Woody Plants is a strenuous, field-based course
where you will be taking a lot of tests and quizzes.
While youmay find the number of "examinations"
tedious and ratherstrenuous, the tests and quizzes
have been designed as suchto help reinforce and
keep you up to date on the plants you are learning
each week.  You will find that they, especially the
quizzes, are more of a tool than anything for you to
use to successfully learn the plants.  A schedule and
breakdownfollows.

Quizzes
Beginning the week of September 20, unannounced quizzes may be given during
your labs.  All quizzes are given during lab, usually at the beginning.
"Unannounced" means just that - you will not know whether or not you have a
quiz until you reach the site.  Quiz dates and types (written vs. identification, see
below) will be varied between lab days, so you should not assume that because
Monday's section did not have a quiz that you will not have one on Tuesday or
Wednesday.  For all quizzes you are responsible for the plants of the current
week and everything previous.
  Types of quizzes -- you may have either written or identification quizzes.
Written quizzes may ask you to identify twigs or fruits, describe species, compare
or list differences between two species, etc.  Identification quizzes are simply that -
you are given a plant in the field and are asked to identify the family, genus, species,
and common name of that plant.  Identification quizzes usually consist of ten plants.

  Grading -- you will have a total of seven quizzes over the course of the term,
and you will be allowed to drop your lowest score for a total of six quiz grades.  All
together, the six quiz grades will be worth 10% of your final grade.  10% seems
little, but quiz grades are often used at the end of the term to decide whether or not
to bump up a borderline student.
 

Field Exams
There will be two field exams:  A midsemester exam on October 25, 26, and 27,
and a final field exam on November 22, 23, and 24.  Both field exams are similar
to an identification quiz except that you will be tested on 50 plants rather than 10.
Once again, you are responsible for the plants of the current week and everything
previous for the field exams.  Both field exams are worth 18% of your final grade.

Indoor Identification Exams
There will also be two indoor identification exams given at midterm and final
examination time.  The Halloween Howl will be given on Thursday night, October
28, and will consist of 50 specimens.  The Christmas  Sing will be given during
our scheduled final exam time, Monday December 20, 1:30-3:30, and will consist
of 100 plants.  Both indoor identification exams will involve plants parts left at
numbered stations.  These "parts" may be fresh foliage, twigs, fruit or cones,
bark, roots, or herbarium sheets, and you will be asked to identify the family,
genus, species, and common name of the plant to which that part belongs.  For
each exam you are given 1/2 hour to identify 25 plants, and you may move from
station to station at your own pace.  For more information on these exams, check
out Strange Happenings.  The Halloween Howl is worth 13% of your final grade,
and the Christmas Sing is worth 19%.

Lecture Exams
There will be two lecture exams given during class time on Thursday, October 21
and Thursday, December 9.  Your room assignment and the material you are
responsible for will be announced in class.  Each lecture exam is worth 20% of
your final grade.

Notice:  THERE WILL BE NO MAKE UPS FOR LECTURE EXAMS,
FIELD EXAMS, OR INDOOR  ID EXAMS.  Check with your instructor if you
have problems or questions.

Grading Philosophy
     Woody Plants is a performance-based field course.  We expect you to perform
well on examinations and quizzes in order to receive a favorable grade.  The
grading scale is slightly curved at the end of the course, but the extent of that curve
is not determined until all grading is completed in December.  In most cases students
that score above 90% will be in the "A" range, those above 80% in the "B" range,
etc.  Therefore, you should constantly strive to perform as if the grading was not
curved - - that way you will more likely get the grade you are expecting by the end
of the term.  There are no guarantees of the grading scale until the term is complete.
Check with your GSI for updates on your status in the course as you move along.
     Graduate students are first looked at separately form undergraduate students.
Their grades are only assigned separately if they negatively affect the
undergraduate students.  Otherwise, all students are generally graded together.
     The combined field portions of this course are worth a collective 60% of your
final grade.  However, you may not do well in Woody Plants by doing well in the
field alone.  We use the general rule that in order for a student to get an "A" in the
course, he or she must have scored a solid "A" on at least one of the lecture exams.
Likewise, you must get a solid "B" on at least one of the lecture exams to get a "B"
in the course.  This means that even if you are a stellar field student and are
excelling in the lab, you cannot receive an "A" grade unless you do well on the
lecture exams.

Examination Schedules and their Percentages of Final Grade
 

Test	Date	Percentages
Quizzes	Beginning September 18	10% Total
Lecture Exam I	October 19	20%
Field Midterm	October 23, 24, 25	9%
Halloween Howl	October 26, nighttime!!	13%
Field Final	November 20, 21, 22	9%
Lecture Exam II	December 12	20%
Christmas Sing	December 21, 10:30-12:30	19%