Grading

Philosophy

Grades I assign carry the following meaning.

An A or A- is intended to convey that I believe that you have demonstrated that if you continued to learn at the level you demonstrated in this class, you could pass a PhD qualifying examination in this topic (i.e., that your learning is at that level).

A B or B+ indicates that you are doing solid work for a Master's student (i.e., a B is a good grade, not something to be ashamed of) and that with continued studying you should do fine on the Master's oral.  It does not mean that you could never pass a PhD examination on this topic, but rather that at this point you haven't learned the material well enough to likely be successful on such an exam.

A B- or lower indicates that you need to learn more and/or that you need to enhance your learning skills (i.e., I would be concerned about your ability to do well on a Master's oral exam given your present level of learning).