Photo: Morgan Sackett / NBC.

As you complete activities in this course, you will earn negotiation experience points:

Earning Negotiation Experience Points

Activity	Experience Points	Total Points Available
Orientation	50 per orientation activity	550
Negotiation Preparation	300 per preparation	3,600
Negotiation	200 per negotiation	2,400
Class Participation		≈5,000*
Self-Reflection	750 per self-reflection	3,000
Final Activity		2,000
	Total	16,550

*This is only approximate. The actual total for class participation may vary. If this adversely influences course grades, then the Negotiator Advancement table below 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:

Negotiator Advancement: From New Negotiation Student to Negotiator Supreme!

Experience Points	Level	Title	Letter Grade
Less than 6,800	1	New Negotiation Student	F1
6,800 to 7,499	2	Negotiation Student	D−
7,500 to 8,199	3	Negotiation Initiate	D
8,200 to 8,899	4	Novice Negotiator	D+
8,900 to 9,699	5	Apprentice Negotiator	C−
9,700 to 10,499	6	Marketplace Haggler	C
10,500 to 11,299	7	Used Car Salesperson	C+
11,300 to 12,199	8	Distributive Bargainer	B−
12,200 to 13,099	9	Negotiation Analyst	B
13,100 to 13,999	10	Principled Negotiator	B+
14,000 to 14,999	11	Master Negotiator	A−
15,000 to 15,999	12	Grandmaster Negotiator	A
16,000 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.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is my current grade in the class?

One reason for using this negotiation 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 may struggle to pass the course. Meanwhile, if you are earning more than 90%, you are well on your way to becoming a Grandmaster Negotiator with an A. My advice is that it is okay to relax if you are earning at least 84% 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 are absences. An extremely large number of points are earned from negotiations and other in-class activities that, due to their nature, may not be made up. 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 11,900 negotiation experience points—but you want a B+. Looking in that Negotiator Advancement table above, you’ll see that a B+ requires at least 13,100 points. So that means you’ll need to earn at least 1,200 more points to get that B+. Now you can then compare that 1,200 points you need to what activities remain for the course. Suppose there are still 3 in-class negotiations (which includes 3 negotiation preparations and the 3 negotiations themselves) and 2 reflection papers remaining. In that case, there is at least 3,000 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.