Since these grades are now the only way to evaluate a student's
academic performance and to enable us to identify students who should
not continue towards PhD, it is essential that the Ay12x course grades
should be carefully graded.  While individual professors can set their
own course grading policy, the following rules should apply:

<li> The final grade is based on homeworks, midterms (if applicable) and exams.
  It is recognized that students learn in a variety of ways:
  pedagogy, colloquia but also through discussion with peers.
  Students are allowed to discuss homework problems with each other
  (or consult TA and the faculty). However, the final product that
  is turned in must be the student's own work. Exams are expected
  to test the student's true understanding of the course and 
  should not involve collaboration with any one else.
 
<li>
  Exams should carry at least 50% of the final score. We strongly
  recommend instructors to assign weekly homeowrks. Midterms
  or term papers
  are at the discretion of the instructor. 


<li>
 The students should be told clearly at the start of the class what the
  recipe for the final grade is.


<p>
Grading by TAs should also be monitored to ensure consistency among the
classes and an adequate dynamic range.

<p>
Students who obtain less than B grades in Ay12x may not be able to continue
into the PhD phase (see notes related to Second year students).

<p>

Problem sets should be returned to the class by the Professor.  This gives the 
Professor a chance to monitor the quality of the TA's work and also
it should ensure that problem sets are returned to the students in a timely fashion. 
In general, problem sets should be returned to students no more than one week
after the due date for handing in the problem set.  If the TA anticipates a delay in returning the problem sets, then he/she should inform the Professor.