Contrary to the expectation of some students, there is no absolute scale* which assigns a letter grade to each raw numerical score (such as 90-100 gets A, etc.). The general working definitions are: A="excellent", B="good", C="fair", D="poor", F="failure". Determining that a student's performance is "excellent", "good", etc. depends on several factors, including the student's standing relative to the class, and most importantly, how much the instructor feels that the student has learned and/or effectively worked. Standards for "excellent", "good", etc. might seem arbitrary or mysterious to some students, but not to the experienced instructor; our experience shows that given the same situation and shown the same student work, seasoned instructors have quite uniform expectations of what constitutes excellent work, good work, etc. Moreover we are all guided by the expectation of our College of Arts and Sciences, according to whom the median class grade should typically be approximately a high C (in practice, lower than this in remedial courses; and higher in advanced courses). I also explain to my classes that most students who don't "give up" get A, B or C in my classes; in the case of students who finish with D or F, it's usually because they didn't attend regularly, they skipped or did a sloppy job on homework, and often didn't show up for the final exam (these being about 5-10% of students in upper division classes; and 30% of students in lower division classes). As explained below under Q2, the best way to gauge your course performance is to discuss this with your instructor.

*Exceptions may apply to certain multisection courses with multiple instructors; in such cases, consult the course syllabus for details.

After a few weeks into the course, students should reasonably expect to be able to gauge their progress in the course; and this can only be done through personal consultation with the instructor (just as you should consult with your medical doctor, rather than a pamphlet or website, for an appraisal of your physical health). Please come and talk to me about your progress! In private consultation, I will give you the best available assessment of you performance to date and cautiously advise you what you might reasonably expect as a final grade in the class, with the obligatory caveats (regarding how much really depends on your future performance). In addition, when I hand back graded homework and tests, I customarily provide some statistics so that students can see where they stand relative to the class.

Students sometimes ask for this information by email instead of coming in person. We will do our best to help in such cases, although email is not ideal for this purpose (and I'm sure your medical doctor would have the same reservations about treating you by email). Firstly, you should understand that because email communication is insecure without certain safeguards, it cannot be the instructor's policy to send information about personal class performance by email; and so if a student initiates this, he/she implicitly accepts the implicit risks. Secondly, a reply by personal email generally requires a greater investment of time on the instructor's part and reveals less information than a private discussion, because the instructor must be more guarded when answering in writing than in live conversation.

I should ask first what the intent of your question is. The process of curving grades refers to taking a list of raw numerical class grades, and re-scaling them to obtain a new list with a nicer looking distribution. I have never actually seen this done, and there are good reasons why I wouldn't want to; but it's probably not what you are really asking.

The numerical scores depend on a preset grading scheme. Sometimes the numerical grades turn out higher or lower than anticipated at the outset (possibly because the expectations were originally set too high or too low, or possibly because the students enrolled were stronger or weaker than originally anticipated). This information is valuable for internal use only, to the instructor (for example in planning changes in future courses, or retaining a true record of student performance for use outside of class e.g. in writing recommendation letters), the department (e.g. for assessment purposes, where fudged data would misrepresent the actual learning outcomes), and the student (particularly one with higher personal standards than the prevailing standard of one's peers at UW; perhaps a student who aspires to go to graduate school).

But for the typical student, the numerical score is simply irrelevant; it is the final letter grade that matters—please see my answer to Q1 above. If you are a typical student, the quick summary is: (1) the numerical score is what it is; (2) don't assume anything (based on rumor or what your high school teacher told you) about cutoffs for letter grades; and most importantly, (3) come and talk to me about how you are doing!

Homework (both reading assignments and written homework) are necessary for learning.  Mathematics, more than most subjects, is one which you learn not by listening and absorbing, but by trying out yourself.  The learning of mathematics is also more sequential than that of other subjects … so all the more need to be regular in doing problems yourself!   The following expectations apply to written homework:

• Multiple pages must be stapled together. I emphasize: staples.
• Write clearly.  Part of the grade reflects organization and clarity of presentation.  Tablet paper is better than pages ripped from spiral-bound notebooks (please cut off the , otherwise I will have to).  The back side of printed paper (e.g. from a recycling bin) is fine.
• For some questions, short answers suffice. However, most solutions require sentence answers.  Correct use of vocabulary, spelling, grammar, and punctuation is expected for full credit.
• Homework is generally due by 5pm on the due date. If you require more time, please ask me (in person or by email) but don't just assume that late homework is OK. I would prefer homework to represent your true ability, and not be a rushed job. There is genuine value in completing assignments by the due date, but I am not in the habit of deducting points for late submissions. After I have posted solutions for a homework assignment, I will simply not accept any more submissions.
• Most students hand in homework in person, either at the beginning or at the end of class. But don't spend class time finishing up homework (either for my class or for other classes). Rather, you should stay engaged in the class; and hand in your homework later (and ask for an extension if necessary).
• If you must submit homework outside of class time, either slide it under my office door, or ask the Math Department secretary to put it in my mailbox.  Never leave ungraded homework outside my door, as this is insecure.
• Always remember to put your name, the class (Math XXXX), and the assignment number (e.g. HW1, HW2, etc.). Number all questions. For questions with multiple parts, label each part as in the instructions.
• There is no need to re-write questions. If you find some value in doing so, this would be better done on scratch paper, not on the paper you are submitting.
• Please be careful to answer the question I asked, not the question you thought I asked. The wording of my questions is very intentional, and your answers should be too. For example if I ask you how many elements a set has, and then to list the elements, you shouldn't expect full credit for answering only the second part (there may be important numerical properties of the number that I want to emphasize; but also, I know that students often to disguise their lack of knowledge of which elements of the set are distinct by intentionally omitting the actual count).

It is fine for you to discuss the homework with other students. However, please do not copy anyone else's work directly.  Copying may adversely affect your grade; but more importantly, of course, you won't be adequately preparing yourself for the tests in this way. Certainly you should keep in mind the general guidelines for academic honesty (see the A&S College guidelines for cases of academic dishonesty; also page 4 of the UW policy on the rights and responsibilities of students and teachers). I have seen far too many students given an F in courses, or worse, for cheating (including simply misrepresenting someone else's work as their own).

Standards for use of language are higher than in other subjects, students' misconceptions notwithstanding. For most of our students, precise communication is the most important thing I have to teach them. For example in teaching calculus, I am not under the illusion that my students will be using calculus content in most of their daily life beyond UW; however I fully believe that the precise communication (both ways, i.e. reading/understanding and writing/explaining/presenting) which we consciously model and encourage students to practice, are important life skills, vital in careers and all aspects of participation in society.

I recognize that in many cases, the reason students have low expectations regarding writing standards in mathematics, is that these standards have not been modeled by their past instructors. This is beyond unfortunate—I would call it a tragedy. In lectures and in my written homework solutions, I consciously try to emulate the kind of writing practices that I expect from my students—for example, writing complete sentences where it is appropriate. For those of you (a large percentage of my students) who plan to become teachers, I would offer this as sound advice—if you want your students to rise to a particular standard, you should model this standard yourself. (To qualify my statement somewhat:: I do not expect students to typeset their homework solutions; handwritten solutions are fine unless you find that your handwriting is not sufficiently clear. In past years I have tried to hand-write my posted solutions just to make this point, and to offer an example of what I regard as adequately legible solutions. Regrettably, I have switched to mostly typesetting my solutions for tests and assignments, just so they can be edited and reused in later semesters while minimizing the duplication of effort.)

I appreciate hearing from you—tell me in person if it's convenient, but also by email (for my records). In many of my classes, I require attendance; and if you just tell me in person, I am likely to forget—so it is best to email me. If you missed a test, I may ask you for documentation regarding the nature of the absence (although the exact nature of a physical condition is not relevant if you can simply provide a general documentation of an absence for medical reasons). The purpose of such documentation is to protect both of us (e.g. against legal action from other students who didn't receive comparable allowances). If you didn't miss a test, I don't need documentation for excuses in case of every missed class (your personal word will suffice, and I will take your word as the word of a grownup). Beyond this, you should

• Check the course website for any updates, handouts, new written assignments or reading assignments, etc.
• Get a copy of the lecture notes, either from someone who was there, or (in the case of classes taught using an iPad or Elmo) from the course website.
• Read through the notes.
• Ask someone who was there to go through what happened in the class. Do this promptly before that person forgets.
• Your chances are better if you come to me to ask me to go over what you missed. If you do this, please bring a copy of the notes (as described above) for me to walk through with you. (The copy of the notes will save us both a lot of time, and help us focus on what was actually covered, not just what I can quickly remember covering, or what I hoped to cover.) There certainly aren't enough hours in the day for me to do this for everyone who misses a class; however there is usually enough time for me to do this for the few students who ask. And I won't penalize any student for asking (if I am busy, I will just ask the student to come back later).

None of this is a perfect substitute for being in class; but of course sometimes there are unavoidable reasons for absence.

There's no short answer to this—you should really come and talk with me about this. When discussing this with individual students, I first try to unravel the particular nature of their difficulties, and everyone is different. For example, test anxiety is real but not universal; and an effective strategy for improving progress will depend on my assessment of the degree to which this might be a factor in your case.

Another variable factor is each student's confidence level; and a lack of confidence is not the same as test anxiety. Here there is a veritable gamut: At one end, I see students who are capable but who have been told that they are not. This is a problem because of the huge role of self-confidence in solving mathematical problems. At the other end, I see students who are sure they understand everything; but from their answers to questions (on the test or in my office) it is clear that they are mistaken. This is not to ridicule anyone—the Dunning-Kruger effect is well-documented, and I see many instances of it daily in my classes. Clearly there can be no one-shoe-fits-all approach to helping students succeed. But a few general pieces of advice may be helpful here:

Students frequently assure me that they spend large amounts of time reading/preparing; but on a test, they are unable to answer the most basic questions. Evidently their study time is not being spent effectively learning. In some cases, they are approaching the subject as they would an exercise in rote learning. Mathematics requires a very different learning process. Very little memorization should be required, compared to most other classes; instead, you should spend time solving problems. Don't memorize solutions of existing problems—it is the ideas and the techniques that you need to learn; and this can only be done by practicing solving problems.

It is a good idea to join a study group with other students. Practice presenting material to other students. It is in the process of presenting a problem or a topic to our peers, that we often discover the true meaning of the subject or ourselves.

I also advise students to develop the habit of trying to anticipate while they are reading. For students in calculus, this might mean that when encountering a worked example in the textbook, try first to work through the problem by yourself before reading the solution in the book; then compare your answer with the one in the book. For students in theoretical classes, it might mean that when encountering a theorem in the textbook, try to first think about how you would try to prove the theorem; also think of examples where the hypotheses (and presumably therefore the conclusion as well) hold; also think of examples where the conclusion fails, and see where it is that some hypothesis fails (as presumably it must)... all this before working through the proof in the textbook.

My schedule is posted on my website and on my door (again, see the course syllabus). When exceptions arise, I email my class or put a note on my door. It is of course reasonable to ask to meet outside my usual office hours (possibly because you aren't available then, or because you don't want to be interrupted by anyone else visiting me during normal office hours). But in such cases, the question of when I am available is already answered in my schedule... clearly the ball is then in your court to read my schedule, compare it with yours, and suggest a possible time or times that I might choose from, rather than hoping that I will be lucky enough to pick a time when you are available.