Exam Grading In grading the exam, do you use an analytic or a holistic scoring scheme (assigning points for individual steps or overall "level" of solution)? Do students start at 0 points and earn points for correct statements or do they start at 100% and lose points for mistakes? Do you give partial credit for answers and if so, how do you assign partial credit? Do you have an expected "average" score on the exam for each class? Do you "curve" exam scores?
Do you use a straight total or percentage correct to be added to other points in the course to contribute towards a total grade, or do you give a grade to each exam?

In assigning course grades, do you "curve" student scores? Based on what mechanisms?

My scoring system is a mixture of analytic and holistic. Most of the problems are graded fairly analytically as I decide how many points certain errors deduct. On some problems I am more holistic as I categorize the answers into different point levels. On larger problems, the points are broken down into separate pieces, though I am careful to allow students to "carry-through" an error and not mark them off repeatedly for what is really just one mistake. More conceptual problems are often 3 or 4 points. Students typically receive half the points with a reasonable but incorrect attempt and then say 3 of 4 points if they have some correct understanding but have missed a key aspect of the problem.

When I am done, I hope for an average of around 80 percentage points. With the amount of partial credit I give, if a student answers every question incorrectly, that is 50%. Students need to leave several questions blank to score below 50%. If the average is around .80, I do not do any curving or adjusting. If it is a little lower, I focus on the overall course average being around .80. Rarely does the average score fall below that, but then in that case I might make some adjustments when it comes to assigning the final course letter grades (instead of adjusting the individual assessment components). When the average is around 80%, then I assign the letter grades following the 50/60/70/80/90 breakdown, including plus and minus grades.