Your course grade will be based on the following components.

MyEconLab homework assignments (20 per cent of grade). I will drop the lowest three assignments, which means that you have three "free passes." Use them wisely.

Two midterm exams (25 per cent each). These will be in-class exams consisting of 50 multiple-choice questions each. The midterms will be cumulative only in the sense that later material will build on ideas presented earlier in the course. No makeups.

Final exam (30 per cent). The University will announce the final exam schedule late in the semester, and I will then post the time and date here. The final will be cumulative, but will emphasize the material covered after the second midterm. It will consist of 100 multiple-choice questions. The first 50 or so will revisit material from the first two midterms; the second 50 will cover material new since the second midterm.

People always ask: "will the exam be curved?" The answer is yes, but perhaps not in the way some of you may understand that. The numerical grade has no direct connection to a letter grade. What matters is where you are relative to the mean. At the end of the semester, we will weight and add up all the components of your grade and compute a final number. There will be a bell-shaped distribution of the final numbers for the class. If your number is exactly average, you will get a fair to middling letter grade. If your number is above the average, you will do better; if it is below the average you will do worse.

There is no extra credit. If you are concerned about your grade, you should work on the study plan in MyEconLab and (especially) meet with the TA on a regular basis to ask questions and practice problems.