Grades and Assignments

Expectations for Assessments

Humanities Department Grading Scale

All sections of American Studies use this grading scale:

A+ = 97-100           B+ = 87-89              C+ = 77-79             D   = Below 70

A   = 93-96             B   = 83-86              C   = 73-76

A-  = 90-92             B-  = 80-82              C-  = 70-72

Many instructors prefer to focus on letter grades rather than numbers. When translating a letter grade, instructors will assign the median or higher number associated with that letter grade (e.g., an A- could be recorded as a 91 or a 92 but not a 90 on the 100-point scale). 

Major and Minor Assignments

The balance of weighting of major and minor assignments is the same for all sections of American Studies, and there are roughly the same number of major assignments (plus or minus one) per semester for all sections.

• Major Assignments (assignments worth 10% or more of the semester grade): 70% 

  • Four to six major assignments per semester

  • No major assignment may count more than 20% of the semester grade

  • At least one of these major assignments is a longer academic essay, evaluated in light of the NCSSM Rubric for Academic Writing.

• Minor Assignments (assignments worth less than 10% of the course grade): 30% 

  • A minimum of four minor assignments per semester

All instructors may allow revisions. Individual instructors may decide for themselves how they credit the revised work—whether that means fully replacing the original grade with a new one or averaging grades for original and revised work.

American Studies Shared Policies

“Rounding” Grades

All course sections will follow this practice:

• In determining students’ course-ending, semester grades, instructors round to the hundredth of a point: e.g., an 89.4124 is recorded as an 89.41 and an 89.5134 is recorded as an 89.51.

• Instructors then round up at the midpoint: e.g., 89.41 rounds down to 89, a B+; 89.51 rounds up to 90, an A-).

American Studies I and II and the GPA

American Studies is a double-credit course: For the two-course sequence, students earn 2 units of “English” credit and 2 units of “History/Social Science” credit. These credits ensure that students meet the minimum requirements for admission to all University of North Carolina system colleges. In all sections of American Studies, quality points by letter grade are awarded as follows:

A+ A  A-: 5.0 quality points

B+ B  B-: 4.0 quality points

C+ C  C-: 3.0 quality points

D: 0.00 quality points