Grading on a line: Converting percentages to the UW ...

Grading on a line:

Converting percentages to the UW grading scale

Sharon Hargus and Laurie Poulson

Nothing is as traumatic and anxiety-provoking as grading, for instructors and students alike. Some of the anxiety (for both parties) may be alleved by having a clear idea of how final grades are going to be figured out and then communicating this information to students well before the first grade is calculated. Part of planning to teach a course should therefore include figuring out the grading scheme before the quarter starts. This information can then be put on the syllabus so students know what to expect.

Grading in the Department of Linguistics

In the Department of Linguistics, many instructors assign a certain number of points to different forms of assessments (homework, exams, term paper, etc.), then as a penultimate step in the grading process, calculate a percentage for each student relative to a Perfect Student who got 100% correct on all assignments. The ultimate step is to convert the percentage correct to the UW grading scale. For that last step, many instructors in the Department of Linguistics use the following linear conversion scale:

95% = 4.0

88 = 3.3

81 = 2.6

74 = 1.9

67 = 1.2

94 = 3.9

87 = 3.2

80 = 2.5

73 = 1.8

66 = 1.1

93 = 3.8

86 = 3.1

79 = 2.4

72 = 1.7

65 = 1.0

92 = 3.7

85 = 3.0

78 = 2.3

71 = 1.6

64 = .9

91 = 3.6

84 = 2.9

77 = 2.2

70 = 1.5

63 = .8

90 = 3.5

83 = 2.8

76 = 2.1

69 = 1.4

62 = .7

89 = 3.4

82 = 2.7

75 = 2.0

68 = 1.3

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