Exams, Coursework, & Grading

Compiled by Tina Starr, Senior Instructor of Management. If you have additional questions, please email Tina at tstarr@uoregon.edu, she will be happy to help!

Exam photocopies – send exam to Faculty Support email lcbfacsupport1@uorefgon.edu , tell them how many students, number of double-sided photocopies needed and due date you need it by (please give them at least a couple of days notice), they will charge the instructor exam index number for cost of printing.

Scantron exams – Lundquist has an in-house Scantron machine. Blank scantrons are located in the mailroom (Lillis 366). Please submit Scantron grading requests using this Scantron Processing Request form

Make-up exams – there may come a time when a student legitimately must miss an exam due to sickness or some other event. To set a proctored make-up for them, obtain the students schedule and then submit an Exam Proctoring Request. 

Student coursework and exam retention - keep all student coursework and exams for at least one term, preferably the entire AY. This is in case a student wants to appeal a final grade or an assignment grade, which does happen from time to time. You could then show the quality of the students work and also be in a position to compare their work across the class for purposes of equity and supporting your grading rationale. 

After calculating final letter grades, please check your class GPA before releasing final grades to students or to the registrar’s office (on Duckweb)  to make sure they fall within the guidelines for average class GPA’s below.

Class GPA’s are computed by multiplying the number A’, B’s, C, etc… For example, consider a class with 40 students with the following grades: 8 A’s (all A’s regardless of minus or plus or in-between), 14 B’s (All B’s regardless etc…), 16 C,’s (All C’s regardless…) and 2 D’s (All D’s regardless….).

Hence, the calculation is [(8 X 4.0) + (14 X 3.0) + (16 X 2.0) + (2 X 1.0)] / 40 = (32 + 42 + 32+ 2) / 40 = 2.70GPA. You can see how a class GPA can result from many distributions of many grades. There is no quota on the number of A’s and B’s. Grade distributions in the vast majority of classes tend to fit within the grade point averages listed below.

Final Grades

In Duckweb, to enter final grades at the end of the term, look under Faculty Menu, Course Administration Center. This is where you can enter and/or change a grade at the end of each term. Enter each grade, but be sure you save each page before moving on to the next. (there is also a slide deck that shows how to do this). Once you have finished, it’s up to you when you wish to submit your completed grade/class roster, though there is a final due date in the UO calendar for each term. I usually submit the end of finals week because once you submit the grades to the registrar, students will receive them usually within 48 hours or less.   

Grade Disclaimer and Absolute Grading Criteria

This is optional for you to use. Personally I put this scale in my syllabus and on Canvas at the start of each term of every class to give students a heads-up about the range of letter grades and percentages I will be using for their assignments and ultimately final grade in my classes. I have found that this helps prevent expectations of a ‘curving’ criteria or anything else like that– it doesn’t mean that I don’t or won’t curve at times (my choice), but it lets them know that I expect them to work hard for their grades without the promise of a curve – my reverse psychology if you will. Feel free to use!

“Your overall grade will be determined by your performance on all assignments and final letter grades  typically uses the traditional grading scale, and there is no need to do any final curve. I do, however, retain the right to amend this scale for the student’s benefit.

Please pay particular attention to the assignments and grading for each assignment. There are no "do-overs" nor will an “incomplete” grade nor an extra credit assignment will be given as a remedy for a poor grade on any assignment or exam."

Discussing grades with students/class! After every assignment and exam, it’s a good idea to discuss either generally or more specifically depending on your level of comfort, scores and overall class gpa for an assignment in class as part of a discussion to let them know in advance of posting grades. I find it eases the shock (both good and bad) for all students as they appreciate hearing your feedback, hints on how to do better, what was considered excellent work and why, and highlight whatever you feel is important for them to know as a group, i.e. correlation between attendance and grades! It’s a good time to remind them of your office hours to go over individual exams or coursework one-on-one. As a rule, I do not bring exams to class to hand out – it is time consuming, it becomes competitive and everyone has multiple questions – too many to use up an entire class session for usually. Other assignments or group assignments, I to hand back in class though. Also as a rule, I will not answer questions about exam scores in emails – if students truly care, they will make the time to come see their exam and discuss with you, email is not a good medium for grade discussions (that tend to be grade negotiations in the end!).

Please be aware that any discussion with a student about a poor assignment, score or grade can be a very big deal for a student, regardless of whether it’s an A or a D for that matter. Help them to understand why they received the grade they did, explain the grading and expectations of the assignment, but also remember the onus for their grade (good or bad) is upon them.