Page 1 of 6 Welcome to Biology 1A, UCB, Summer 2005 Introduction: Hopefully you will find Biology 1A to be a fun and exciting class. It will be readily apparent to you that we enjoy biology and teaching! Warning - the pace will be blistering fast. You are expected to have taken the chemistry prerequisites (if you lack the prerequisites then you will be dropped). A good understanding of chemistry is required—examine the chemistry review sheet on page 6. If you feel your chemistry background is weak then now is the time to drop –you can still get a refund. The class consists of four lectures, two labs and two discussions each week. We can NOT stress enough how fast the pace is. Do not plan to take more than two other units and do not plan on working more than 20 hours per week. All enrolled students m ust fill out t he enrollment confirmat ion form by 4 PM on Monday June 20th. T he form is located at our website, http://mcb.berkeley.edu/courses/bio1a Switching secti ons: After filling out the confirmation form there will be a link to submit a section change form. Very few changes will be permitted. I will contact you via email or phone regarding your request. If you do not hear from me assume you did NOT get to change your section. Adding: All students wanting to add must fill out the add form available at our website. Look under announcements for Summer 2005. You must submit your request by 4 PM on June 20th. Very few adds will be allowed. I will contact you via email or phone. If you do not hear from me assume I was unable to add you into the class. Attendance: You are expected to attend ALL lectures, discussions, etc. Attendance may be taken at any or all. If you are not present then it is hard to learn the material. Communicat ion: Office hours are held in 2084 or 2088 VLSB. Messages for lecturers, Mike Meighan, and the GSI's may be left at 510-642-4110. Email addresses are on page 4. Lect ures and Lecturers: There will be four different lecturers. The primary lecturers are Dr. Jim Baxter (6/20 - 7/14) and Dr. Carol Gilson (7/26 - 8/11). Dan Choffnes Inada will give lectures 14 through 17 and Dr. Steve Takata will give lectures 17 and 18. Lectures are held M. - Th. from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM in 1 Pimentel. Lectures are NOT webcast. Black lightning is authorized to take notes. For more information you can check their website. http://blln.securesites.com/ Office hours: Office hours are held in 2084 (or 2088 VLSB). A revised list containing all of the office hours will be handed out next week. Please come to any or all office hours. You are not limited to those hours given by your lab instructor. Labs and Disc ussion: No lab on 6/20 or 21. Discussion begins on Tuesday 6/21. You must attend your first discussion. Attendance will be taken. Typically labs and discussion meet twice a week and are required. Attending another section other than your assigned section will almost certainly guarantee you will NOT get that section. Attend your assigned section. One time changes can be permitted on a limited basis, contact Mike. Repeating Stude nts: Students repeating the class may not have to repeat the lab if they scored above the lab mean (when they took the class). If interested, fill out the form outside of 2088 VLSB by 5 PM today. Eligible students will be contacted (by phone/email). If you do not hear from me assume that you have to do lab over again. GRADING PROCEDURE: Letter grades will be determined from numerical scores as follows: Midterm Examinations (2 x 150) (each lecture is worth about 15 points) 300 pt’s Laboratory & Discussion: Lab Exam # 1, 7/25, in lecture (Labs 1-7) 90 pt’s Lab Exam # 2, 8/8 or 9, during your lab period (Labs 8-12) 75 pt’s Quizzes - In discussion or lab (12 labs x 3 pts minus the lowest quiz scores) 33 pt’sPage 2 of 6 Final Exam (held on 8/11) 105 pt's Total 603 pt’s A+ or A or A- 100-90% C+ or C or C- 79-70% F 59-00% B+ or B or B- 89-80% D+ or D or D- 69-60% Grades are typically curved. M inimum grades are listed abov e. The total % nee ded for som e form of an A, B, C, or D may be lowered de pending upon t he final di stribution of students scores, i.e. we curve the class if need be. Grades will NOT be given based upon needs, wants, desires, beliefs (I believe I should pass), admission re quirements, etc . GRADING PROCEDURE: In the event that some examinations have been unusually difficult, the cut-offs for letter grades may be lowered (but only by a few percent and only when necessary). Historically around 50% of the class EARN A’s and B’s. Grades are based upon total points which includes your lab and lecture points. Some adjustments are made to quiz scores and lab exam 2 grades to adjust for differences between the sections. A linear regression analysis is used to adjust grades equitably. The mean for lab exam 1 will be determined for each section and those values will be used for the X axis. The mean of quiz scores (or lab exam 2) are the values used for the Y axis. A best fit line will be generated. Each section will then be adjusted UP to the “easiest/highest” of the 8 sections (maintaining the same slope but modifying the intercept which adjusts for the “easiest/highest” section). Then the same adjustment points will be added to each student within a section. Thus no students are penalized (for being in a “hard” section) and no students have an advantage (for being in an “easy” section). THIS METHOD IS FAIR. See below for a graphical representation of these adjustments. This will be repeated for lab exam 2. After making the adjustments the total points is then determined for each student. We look at 90% of the total points (543 pts) and see what % of the students have earned a guaranteed A+/A/A-. If there are fewer than about 20% we then typically lower the number of points required for some form of an A (since it is the lower end it would be A-). We continue to do that for each guaranteed grade range, B, C and D. If need be, we lower the total number of points necessary for a certain grade. We usually give out about 20% A’s, 30% B’s, 20% C’s,