Sample Grading and Points

This is a sample of how I grade in AP® Environmental Science. As a teacher, you must find what works for you and your own students, school and community! It takes a lot of trial and error and adjusting from year to year.

Homework/Classwork- 10%

• Edpuzzles
  • 10 points per sticky note video-usually two or three 15-minute videos per chapter. I embed questions in my Edpuzzles so students are graded on watching and accuracy in answering the questions.
  • 4 points per mini-video which are other non-note videos to reinforce reading assignments. Examples are Ted-Ed and YouTube videos. I typically assign one or two sections of the chapter to read (each chapter has 4 sections) per night with corresponding mini-videos. I am on a regular schedule where students meet every day for 55 minutes.
  • I download scores from Edpuzzle in a spreadsheet, but they are percentages of questions correct. I have the spreadsheet add up the scores and then divide to make the points reflect what I wrote above)

• Note Check – 20 points. I check 2 chapters of physical sticky notes the day before an exam.
• Math Day – 20 points
• Other items such as readings, online tutorials or whole class movies/videos-10-20 points.

Exams and Quizzes – 35%

• Reading quizzes-2 or 3 per chapter. 10 points each. Mine are online with 11 questions in 7 minutes through the Mastering Environmental Science site for the Withgott book. Randomized. Open-book, open-note. My district recently subscribed to the GoGuardian program which allows me to monitor computers during the quiz. Before GoGuardian, I stood in the back of the room to see all the screens during the quiz to prevent cheating.
• Exams are every 2 chapters
  • 50 minutes for the exam
  • 100 points for multiple choice (usually about 40 questions)
  • 50 points for FRQ (1 per exam). This is my curve which I believe is fair. It is not as generous as the AP® Exam, but the students only had to study 2 chapters for the exam instead of 24 for the AP® exam.
    • 10=50
    • 9=48
    • 8=46
    • 7=43
    • 6=40
    • 5=36
    • 4=31
    • 3=25
    • 2=20
    • 1=15

Labs and Activities – 30%

• Labs and activities are about 20-60 points (about 20 points per day it takes to do the lab). Ecocolumns count for a lot of points in several assignments.
• Binder check-collected or peer-graded 3 times per year. 40 points

Final Exam each semester – 25%

I give a fall final exam and a spring final exam before the AP® Exam.

AP® is a trademark registered and/or owned by College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse this site.