The following general policies will apply to all my courses:
No make-up tests will be given. If you miss a test, your next test grade will be counted twice if you bring a written excuse to me for the one you missed before the next test occurs.
Usually around 10 homework problems will be assigned from the text by saying "do those divisible by 3" or some other odd number so that you will have answers in the back of the text for some but not all of the problems. In the divisible-by-3 case, you would do 3, 6, 9, 12, ... skipping those that require a graphing calculator if you do not have one. You should try all of the problems and ask questions in class about the ones that gave you trouble. Keep your homework and class notes in a notebook to study for the tests and the final exam.
Sometimes bonus problems will be assigned and taken up for grading. These bonus points will be added to the sum of your test scores before averaging to determine you course grade.
The final exam will be comprehensive and will be averaged in with your other tests. It will also replace your lowest test grade if it is higher than your lowest grade. Another way to think of it is to count the final twice and drop your lowest test grade. The following scale will be used to determine your letter grade:
Here is an example for a student who earned 20 bonus points and took 3 tests and a final with the following grades: 75, 80 and 85 on the tests and 90 on the final.
First, replace the 75 test grade with the final exam grade of 90. Next, add up the test scores, the final exam score and the bonus points: 90 + 80 + 85 + 90 + 20 = 365 and divide by 4 (3 tests and the final) to get a numerical average of 91.25 which results in an A for the course. Note that without the bonus points, the student's average would be 86.25 which would result in a B for the course