You Knew This Day Would Come

Yesterday was the last day of classes. Tomorrow is the first day of exams. Grades are due at the registrar's office by noon on the 13th.

Stu writes:

Dr. Hirta, I am wondering when you are going to have our final grades up? I have [a really quite reasonable and generous grade] for my preliminary grade and I talked to [the TA] and she said that our grades should go up once our participation things are in. I would just like to know what my final grade is since these grades will count toward our GPA. Thank you so much!

I reply:

Hi Stu, Assuming that you completed the participation in co-curriculars, that will be your grade in the course.

Once I get the optional extra-credit from the students who choose to complete it and get those graded, I'll put all the grades officially in the [registrar's official] system. Since it's sometimes a problem to update grades once they're in the system, I'm waiting until I have all the information before I put in the official grades.

Stu responds:

Okay. Could you explain the extra credit to me? I looked it up and was confused about what it was that you wanted. Also, is there any way that I can get a break down of points that make up my grade?

This extra-credit assignment? Was assigned during the last week of October. Also, it is a major, in-depth, open-ended assignment. Which is why it's extra credit and not regular credit. And why it was assigned a month ago. And why I told the students that for this assignment I was expecting completed work at the level of quality that would appear in the New York Times. Let's all wish Stu good luck with the end of the semester and with earning grades that reflect Stu's mastery of course objectives.