Attendance Policy

Currently, students may earn an attendance bonus dependent upon how many classes they attend. Students who miss all classes will get no bonus, those who miss no classes will have 5 points added to their total exam score at the end of the semester. Perfect attendance is equivalent to getting five additional questions correct on the exams. (This bonus is cumulative, not absolute. So, if you attend, say, 25 days out of 30, you will receive a bonus of 4.2 exam points).

We have this attendance policy because we feel it is very important for students to come to class. Here's why:

• We cover a lot of complicated material in this class. For many students, the background reading is just that, background containing new vocabulary words and facts. But, reading alone does not allow most students to really understand the processes being discussed. Hence, we have classroom activities that students work through to promote thinking about and understanding the concepts.
• The graph below shows a definite correlation between attendance and grade in the class. This is not to say that simple attendance will be enough, but if you follow the guidelines of the class (do the pre-class exercises and the in-class exercises) you have a better chance of earning a good grade than if you don’t come to class and participate.
• Because we have so many students each semester in this class, we cannot tailor its rules to match individual cases. Having the attendance policy that we do ensures fair treatment for all students.
• Also, keep in mind that because this class is designed for students to work together, you may be hurting your lab partner and table mates by not attending class. If you understand the material and they don’t, you have the opportunity to better your interactive skills with other people, which can only help you in the future when you want a promotion.