• Grading Policies

    AP Physics C follows the district grading policy for converting overall percentage into final grades:

    90-100% = A

    80-89% = B

    70-79% = C

    60-69% = D

    0-59% = F

     

    Final grades will be rounded up from the final calculated grade if the student is within 0.5% of the next grade level.  For example, a 79.50% will be rounded up to an 80.00% B.  However, a 79.49% will not.

     

    Grading is divided into the following categories:

    Tests and Quizzes 65%

    Labs 15%

    Homework 12%

    Discussion 8%

     

    Tests

    Tests will follow the format of the AP Physics C test and will be comprised of both multiple choice and free response questions.

     

    multiple choice

    Multiple choice questions have four answer choices.  During the mechanics portion of the course, many questions will be reminiscent of those from AP Physics 1, since that is what students can expect on the actual AP Physics C exam.  Students will have 22 minutes to complete 12 questions.

     

    free response

    Free response questions are scored almost entirely on the work shown or explanation given.  The free response in AP Physics C often contains some of the newer concepts not covered in AP Physics 1.

    Tests are scaled to 100 points each with 50% of the score determined by the multiple choice and 50% determined by the free response.

    There are no retakes for tests.

    There are no test corrections.

     

    Tests will consist of AP level difficulty questions and will therefore use the AP Physics 1 curve to adjust the score.  The exact formula is somewhat technical but the cut-off conversions are as follows:

     
    Raw Score*      Converted Score
    80%                   100%
    70%                     93%
    55%                     83%
    42%                     73%
    30%                     63%
    25%                     53%
     
     * The table above is suggested cut-offs only and is subject to change in accordance with the periodically changing cut-offs used by the AP College board.
     
     
    Labs

     

    The quantity, and time spent on labs is similar to AP Physics 1, but the workload is significantly reduced.  The student is expected to already know many of the lab concepts tied to labs and thus, those elements are removed from the lab report.  This includes, but is not limited to: writing procedures, physical meaning of slope, and detailed error analysis.

     

    Labs are 25 points each and are graded in accordance with the lab rubric.  


    There is no credit for late labs.  If the lab is partially complete, turn in the part completed to receive a partial score in accordance with the rubric.

     

    Labs must be done by hand in the mandated lab book.  This must be your personal lab book.  Both pencil and pen is acceptable, but pen is recommended as it will show up better on the carbon copy.  Additionally, erasing does no good in the lab notebook, only making an illegible smear on the carbon copy.

     
     

    Homework

     

    The style of homework is the same as AP Physics 1, but the workload is slightly increased.  This increase in homework workload is mostly during first semester as me move at a very high speed through mechanics given that 90% of the course is review.  While there is an increase in the number of problems/week, the students should be able to move quickly through them given that all of the content is at least partial, if not full review.  The problems/week decreases during the electricity half of the course so students can move slower through the new content.

     

    Standard homework may be assigned in two ways:

    1) Worksheet

     

     

    Worksheets are worth 5-points each and are graded based on the following:

    ·        Worksheets

    A worksheet assignment usually consists of 5-8 problems. Worksheets are graded on percent complete:

                    90-100%- 5

                    80-90%- 4

                    60-80%- 3

                    30-60%- 2

                    10-30%- 1

                    0-10%- 0

     

    To earn credit, the worksheet must show a good attempt. A “good attempt” is defined as meeting the following criteria:

    (1) Each attempt shows through the writing on the page that an effort was made to research for any problem the student did not know how to solve.

    (2) There is enough work for each problem to show the progression to either the right or wrong answer.

    Worksheets can be submitted as completed print-outs or can be done downloaded and completed with a stylus, then shown for credit. 

     

    • UT Online Assignment

    Being that these are multi-week assignments that are intended to be done piece-wise over those multiple weeks, this should not pose a problem for any students other than those who wait until the last opportunity to complete the assignment.  

     

    Numeric questions using web submission:

    For more than one try, the full credit score is multiplied by 0.93 ^ (t - 1), where "t" is the number of tries that you use, and the "^" is notation for "to the power of." (Note: 0.93 ^ 0 = 1.)

    Homework grades are scaled to reflect each homework as a  30 pt assignment.

    200 pt assignment (UT grading scale):

     
    These assignments are usually tuned to a difficulty level of 60% success of ALL students from ALL institutions attempting these problems.  For our purposes, the "average" score of 60% is returned to an 90% (A-) by multiplying the student scores by a factor of x1.3.  This allows maintaining the difficulty level of the questions without it unfairly plummeting a student's grade in the homework category. This only applies to students who attempt all problems.  Students who leave questions unanswered will NOT receive the "factoring" bonus.  This prevents students from obtaining a score of 100 and then opting out of the remaining problems.
     
    Class score is determined by dividing the UT score (max 200), dividing by 10, and rounding down to the nearest whole number.  The maximum score is a 20.  The scores are then scaled up in value to create more weight:
     
    20 = 30
    19 = 29
    18 = 27
    17 = 26
    16 = 24
    15 = 23
    14 = 21
    ...and so on
     
    For example, a student who receives a UT score of 187 out of 200 will have their score multiplied by 1.3, divided by 10, and rounded down; thus receiving a 24.  However, because the maximum score is a 20, the student will receive a 20, which then scales to a 30/30.
     
    In another example, a student receives a 100 out of 200, but does not attempt the last 2 problems.  This student will have their raw score divided by 10, thus receiving a 10, which scales to a 15/30.
     
    Lastly, a student receives a score of 27 out of 200, and attempts all problems.  This student will receive a 3, scaling to a 5/30.