Monday, November 23, 2009 6:43 PM,

Not unexpectedly, a student writes:



	 Hello Dr. Patt! Well after listening to you going over the test and 
	 look at my test after class, I was wondering who I would talk to if I 
	 had questions about grading?
	 <<name withheld to protect the student who feels he deserves more 
	 points>>



First, I want to make it clear that the TAs and I are not perfect when it 
comes to grading exams.  We try our best, but we are human.  AND, I certainly 
do not want any of you to suffer because we made a mistake in grading.

So, by all means, if you think that the grading was incorrect, please take 
your exam to one of the TAs.  It does not have to be done before Thanksgiving.  
Anytime next week is fine.

If the TA agrees that you should have more (or fewer) points, he/she will 
bring the exam to me and we will examine the exam together, and adjust the 
grade if appropriate.

If he does not agree with you, you still have the option to leave your exam 
with my secretary Leticia in Room 541 ENS, and I will examine the exam 
carefully.  I will adjust the grade if I feel it is appropriate.

A couple of grading situations that I know about:

1. On Problem 2, if you said the program writes x0000 into locations up to 
x8000, and lost one point, you probably should not have lost the point.
If you bring the exam to me or to Aater or Chang Joo in 532 ENS, that point 
will most likely be added back onto your grade.

2. On Problem 4, if you said the problem was due to .BLKW 8 not being large 
enough, that does not really answer the question "why ion was converted to 
@DD."  It does deserve some credit since you did recognize part of the 
problem, so you should have received 4 points out of ten.  If you said the 
reason was the mask was overwritten, you should have gotten 6 points.  If you 
said what the mask was overwritten with, you should have gotten full credit.
If your grade does not reflect what is said in this paragraph, you can simply 
bring it to my secretary and I will examine your exam paper carefully.

Yes, I am disappointed with the performance on Exam 2.  However, I remain 
hopeful about the final.  The good news is I will make up a final that I think 
you can do in two hours, and you will have 3 hours to do it.  So, time should 
not be an issue.

You still have two programs and the final exam to demonstrate that you know 
what is going on in EE 306.  I hope you take a break on Thanksgiving and just 
relax.  But after that break, I hope you pour it on and show your best between 
then and December 15.  The final exam is December 15 at 2pm.

See you in class on Monday.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Yale Patt