Nearly all of the lab reports have been graded so you can expect to see graded lab reports turning up in your inbox over the next week or so.
The lab reports contain three grades: notebook, lab work, report. 99+% of the lab work grades were satisfactory, but this was not the case for notebook and report grades.
Because unsatisfactory grades on notebooks/reports were fairly frequent, and because it is natural to assume the worst concerning such grades, I want to clear up any concerns that you might have about unsatisfactory marks.
First, you should know that I gave my graders advance instructions for grading your notebooks and reports. These instructions were necessarily precise regarding what was ‘satisfactory’ v. ‘unsatisfactory’.
- Example: if you left chemical hazard or disposal information out of your notebook, this was an automatic unsatisfactory.
- Another example: if your calculated %yield was off by more than 5%, this was an automatic unsatisfactory.
Both of these examples are instances of something not being prepared according to the instructions I gave my graders. Unsatisfactory in these cases signifies that better work was possible, but it does not signify a substantial failure.
What I am trying to say is this: unsatisfactory marks indicate a lower level of performance, but it does not indicate an absence of performance. If a student performed the expected work, whether it was completed entirely at the satisfactory level, or with a mix of satisfactory and unsatisfactory marks, the student ‘passed’ the lab.
Use any ‘unsatisfactory’ marks as warnings or alerts that something was not quite right and apply this to your lab work in Chem 202. Beyond that, you needn’t be concerned about ‘unsatisfactory’ marks.
Useful info: Chem 201-202 Lab Manual: Policies: Instructor Expectations