I would like to weigh the participation part of your grade much more heavily, but it is difficult to be fair in assigning grades for participation in a class of 35 or so. It provides the most direct route between short-term and long term memory. If you do the following for almost every class, give yourself an A grade. If you typically read the relevant chapter but do not do the homework, give yourself a B. Etc. There are three homework assignments.
Homework is graded either plus, check, minus, or zero.
Homework is considered late if handed in after the beginning of class on the due date. Whether or not you work in a group, you must individually submit homework assignments. One third of the class will do each of the three options. Let me begin with a story. The famous physicist I. Rabi was once asked to account for his successful career.