Photo: Morgan Sackett / NBC.
As you complete activities in this course, you will earn philosophy experience points:
| Activity | Experience Points | Total Points Available | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Annotations | 100 per module | 2,500 | |
| Quizzes | 100 per module | 2,500 | |
| Unit Exams | 1,000 per exam | 6,000 | |
| Total | 11,000 |
You have entered this class as a New Philosophy Student, but as you do these activities and earn philosophy experience points you will advance to higher levels. The level at which you end the semester will determine your final letter grade in the course:
| Experience Points | Level | Title | Letter Grade | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 3,999 | 1 | New Philosophy Student | F1 | |
| 4,000 to 4,499 | 2 | Philosophy Student | D− | |
| 4,500 to 4,999 | 3 | Philosophy Initiate | D | |
| 5,000 to 5,499 | 4 | Novice Philosopher | D+ | |
| 5,500 to 5,999 | 5 | Apprentice Philosopher | C− | |
| 6,000 to 6,499 | 6 | Unemployed Philosopher | C | |
| 6,500 to 6,999 | 7 | Armchair Philosopher | C+ | |
| 7,000 to 7,499 | 8 | Stand-Up Philosopher | B− | |
| 7,500 to 7,999 | 9 | Assistant Philosophy Professor | B | |
| 8,000 to 8,499 | 10 | Associate Philosophy Professor | B+ | |
| 8,500 to 8,999 | 11 | Philosophy Professor | A− | |
| 9,000 to 9,499 | 12 | Philosopher Royale | A | |
| 9,500 or higher | 13 | Philosopher Supreme | A+ |
UB does not allow final course grades to be an A+ or a D−. Therefore, a final course grade of an A+ will be assigned an A and a final grade of a D− will be assigned a D.
This philosophy experience point structure means that you are free to choose some activities and skip others. You are also free to decide how much you want to engage in the course.
Some students will reach the level of Unemployed Philosopher and then vanish. Fair enough! Others will not relent until they are Philosopher Supreme. Great—go for it! In the end, I will support whatever choice you make.
Photo: Colleen Hayes / NBC.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is my current grade in the class?
One reason for using this philosophy experience point structure is so that no one needs to agonize over letter grades. The focus should be on doing better in the course (see the next question). This is why I only calculate letter grades once for this course: when I submit final letter grades to UB based on the total number of points you ultimately earned.
All that said, if you are earning less than 50% of the possible points on activities, then you are unlikely to pass the course. Meanwhile, if you are earning more than 85%, you are well on your way to becoming Philosopher Supreme with an A+. My advice is that it is okay to relax if you are earning around 75% of the possible points—in that case, you’re on track for earning earning something in the B+/A− range.
Finally, don’t forget about philosopher’s stones. For many students, these make a huge difference at the end of the semester, when they use them to make up for missed activities.
Q: How can I do better in the course?
Just keep focused on earning more philosophy experience points. This is the way to raise your level in the course and so earn a higher final letter grade. Doing the optional supplemental modules will almost certainly help with that.
Beyond that, the most common barrier to success in this course is procrastination. Students who start the modules early are then able to complete things without feeling stressed and rushed. Indeed, students who pace themselves throughout the week tend to earn significantly more points. This is why I post those weekly “Suggested Success Plans”. Follow those and I suspect you’ll start earning a lot more points! (There is also pretty robust data that says spreading things out is far better than cramming it all in at the last minute.)
Q: Can I still get a [Letter Grade] in this course?
Recall that your final course grade is based on your total number of philosophy experience points at the end of the semester. You can see this in the Philosopher Advancement table above, that converts experience points into letter grades. So earning your desired letter grade requires that you earn the number of points that grade requires.
You can log into UB Learns and see your current number of philosophy experience points. You can then look that number up in that Philosopher Advancement table above to see where you currently stand. You can then use that to see how many more points you still need to earn in order to earn the grade you actually desire. If there are enough activities remaining in the semester, it may indeed be possible for you to earn the grade you desire.
For instance, suppose you currently have 6,400 philosophy experience points—but you want a B+. Looking in that Philosopher Advancement table above, you’ll see that a B+ requires at least 8,000 points. So that means you’ll need to earn at least 1,600 more points to get that B+. Now you can then compare that 1,600 points you need to what activities remain for the course. Suppose there are still 6 modules and 2 unit exams remaining. In that case, there is a total of 3,200 more points that you may still earn—so it would then be possible for you to earn a B+ (or even higher) in the course.