Anyone take TESC SOS-110 ?

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I'm wondering how the grading the writing assignment work. The assignments are only worth 10 points and I don't understand why they would make it so few points. Does this really mean that if you make a mistake, your grade for the assignment drops by a minimum of 10%? That doesn't seem to be very flexible grading. I'm still waiting for my first assignment to get graded and its really going to suck if I can't get an A in this class.

[sanantone]

Your overall grade is based on a 100-point system. Each writing assignment gives you 10 points. If you make an "A" on all of the writing assignments, then you will automatically have 70 points because there are 7 writing assignments. There rest of your points will come from the online discussions, SkillsTutor, and SAILS test. Let's say you get a 90 on one of your writing assignments. That one writing assignment has earned you 9 points. Now, the highest grade you can earn is a 99 for the whole course. If you get an 80 on your next writing assignment, you just earned another 8 points. Now, the highest grade you can earn is a 97 for the whole course. If you get a 73 on the third assignment, you just earned another 7.3 points.

Making the writing assignments worth 10 points does not mean they will be graded on a 10-point system. The instructor can decide to take off 5 points for grammar and spelling, 12 points for content, 8 points for length, etc. It's actually a positive to have each assignment worth so little. You can get a horrible grade on one assignment and still manage to get an "A." You can even skip turning in one writing assignment and get a 90 if you score perfectly on everything else.

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I didn’t know the grading system allowed decimal points so, in that case, it is not as bad as I thought. If the instructor wants to subtract points, at a minimum, he could subtract 0.1 points, which would be the same as 1 point in a 100 point assignment. Now I just wish the instructor would finally grade my paper so I can start on the next one.

[sanantone]

No, not really. That's not how the instructor would go about grading. I'll put it this way. Different assignments carry different weight towards your overall GPA. Each written assignment is worth 10% of your grade. Unless the instructor is peculiar, he/she will grade your assignments like teachers have always graded your assignments throughout your schooling. You can get a 77, 83, 91, whatever. At 10% of your overall GPA for the course, a 91 would be worth 9.1 points. At 50% of your GPA, a 91 would be worth 45.5 points. It's a way to make some assignments worth more than others. Getting a zero on an assignment that is worth 10% of your grade will still allow you to get a 90. Getting a zero on an assignment that is worth 50% of your grade will only allow you to get a 50 at the highest. Getting a 91 on an assignment that is worth 10% of your grade allows you to pick up 91% of those 10 points, which is the equivalent of a 9.1 on the point system.

[contactmail]

No, not really. That's not how the instructor would go about grading. I'll put it this way. Different assignments carry different weight towards your overall GPA. Each written assignment is worth 10% of your grade. Unless the instructor is peculiar, he/she will grade your assignments like teachers have always graded your assignments throughout your schooling. You can get a 77, 83, 91, whatever. At 10% of your overall GPA for the course, a 91 would be worth 9.1 points. At 50% of your GPA, a 91 would be worth 45.5 points. It's a way to make some assignments worth more than others. Getting a zero on an assignment that is worth 10% of your grade will still allow you to get a 90. Getting a zero on an assignment that is worth 50% of your grade will only allow you to get a 50 at the highest. Getting a 91 on an assignment that is worth 10% of your grade allows you to pick up 91% of those 10 points, which is the equivalent of a 9.1 on the point system.

Yea, I get that part. I wasn't confused about the assignment weight as most schools do that. I just didn’t know how it would appear on the grade sheet as I haven’t seen another college use fractional points for the course grade before.