Determine Current Grades, Final Grades, Possible Grades, and Missing Grades
by Professor Stephen T. Abedon Steve Abedon, Ph.D., has taught well over 100 individual classes and ~10 individual courses (including introductory biology, microbiology, physiology, biochemistry, etc.) over his 30+ years as a college professor. He has over 150 publications, including multiple monographs, and is ranked in the top 1 or 2 percent among researchers of all disciplines worldwide. His research focuses on bacteriophage biology and phage therapy.
biologyaspoetry.org | phage.org | phage-therapy.org | abedon.phage.org | google scholar | publications
Jump to: 🏫 Class | 📄 How To | ✨ Calculator | 📊 Grades | 📝 Exams | 📄 Other | 📖 Explanation
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Additional Terms · How can I improve this page? contact: contact: abedon.1@osu.edu
Select your class below to enable the Calculator and Grades tabs. You must use Carmen in a web browser (not the Canvas app) to save your grades file.
Save your Carmen grades page as an HTML file (see the How To tab for instructions), then drop it below. Your grades will be filled in automatically. Or use Manual Entry mode below if you prefer to type in your category percentages.
Drop your Carmen grades file here
or click to browse · HTML recommended (File → Save Page As → Webpage, Complete)
PDF from Carmen Print-to-PDF cannot be read automatically — use HTML if possible
🔒 Your file is read entirely within your browser. No data leaves your computer.
These fields are filled automatically when you upload your grades file. You can edit any value to explore hypothetical scenarios, or enter grades manually below. Leave a field blank to exclude that category from the calculation.
📊 View the Grades tab for a full breakdown of every assignment with missing grades highlighted in red.
91.45) into the fields below — not raw point totals.
Click a card to read more:
Natural Science GE Course — GE Goals & Learning Outcomes ↗
Students understand the principles, theories, and methods of modern science, the relationship between science and technology, the implications of scientific discoveries, and the potential of science and technology to address problems of the contemporary world.
Natural Science GE Expected Learning Outcomes:
These outcomes are addressed in the classroom, lectures, laboratory, textbook, and an online blog. Students are expected to read their textbook, be aware of online blog postings, show up to class, and pay attention during lectures and in the laboratory.
General Education Course Information
Biology 1101 is a General Education Course (GE) in Natural Science – Biological Science and as such, is part of the College of Arts and Sciences (ASC) General Education Program.
Course Description
Basic principles of biology; topics include the nature of science, organismal diversity, evolution, ecology, genetics, reproduction, and cellular structure and function. Not intended for students majoring in one of the biological sciences. GE Natural Science: Biological Science.
Disclaimer: Information found on Carmen may supersede information provided in this syllabus. Please report any Carmen or web technical difficulties A.S.A.P. Please notify if you have difficulty accessing lecture videos.
Lectures exist as asynchronous online videos — take notes! Class meetings are devoted to taking quizzes and going over lab materials.
Final grade: 3/4 lecture (75%) + 1/4 laboratory (25%)
Lecture grades: 40% exams (5 total) + 40% lecture quizzes (15 total) + 10% in-class vocabulary quizzes
Each exam worth at least 8% of total grade; each lecture quiz worth ~2%.
Exams cover vocabulary (80%) and figure-based questions (20%), as provided during lectures, plus various bonus points. Also: reverse vocabulary quiz questions (I supply the term, you supply the definition; 5×1% per exam). Exams and vocabulary quizzes are not open anything — 100% dependent on what is in your brain.
Lecture quizzes are open in your own hand-generated notes only. Notes used during open-note quizzes must not be:
No more than 40% of your grade can be earned from lecture quizzes, but individual quizzes can be worth more than 100%.
Vocabulary quizzes (we supply the definition, you supply the term) — two types:
The definitions to vocabulary words are exam questions provided to you in advance — this cannot be stressed too strongly.
Lab grades (~15 quizzes, ~1.5% each) are based on open-lab-text and/or open-note (but not open online searching) quizzes. Some lab grades are handed-in labs, counted equivalently to quizzes.
Other exam- and quiz-related issues:
We will mostly start in-class days with vocabulary quizzes and end with lecture quizzes. On exam days: start with exam, no vocabulary quiz, then lecture quiz.
I habitually video classes for your benefit, posting them online for your use. If anybody would like to be asked questions publicly during class, let me know (no extra credit). Please wear a mask if feeling sick.
Professor (Dr.) Stephen T. (“Steve”) Abedon, Ph.D., University of Arizona, 1990
Class announcements sent via Carmen. Please check your Canvas notification preferences ↗.
The Ohio State University is committed to providing an inclusive learning environment. If you have a disability and anticipate needing support in this course, please connect with Student Life Disability Services:
Please register with Disability Services and request official accommodation letters. Once you have your accommodation letter, please notify your instructor so appropriate arrangements can be made. Do this as early in the semester as possible.
Taking Exams & Quizzes at Disability Services
For students who are taking exams and quizzes outside of the classroom — i.e., at Disability Services — please note the following requests:
Students are encouraged to arrive a couple minutes early to find a seat and get their notes out.
I can only help you if I know that you need help. It is your responsibility to contact me prior to a scheduled conflict or as soon as reasonably possible following an emergency. The earlier I am notified, the easier it will be for me to accommodate your request.
You are all adults and in full control of your education. I will give you the tools to succeed via practice assignments, documents and announcements on Carmen, and time in class to ask questions. If something is still confusing, students are encouraged to ask additional questions before, during, or after lecture, in recitation, during office hours, and/or via email.
Students are expected to take ownership of their education and actively participate in their learning and growth.
Questions at all times are both welcomed and highly encouraged. Although I can’t promise that I will always know the answer, I do promise to do one of the following:
First Monday of the semester: (week dates below are calculated from this anchor)
| Wk | Mon. | Covered | Unit | Chapter / Comment |
|---|
Rows shown with — (em dash) for week number indicate chapters covered between exam weeks.
Biology, as with any area of study, comes with its share of relevant terms. In this course we will be explicitly familiarizing ourselves with these terms, and will strive to do so prior to or in association with reading the text, viewing lectures, and attending class. These vocabulary words will be presented in this course in a number of different ways including within your textbook, in the guise of online practice quizzes, and on various quizzes and exams. For quizzes and exams you will be required to provide a term in response to a provided question where generally these questions will be term definitions.
It cannot be stressed too strongly that the definitions to these vocabulary words are exam questions that have been provided to you in advance. As such, their purpose is not to make your life easier but instead to challenge you to learn and otherwise come to understand the terms. If the definitions force you to think about the term in the course of their memorization, then the definitions are serving their intended purpose. On the other hand, if you have any questions about any of these terms or definitions, please just ask, in class or at any time.
Lecture-based quizzes take place online but during class periods. Cumulatively, they are worth the same as all exam grades — 15 lecture quizzes vs. 5 exams, each category cumulatively worth 375 points on a 1000-point scale. Your lowest quiz score (of the 15 taken over the semester) is dropped, so your quiz grade is based on 14 quizzes rather than 15. Each quiz can be taken more than once during designated periods, including during normal classroom periods. All lecture-based quizzes (and only lecture-based quizzes) are open in your own hand-written notes.
For-credit vocabulary quizzes take place online but during class periods and are cumulatively worth 100 points on a 1000-point scale. When they count, that 100 points comes out of exams and lecture quizzes — each drops from 375 to 325 — so the course still totals 1000 points and the laboratory portion stays at 250 (25%) either way. Your lowest vocabulary quiz score (of up to 15 taken over the semester) is dropped. These in-class vocabulary quizzes only count toward your grade if your overall class grade is less than a B or if these quizzes help your overall grade. I want students who are earning a B or higher to not have to worry about these in-class vocabulary quizzes. Conversely, I want students who are struggling to very much worry about them.
Vocabulary quizzes require short answers. You will be provided 10 randomly generated quiz questions, all identical to the definitions described in your online practice quizzes:
Spelling matters in these quizzes — your best score is counted. (If definitions or answers are not identical to how you learned them, please let me know.) These vocabulary quizzes should be taken without notes or other materials — answers should be purely memory-based. Extra-credit vocabulary quizzes are worth up to a 5% addition to your final grade (50 points on a 1000-point scale).
Grade weighting summary:
Dropping of Lowest Grades
For all assessments except for exams, the lowest grade for an assessment for the semester will be dropped when calculating your final grade for the term. To reiterate, this dropping of the lowest grade does not apply to exam grades — all exams will be counted in calculating your final grade, no matter what.
Lecture quizzes cover lecture material — both online lecture videos and videos shown when we meet. If you answer correctly 6 of 9 available questions, you earn a 100% on a quiz. If you answer additional questions correctly, you earn additional points (e.g., to offset poor performance or missing lecture quizzes over different chapters).
Each lecture quiz can be taken more than once, though all points are available only for your first retry. Your highest score on a quiz is the one that counts. Altogether, lecture quizzes are worth 50% of your grade in raw points, with a maximum of 100% available toward your overall grade.
Synopsis:
How to Study for Open-Note or Open-Text Exams or Quizzes
Generally what I am looking for when an assessment is open text or open note is that, at a minimum, you have read through or watched the material that will be covered, have taken good notes, and then have read over those notes reasonably closely prior to taking the exam or quiz. Motivating your taking these steps is why an assessment is open text or notes. The goal is to know the material in the book or your notes well enough that you not only are prompted by questions toward what might be their answers, but also that you know where to look in your text or notes for the answer when needed.
YouTube videos on taking open-text exams:
In giving open-note or open-text assessments, I am trying to reduce the amount of effort you will need to put into studying. Nevertheless, that effort is not expected to be reduced to near zero. If you find yourself receiving grades lower than you would desire, you should be thinking strongly about changing or improving your studying approach — which, of course, goes for any form of assessment and indeed any life challenge.
There will be five exams, each worth one-fifth of 375 (on a 1000-point scale), or 75 points each. By contrast, each lecture quiz is worth 26.8 points — but 14 lecture quizzes are counted per term vs. only 5 exams.
Exam structure (each exam will follow a formula like this):
For-credit vocabulary quizzes will be worth ~10% of your grade — with the exception that if you have a B or higher grade without them and they otherwise hurt your grade, they won’t count against you.
Retakes: Exams can be retaken multiple times, but only up to one time with full points available. Generally exams will be available for taking over the course of only a single week. Extensions can be available if not excessive.
Questions Concerning Grading of Course Materials
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the grading of any of the exams or quizzes offered in this course, you must submit them to Dr. Abedon within one week from the time that you have had the opportunity to view the graded material.
You must address all the concerns regarding the final exam before the final grade is posted on Carmen. Once the final grade is posted, no questions from the final will be addressed.
Please see me during office hours if you have any questions about the grading of your exam.
The final exam is non-comprehensive and is just the fifth midterm of the semester.
Times, places, and dates to be announced.
Most aspects of exams and for-credit quizzes can be retaken up to once for full credit, and ideally are taken and retaken in a timely manner — during the week a chapter is covered or soon after an exam was first taken, rather than waiting until the end of the semester. Retaking exams or for-credit quizzes more than once is possible, but available points are reduced by 10% for each additional retaking beyond the first.
Occasionally reopening extra-credit vocabulary quizzes may be permissible. However, if there is a pattern of reopening requests, such requests may not be honored — particularly past when material has already been covered on exams (e.g., reopening chapter 3 quizzes after the chapter 3 exam) or where requests are made en masse (e.g., “Please reopen quizzes covering chapters 3 through 9”).
To take advantage of penalty-free retaking, you must take exams and quizzes when they are scheduled. This rule can be waived for valid, especially medical excuses (going on vacations is not a valid excuse!). Otherwise, the 10% reduction for each additional retaking will be applied starting with the first retaking.
Synopsis:
General Overview
When taking exams and quizzes on computers and other devices (using Carmen), you must not orient those devices in such a way as to obscure the ability of your instructor to view what is on your screens.
Exams and quizzes will be time-limited and will not be group efforts. You are expected to not consult with others during the taking of quizzes or exams.
Generally, time devoted exclusively to conducting exams will be until approximately 45 minutes after the start of class periods. Taking additional time within scheduled periods may be permissible, but if additional activities are scheduled during the same period, those may be initiated by the rest of the class prior to your completion of the exam. The 45-minute clock starts when the class as a whole begins the exam, not when individuals arrive. Lectures will begin at about 11:30.
Students with excusable conflicts need to contact Dr. Abedon at least one week ahead of exams. If you miss an exam with a valid excuse, you must contact Dr. Abedon and provide written documentation in order to be eligible for a make-up exam. The format of the make-up exam may differ from the regular exam.
Online vocabulary quizzes represent individually randomized sorts of terms, and will likely differ between offerings in their randomization. Vocabulary portions of exams similarly consist in part of randomized quiz-like questions.
Exam & Quiz Copying Policy
Quizzes and exams, unless posted by your instructor online or otherwise explicitly excepted, must not leave the classroom — either before, during, or after that material has been used or graded. This means that neither quizzes nor exams may be photographed or screen-captured, before, during, or after they have been taken. At the instructor’s discretion, a grade of zero will be awarded should a student remove that material from the classroom or otherwise photograph or screen-copy a quiz or exam.
Electronic equipment may not be used during exams or quizzes except as directed by the Office for Disability Services, or for the purpose of taking Carmen-based assessments. Under no circumstances may notes or anything other than your brain, your instructor, or a non-programmable calculator be consulted during exams, unless your instructor explicitly indicates that their use is permissible (e.g., self-generated, on-paper notes for taking a Carmen-based lecture quiz).
If an electronic device must be employed for class-unrelated reasons (such as a perceived emergency), permission must be sought prior to its use. If a device communicates with the outside world on its own accord and information is posted on the device, that information must not be consulted — visually, auditorily, or by any other means — except with permission given an emergency situation.
If a timely and important communication is expected during an exam or quiz, please let your instructor know in advance. Simply communicating for the sake of communication during exams or quizzes will not be considered timely or important, and must be avoided.
Synopsis:
Generally labs will consist of an introductory lecture, introductory videos, and then laboratory exercises and observations. Grading will be based on quizzes on laboratory material or hand-ins, depending on the lab.
Laboratory exercises and quizzes are provided through Carmen.
Attendance from start to finish of laboratories is expected. Once you have conscientiously completed the required work, however, you can leave. Showing up substantially late, leaving substantially early, or missing labs entirely will require officially documented excuses.
In my experience, for the vast majority of students this will not be an issue. But for those few who for whatever reason tend to make “blowing off” lab a habit, in fact this can be an issue.
Carmen is used extensively. Materials will be provided as PDFs, websites, and online videos. The standard OSU grading scheme is employed to convert percentage grades to letter grades.
For help with your password, university e-mail, Carmen, or any other technology issues, questions, or requests, contact the OSU IT Service Desk. Standard support hours are available at ocio.osu.edu/help/hours ↗, and support for urgent issues is available 24/7. Support can also be obtained on specific computer-related questions at the technology help desk in the Bromfield Information Commons.
Basic Technical Skills Necessary for the Course:
For help with YouTube, use the YouTube Help Center ↗.
If you feel that there was a problem with anything, contact me so that I might modify things as appropriate. If you notice anything that doesn’t seem quite right — such as miswritten questions or Carmen answers that don’t work as expected — please let me know!
Alternative instructional methods if in-person meetings are not possible
In cases where otherwise normal, in-person class meetings are not possible (e.g., inclement weather, instructor illness, travel commitments, or other reasons), alternative means of class presentation or interaction may be implemented — such as Zoom sessions, videos (including recordings of Zoom sessions), or other materials provided instead. These would be equivalent to the class or laboratory time that otherwise would be missed. Responsibility for participation in these class-meeting alternatives is equivalent to responsibility for participation in class meetings. This policy does not apply to class meetings missed due to university holidays.
Biology 1101 is a four-credit-hour course. Traditionally, three of those credit hours are associated with the lecture portion of the class and one is assigned to the lab portion. In terms of time spent, three credit hours are devoted per week to lectures while another three or so hours are devoted to the lab — a total of approximately six in-class or in-lab 55-minute hours per week, plus outside-of-the-classroom reading.
Online lecture videos are of your instructor lecturing, and include figures derived from your textbook. These are figures, as explicitly indicated within the videos, that you will be held responsible for on exams. Effort will be made during lectures to point out which figures in fact may be found on exams — though these cues are not always obvious if one simply skims through online videos rather than taking the time to watch them. Figures, though without associated questions, can for the most part also be found in the long version of your textbook.
Lecture quizzes will last no more than 10 minutes. While taking these quizzes you will be allowed to consult your own self-generated, on-paper notes but no other material. (Any photocopied notes will be checked by your instructor to assure that they nevertheless are based on your own handwriting.)
The pedagogical goal of these quizzes is to provide incentive to attend class and/or watch online lectures — and to take good notes while doing so. Given that you will have the opportunity to take these quizzes while consulting your notes, I will gain a sense from the resulting grades just how much effort individuals are putting into learning biology while attending or watching lectures.
There are a number of YouTube videos or playlists that correspond to individual chapters. Each video or video playlist represents a portion or an entirety of lectures, which in turn represent mandatory viewing for a given chapter. Watching these videos is one means by which you will be learning the material presented in this course, in addition to reading your textbook. These videos also — and not coincidentally — form the basis of lecture-based quizzes.
Each chapter below links to its YouTube playlist and the corresponding textbook section on biologyaspoetry.com:
Having problems with playing videos?
These videos are found on YouTube. If you are having technical difficulties watching them, the problem likely lies with YouTube or your ability to access YouTube. As a positive control: if you can’t access a video associated with this course, see whether you can view other, unrelated YouTube videos as well as other videos from this course — this helps determine whether the issue is with your access to YouTube generally or to a specific video.
Help is available on campus for solving computer problems. Help for configuring your portable devices is available in the Bromfield Library and Information Commons between 10:00 and 2:00 most days, Monday through Friday.
If the problem is the actual video, then please please please let me know! When you contact me, please indicate which specific video has the issue and what the issue is — otherwise I’ll likely have to ask you these questions anyway. There are several ways to identify a video URL ↗: copy what’s in your browser’s address bar, right-click the link you’re using and select “Copy link address” (or equivalent), or use the YouTube Share function.
Zoom sessions ideally will be accessed through Carmen. If you are not already logged into Carmen Zoom, it will ask you to log in.
Folks may accidentally add their user name and password on this first screen — don’t do that. Instead, follow these steps:
osu.zoom.us.This section will contain OSU’s standard syllabus boilerplate, updated yearly. Content to be added.
Ohio State’s Academic Integrity Policy
Academic integrity is essential to maintaining an environment that fosters excellence in teaching, research, and other educational and scholarly activities. The Ohio State University and the Committee on Academic Misconduct (COAM) expect that all students have read and understand the University’s Code of Student Conduct, and that all students will complete all academic and scholarly assignments with fairness and honesty. Students must recognize that failure to follow the rules and guidelines established in the Code of Student Conduct and this syllabus may constitute “Academic Misconduct.”
The Ohio State University’s Code of Student Conduct (Section 3335-23-04) defines academic misconduct as: “Any activity that tends to compromise the academic integrity of the University, or subvert the educational process.” Examples of academic misconduct include (but are not limited to) plagiarism, collusion (unauthorized collaboration), copying the work of another student, and possession of unauthorized materials during an examination. Ignorance of the Code of Student Conduct is never considered an excuse for academic misconduct — please review it, and specifically the sections dealing with academic misconduct.
It is the responsibility of the Committee on Academic Misconduct to investigate or establish procedures for the investigation of all reported cases of student academic misconduct. The term “academic misconduct” includes all forms of student academic misconduct wherever committed — illustrated by, but not limited to, cases of plagiarism and dishonest practices in connection with examinations. Instructors shall report all instances of alleged academic misconduct to the committee (Faculty Rule 3335-5-487). For additional information, see the Code of Student Conduct ↗.
If COAM determines that you have violated the University’s Code of Student Conduct (i.e., committed academic misconduct), the sanctions for the misconduct could include a failing grade in this course and suspension or dismissal from the University.
If you have any questions about the above policy or what constitutes academic misconduct in this course, please contact me.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The OSU Committee on Academic Misconduct has provided the following policy on the use of AI by students in academic courses:
“All students have important obligations under the Code of Student Conduct ↗ to complete all academic and scholarly activities with fairness and honesty. Our professional students also have the responsibility to uphold the professional and ethical standards found in their respective academic honor codes. Specifically, students are not to use ‘unauthorized assistance in the laboratory, on field work, in scholarship or on a course assignment’ unless such assistance has been authorized specifically by the course instructor. In addition, students are not to submit their work without acknowledging any word-for-word use and/or paraphrasing of writing, ideas or other work that is not your own. These requirements apply to all students — undergraduate, graduate, and professional.”
[Aside — this is a quotation from the University, so don’t blame me for any quotation-mark errors. 😉]
“To maintain a culture of integrity and respect, these generative AI tools should not be used in the completion of course assignments unless an instructor for a given course specifically authorizes their use. Some instructors may approve of using generative AI tools in the academic setting for specific goals. However, these tools should be used only with the explicit and clear permission of each individual instructor, and then only in the ways allowed by the instructor.”
Copyright Disclaimer
The materials used in connection with this course may be subject to copyright protection and are only for the use of students officially enrolled in the course for the educational purposes associated with the course. Copyright law must be considered before copying, retaining, or disseminating materials outside of the course.
For this course, you will be responsible for material presented in lectures and the corresponding reading assignments in the textbook and other outside sources. Many effective learning strategies can be employed toward learning this material:
The following was inspired by and is a partial paraphrasing of this article: community.chronicle.com/news/1657-claiming-your-right-to-say-no ↗[1]
The course of your college career might eventually involve asking professors to recommend you for graduate programs, jobs, or internships. Please be aware, however, that professors are not obligated to write references for any student. Ideally reference letters will be written only for students for whom one can be written that is very positive and specific.
Therefore, your job as a college student who might eventually need such a letter is to become the kind of student professors can rave about in recommendations — hardworking, collegial, and intellectually inquisitive and honest. Consider maintaining relationships over time with professors, so that they know you well enough to write for you. Many juniors and seniors tell the cited author that they wish they had thought about this during their first year.
The author goes on to note: “Students are surprised but pleased to read that passage — especially since many admit they’d never thought about the issue before. Gently, the statement guides them away from grade anxiety and toward good study habits that are within everyone’s grasp. The policy reminds them that those behaviors can have long-term rewards. As faculty, we’re always teaching life skills — directly and indirectly — alongside our subject matter. Being reminded of what’s at stake beyond just a grade for the course helps students take responsibility for learning these things themselves.”
To which I will add — it always pays, at least in my case, to:
Oh yes, and no, the above advice I wasn’t at all aware of either explicitly or implicitly when I was a student…
[1] This article unfortunately no longer exists, as the entire section it was a part of was deleted by/from The Chronicle of Higher Education online.
Everything for the semester, week by week — readings, laboratories, prelabs, practice tools, and the Carmen quizzes and exams. The same material is in the Class Schedule Table on Carmen; this view groups it by what each item actually is so it is easier to find what you need.
To share one week, use the 🔗 beside that week’s heading: it copies a web address that opens this page at that week. The 🔗 beside any other heading on the page does the same for that section.
Carmen cannot correctly calculate your grade in courses with extra credit categories. Use this calculator instead. First, select your class on the Class tab. Then save your Carmen grades page as a file and drop it into the Calculator tab. Here is how to do that on different browsers and devices.
🔒 Privacy: Your file is read entirely within your browser. No data of any kind leaves your computer.
Option A — Save as HTML (recommended):
Option B — Print to PDF:
Important: You must use Carmen in a web browser (Chrome, Safari, or Firefox) — not the Canvas app.
Saving an HTML file from a mobile browser is difficult. If you only have a phone or tablet, open Carmen in your mobile browser, scroll to the very bottom of your grades page, and enter your category percentages manually in the Calculator tab (see below).
If you prefer to enter grades manually, scroll to the very bottom of your Carmen grades page in a web browser. You will see a summary table listing each grade category. Look for these rows and enter the percentage shown into the corresponding field, as located there in the second column. Leave any field blank if that category has no grades yet.
After selecting your class on the Class tab, the Calculator tab shows the correct fields with the Carmen category name underneath each label for easy matching.
This tab displays grades from any Canvas course — not just the courses supported by this calculator. Save your Canvas grades page as an HTML file (see the How To tab for instructions) and drop it below. Your grades will be displayed grouped by category and sorted by due date, with missing and zero scores highlighted in red. No grade correction is applied — scores are shown exactly as Canvas reports them.
Drop any Canvas grades file here
or click to browse · HTML recommended (Ctrl+S / Cmd+S in Chrome)
🔒 Your file is read entirely within your browser. No data leaves your computer.
Carmen cannot correctly calculate your overall course grade when grade categories involve extra credit — meaning the maximum possible points in a category exceeds its nominal contribution toward your total of 1000 points. Carmen does not handle this well, particularly for quizzes taken through the Carmen app, and as a result the percentage Carmen shows for your overall grade can be misleading.
This calculator corrects for those issues by using the raw category percentages that Carmen does report accurately, and applying the proper point weights for each category.
The Micro 4000.2 grade is based on 1000 total points. Several categories have extra credit built in. The lowest grade in each quiz category is automatically dropped by Carmen:
Carmen cannot correctly calculate your overall course grade when grade categories involve extra credit — meaning the maximum possible points in a category exceeds its nominal contribution toward your total of 1000 points. Carmen does not handle this well, and as a result the percentage Carmen shows for your overall grade can be misleading.
The Hist/Pharm 3708 grade is based on 1000 total points:
For all categories except Voluntary Quizzes, a weighted average is computed using only the categories that have grades entered. That weighted average is then normalized to account for however many categories have been graded so far, so the calculator gives a meaningful interim result even early in the semester. The Voluntary Quiz extra credit is then added on top of that normalized average.
Letter grades follow the standard OSU scale:
This tab shows every graded item for your class. Missing grades are shown in red; zero scores are shown in red. The lowest score in each quiz category is automatically excluded from the average by Carmen — it is shown struck through in the ledger. Scores with the same tied-low value are highlighted in purple. Exam scores are not dropped. Changing any score recalculates the grade live, and scores can be modified for real by retaking assessments, which can be done without penalty (only your highest score is counted). Missing scores are excluded from the category average (matching Carmen’s behavior).