MTH 201-04 Winter 2021: Overall Grading Standards for AEPs
This document lays out the grading standards that apply to all Application/Extension Problems (AEPs) in the course. Each particular AEP will also have its own specific additional standards, so be sure to check those at the end of the assignment each time. Both those specific standards and the overall standards you read below must be met.
The EMPX rubric
Recall from the syllabus that AEP's are graded using one of four marks:
- E (Excellent)
- M (Meets Expectations)
- P (Progressing)
- X (Not Assessable)
This flowchart illustrates generally how those marks are assigned:
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Requirements for marks of E or M
Submissions that earn E or M are generally considered "passing" as no further revisions are required (although you are welcome to revise an "M" in order to get an "E"). In order to earn an E or M, an AEP submission must demonstrate the following:
- The submission must be typed, not handwritten, using a word processor that utilizes an equation editor for all significant mathematical notation.
- Every task on the AEP must have a complete solution attempt that represents a good-faith effort to be right. Mistakes made in the process are not penalized (although they may result in a need to revise the work). But omitting part of the AEP (even if accidentally) or giving a partial attempt on a part is not permitted.
- Any claim that is made or answer that is presented must be backed up. Examples include:
- If your solution uses information from a graph, show the graph or provide a link to it.
- If your solution uses a calculation, show the work; if you use a tech tool like Wolfram|Alpha to do a computation, give a link to the computation. Use computer tools, not graphing calculators since you cannot link to their results.
- If your solution makes a claim that involves a chain of reasoning, be clear about each link in the chain.
- The submission must contain significant narrative text to explain the work being done. Your work may not simply be a collection of computations with no explanations to help the reader understand.
- The audience of all explanations is assumed to be MTH 201 students from other classes, who may understand the mathematical concepts but who have no familiarity with the particular problem being solved. For example, if a problem requires finding a rate of change, you would not need to explain all the details behind a derivative, but you would need to make it clear that you are using a derivative and give the reader enough information to follow your work.
- Readers of your work should not have to fill in any details whether those are in mathematics or in the explanations. In other words your writing should be complete and leave no significant gaps. It should be easy, not hard, for the reader to follow your thought process.
- If you use a graph, the graph must be well formatted. This means:
- There cannot be any significant "dead space". All important aspects of the graph you are referring to must be easily visible in the graph without adjustments.
- Axes must be labelled with the appropriate variables.
- Overall, it should be easy, not hard, for the reader to follow your graphical reasoning. For example, consider using different colors or line styles for different graphs on the same set of axes to make it easy to distinguish them.
Please note, doing all of the above does not guarantee a mark of E or M. You still have to give complete, correct, and well-communicated solutions that meet the expectations of the AEP. Otherwise your work will earn a mark of P or X.
What earns an "X"
A mark of X (Not Assessable) is reserved for submissions that fail to meet minimum quality expectations in one or more of the following ways. Again, these apply to all AEPs; specific AEPs might have additional expectations.
- Submitting handwritten solutions, or solutions that contain any handwritten work. Submissions, any part of which contains handwritten work, will be marked "X" and returned without further comment or feedback. If you feel you must give a handwritten solution, please ask permission first and be ready to explain.
- Submitting work that is not complete. Omitting any part of an AEP task, whether intentional or accidental, will earn a mark of "X" and will be returned without further comment or feedback. If you have a question about a task or are unsure about a task, ask the professor a question about it –- do not leave it blank with the intent of getting feedback only on the parts you submitted.
- Submitting work that contains insufficient narrative text to explain your thought processes or whose narrative is difficult for the audience to understand. In particular, work that consists only of answers or only of computations without narrative explanations will earn a mark of "X" and will be returned without further comment or feedback.
- Submitting work that is exceedingly messy, disorganized, or incoherent.
- Submitting work that contains errors so numerous as to make it difficult to determine which parts are correct and which parts are errors.
Please note that:
- You can still revise and resubmit work that earns an "X"; but it will cost one token to do so.
- It is exceedingly easy to avoid the above mistakes, simply by using this list as a checklist before turning in your work. Grades of X are typically rare and only happen when a student fails to pay attention to the list above. If you're reading this, you're probably not one of those students.