equation used in each calculation.

Chem 100 & 100L
Grade	Points Earned
A	90% or more
B	80 - 89%
C	65 - 79 %
D	50 - 64 %
F	under 50 %

Originality. All work must be original and your own. Penalties, such as automatic grades of zero or immediate course failure, will result from cheating, copying, plagiarism, or deceit of any kind. (For additional details, see SDCCD Policy 3100.3.) Cheating on an exam or pre-lab quiz includes use of pre-written hints or notes, looking at another student's paper, allowing (or not preventing) another student to copy your answers, or use of a programmable calculator.

If you look at someone else's paper during an in-class exam or quiz, or copy directly from another student on an in-class or homework assignment, you and the person from whom you copied will both earn a zero on the assignment and/or be dropped from the class with a failing grade without notice or exception. Miramar College may also wish to pursue academic sanctions, expulsion, and/or legal proceedings. Do not wear hats, hoods, headphones, or sunglasses while taking exams or quizzes.
Please be fair.

Collaboration. I expect and encourage collaboration among you and your peers while working on in-class activity, take-home assignment, experiment report, or laboratory problem set, but the work you submit must contain your own original solutions. In the laboratory, you may split up the specific laboratory tasks and manipulations, but each person must make his/her own observations of the experiment and be able to answer questions about any part of the procedure. Please do your best to stay involved and contribute to each experiment individually. When you write up your lab report or the solution to a problem, you should not use notes copied from someone else. The guideline is that you should have no trouble explaining or repeating work that you turn in.

Make-Ups.
Exams, quizzes, and in-class activities. Make-ups are not available, whether or not your absence is excused.
Labs. Make-up lab times are generally not available. Contact me as soon as possible if missing an experiment will be inevitable. Lab reports and problem sets are due before you leave on the day of the lab. If you miss a lab, you may complete and submit the portions of the lab reports and problem sets that do not depend on experimental data and observations, with a late penalty of 20% per class period.