Here are the descriptive statistics for the grade distributions for the final exam and the course overall:
|
Course |
Final Exam |
|
|
mean |
89.87 |
93.16 |
|
standard deviation |
8.43 |
11.92 |
|
25th percentile |
85.64 |
90 |
|
50th percentile |
92.18 |
100 |
|
75th percentile |
95.68 |
100 |
|
minimum |
66.33 |
53.33 |
|
maximum |
103.45 |
100 |
|
range |
37.12 |
46.67 |
As noted in the syllabus, the final course grade is determined according to the following equation (see http://economics.garven.com/syllabus.htm):
Final Grade = .30(Problem Sets) + .30(Midterm Exam) + .40(Final Exam).
Besides listing mean and standard deviation, each column in the table above also indicates quartiles (i.e., the 25th percentile, the 50th percentile (i.e., the “median”), and the 75th percentile) in addition to the minimum and maximum values for each variable. The average grade on the final exam was 93.16; the average grade in the course overall currently stands at 89.87. The combined effects of a high average grade on the final exam along with its 40% weighting in the overall course grade equation caused the average course grade to increase by more than 4 points, going from 85.63 right after the midterm exam (see http://bit.ly/6OVl9t) to 89.87 at the end of the course.
Next, let me translate these data into letter grades for you. The final grade curve for the course is as follows:
|
Final Letter Grade |
Minimum Numeric Course Grade |
|
A |
96 |
|
A- |
91 |
|
B+ |
88 |
|
B |
84 |
|
B- |
81 |
|
C+ |
75 |
|
C |
66 |
The application of this curve results in a class GPA of 3.46, including 10 A’s, 13 A-‘s, 4 B+’s, 5 B’s, 2 B-‘s, 3 C+’s, and 2 C’s (note that A = 4 grade points, A- = 3.75 grade points, B+ = 3.5 grade points, B = 3 grade points, B- = 2.75 grade points, and C+ = 2.5 grade points). I have posted all of these grade results to Blackboard, so if you login there, you’ll be able to see the final letter grade that you earned in ECO 5315. Anyway, merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone!
