Photo: Morgan Sackett / NBC.
As you complete activities in this course, you will earn negotiation experience points:
| Activity | Experience Points | Total Points Available |
|---|---|---|
| Social Annotation | 100 per social annotation activity | 2,900 |
| Negotiation Preparation | 300 per preparation | 3,600 |
| Negotiation | 200 per negotiation | 2,400 |
| Class Participation | ≈2,500* | |
| Self-Reflection | 450 per self-reflection | 2,700 |
| Total | 14,100 |
*This is only approximate. The actual total for class participation may vary. If this adversely influences course grades, then the Negotiator Advancement table will be updated accordingly.
You have entered this class as a New Negotiation Student, but as you do these activities and earn negotiation 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 6,599 | 1 | New Negotiation Student | F1 | |
| 6,600 to 6,999 | 2 | Negotiation Student | D− | |
| 7,000 to 7,399 | 3 | Negotiation Initiate | D | |
| 7,400 to 7,899 | 4 | Novice Negotiator | D+ | |
| 7,900 to 8,399 | 5 | Apprentice Negotiator | C− | |
| 8,400 to 8,899 | 6 | Marketplace Haggler | C | |
| 8,900 to 9,499 | 7 | Used Car Salesperson | C+ | |
| 9,500 to 10,099 | 8 | Distributive Bargainer | B− | |
| 10,100 to 10,699 | 9 | Negotiation Analyst | B | |
| 10,700 to 11,399 | 10 | Principled Negotiator | B+ | |
| 11,400 to 12,099 | 11 | Master Negotiator | A− | |
| 12,100 to 12,799 | 12 | Grandmaster Negotiator | A | |
| 12,800 or higher | 13 | Negotiator 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 negotiation 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 Marketplace Haggler and then vanish. Fair enough! Others will not relent until they are Negotiator 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 90%, you are well on your way to becoming Negotiator Supreme with an A+. My advice is that it is okay to relax if you are earning at least 80% of the possible points—in that case, you’re on track for 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 negotiation experience points. This is the way to raise your level in the course and so earn a higher final letter grade.
Beyond that, the most common barrier to success in this course is unexcused absences. An extremely large number of points are earned from negotiations and other in-class activities. So missing class means missing out on earning all those points. So do whatever you can to arrive to our class meetings on time.
Q: Can I still get a [Letter Grade] in this course?
Recall that your final course grade is based on your total number of negotiation experience points at the end of the semester. You can see this in the Negotiator Advancement table above, which 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 negotiation experience points. You can then look that number up in that Negotiator Advancement table above to see where you currently stand. You can then use that to see how many more points you still need in order to earn the grade you actually desire. If there are enough activities remaining in the semester, then it may indeed be possible for you to earn that grade.
For instance, suppose you currently have 9,400 negotiation experience points—but you want a B+. Looking in that Negotiator Advancement table above, you’ll see that a B+ requires at least 10,700 points. So that means you’ll need to earn at least 1,300 more points to get that B+. Now you can then compare that 1,300 points you need to what activities remain for the course. Suppose there are still 2 negotiations (which includes 2 negotiation preparations and the 2 negotiations themselves), 2 reflection papers, and 9 social annotation activities remaining. In that case, there is a total of 2,500 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.