PSY101 Exam 1 Grades

The exams had curved scores (with a 3% curve and attendance bonus added) ranging from 6-106% (from worse than chance to perfect), with a mean of 68.3% (a D+) and a standard deviation of 17.5%.  

The histogram at right shows that the grades were approximately normal. 

I would like to make 5 points:

    First, great job overall!  The first exam is often the roughest, and as a group you managed to do pretty well.  I'm also impressed that more than 90% of you took the exam, which is fantastic.

    Second, attendance overall was reasonable, and those who attended got a "doubly good" bonus.  That is, in addition to getting the attendance bonus, those folks who attended class regularly did, on average, about 6% better than those who attended infrequently.  Then, they got the attendance bonus on top of that - making it about a full letter grade difference.  Although I can't prove causation from correlation, I strongly suggest you attend class regularly.

NOTE:  If you don't see credit for an attendance bonus, please come to a TA office hour as described below.  

    Third, I probably should not have curved, but I did anyway.  The statistics I got back with the exam show that my questions had good reliability and discrimination attributes, key components of a good exam.  Still, I curved the exam 3 percentage points.

    Fourth, now is a time for evaluation.  Many people did well on the exam - in fact, 1 in 25 students got 100% or better!  Congratulations!!! 
    However, plenty of people failed the exam.  If you failed because you weren't really prepared, that's understandable -- now you know how much you'll have to prepare for the remaining exams.  If you failed despite thinking you were well-prepared, then you need to do one of two things:  1)  Figure out how you're going to change things to improve, and stick with that plan, or 2)  Resign from the course.  Resigning may be especially appropriate for anyone who failed the exam and has not yet completed any research credits or web quizzes.

    Fifth, you can (and should) review your exam during a TA office hour, starting Wednesday.  If you have any question or concern about your exam, attendance bonus (about 30 people gave an incorrect person numbers so did not receive credit for one of the bonuses), or you just want to review your exam, you can do so during any of the TA office hours, beginning Thursday, Feb 29, and ending Friday, March 9.  I will not have the exams and extra credit info in my office hours simply to ensure that there is time for me to deal with more pressing student issues. Do not email us about exam or attendance questions; these should be addressed in person.

OK, now to the grades...

Individual grades are in the table below.  Note that person numbers have the first 2 digits removed, so the grades are sorted by the last 6 digits of your student number (LAST6ID). Raw scores are out of 35 (EXAM1RAW). Curved scores (EXAM1CUR) are out of 100 and have 3% added in due to the curve for everyone and the attendance bonus of 0-3% for coming to class.  EXAM1CUR is what your letter grade, in the last column, is based on.

NOTE THAT EXAM1CUR = (2.86*exam1raw) + 3 curve points + e1bonus.

To find your score quickly on a PC, hit CTRL-F, enter the last 6 digits of your student number, and click Find Next.

Most students who do not find their numbers are not searching correctly and should try again.  A few students who too the exam actually haven't had their exams scored yet because they failed to put their form number or person number on their exam.  These folks should stop by one of the TA office hours to figure out the missing information and have their exams scored by hand.