RL Hanna Spring 2014 GeologyGrades & End of Term Dates• To figure out your Term Letter Grade:o View your Term Total of points in your Blackboard gradebooko and then compare that to the Term Grading Scale (see above)o The total points displayed in your Blackboard Gradebook is your term total.o There are no extensions of the deadlines– all of the required major exams were available forunlimited attempts for weeks (or months).o See page 2 for more info and details on course grades.• You have access to view your grades through noon on May 30 (the last day of Finals Week). Afternoon on May 30, the Blackboard Geology course materials will become unavailable for viewing.Page 6
RL Hanna Spring 2014 GeologyExams• All required module exams/quizzes are available for weeks (or months) before the specifiedtimeout day (see the first page of the syllabus for specific dates).• You may take these required exams an unlimited number of times until the timeout deadline.• The last attempt counts (not the highest score)o If you take the exam more than once, the last attempt is the one that counts.o So – don’t retake the exam unless you are prepared to accept a lower score than you alreadyhave. No amount of pleading, whining or begging will change this.o If you re-open an exam that you have already taken, and then change your mind about retakingthe exam – it’s too late. Once you’ve re-opened the exam, you have to retake it; otherwise, yourlast score is going to be a zero, and that will stand as your exam score.o If you take the exam and your last attempt shows as a padlock or exclamation symbol, thismeans that something went wrong (you went over time, or there was a computer glitch, etc.) andthat you have to retake the exam (you should not be locked out of retaking an exam, even if thesymbol in your gradebook says that the exam needs grading or that the exam is locked – becauseyou have the option of unlimited attempts, you should always be able to reopen an exam (unlessthe timeout deadline has expired).• Each time you take retake an exam the questions will come up in random order and will be pulled atrandom from a much larger pool of questions…. Which means that each time you retake an examyou will see a lot of questions that you have seen before as well as some that you haven’t.• Each exam will be comprehensive but will emphasize the material covered since the previousexam.• Some exams/quizzes may have time limits, while others may not. For the ones with timelimits: - if you go over that time limit, your score will be set to zero (0) after the exam timeoutdeadline.-If you have studied sufficiently, then you should be able to complete the exam within the time limit.-If you are having trouble finishing within the time limit, then you probably need to study more. Ifyou study more and are still having trouble finishing within the time limit, then come to theinstructor’s office hours and we will schedule a time for you to take the exam in my presence(during my office hours on another day). You must still complete the exam before the timeoutdeadline posted at the beginning of the syllabus. I will give you unlimited time when you take theexam in my presence; however, you will only be able to use your textbook and you will not be ableto use the Green Study Guide or any other notes, materials, CD-ROMs, internet, etc.• Almost *all* of the exam questions are included in the Green Study Guide! Almost all of thequestions that are not in the Green Study Guide are questions relating to pictures and diagrams(most of which are in your textbook).• Exam answer keys are not posted or available for downloading or distribution. This is becausethe major, required exams are open-book and may be taken an unlimited number of times. If theanswers were posted in any fashion, the exams would be useless.• Students who come to the instructor’s regularly posted office hours may ask the instructor tolook up which questions the student missed. The instructor will look up the first three questionsmissed only, and the instructor will not give the student the answers to the missed questions. Pleaseremember that the instructor will only look up the last attempt that the student made. The instructorwill not look up missed questions on Extra Credit quizzes.Page 7