The Very Sad Story of Filboid Studge, Negligent Student 
The Very Sad Story of Filboid Studge, Negligent Student Here's a hypothetical situation to show what would happen to a student's course grade if s/he did not qualify for enhanced grading.
For convenience, I'll call the student "Filboid Studge" - "Fil" for short - and I'll pretend the student is male. In the past, however, I've seen students of other genders hurl themselves into the Abysmal Quagmire of Lowered Grades in the very same way. (And similarly for other groups, minorities, etc. - this is an equal opportunity mistake.)
Until now, Fil's done pretty well in the course. His scores are these:
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|
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| First hour exam | 4 correct @ 5 points |
| Second hour exam | 18 correct @ 5 points |
| Third hour exam | 17 correct @ 5 points |
| OPTIONAL Final | 43 correct @ 2 points |
| Intuition Inventory (1&2) | 4 points added to final average |
| Dualism paper parts A. and B. | 70 points (10% of grade) |
The rule from the syllabus says that the larger of the following two determine his course grade if he qualifies for ENHANCED grading by following all the rules for all three parts of the dualism paper:
i) 0.3*(4*5 + 18*5 + 17*5) + 0.1*70 + 4 = 71 = C-
ii) 0.3*(43*2 + 18*5 + 17*5) + 0.1*70 + 4 = 89.3 = B+
-that is, he's headed for a B+! Hooray for Fil! :~)
But alas, Fil did not follow all the rules in part C. of the dualism paper, so he did not follow all the rules for all three parts of the paper. So his course grade is now calculated in this unenhanced way:
Larger of
0.3*(20/130 + 90/130 + 85/130)% + 0.0*70 + 0
= 0.3*(15.4+69.2+65.4)%
= 45%
= F.
and
0.3*(43*2 + 90/130 + 85/130)% + 0.0*70 + 0
=0.3*(86+69.2+65.4)
= 66.2
= D+
D+ for Fil! :+( Bummer.
Even if Fil had initially earned perfect scores on all three hour exams
0.3*(130+130 +130) +0.1*70 + 4 = 128 = A+
his failure to follow all the rules for part C. of the dualism paper would yield instead
0.3*(100+100+100) + 0.0*70 + 0 = 90 = B+.
But it's even worse than it seems.
By the way, Fil's a senior whose future employer, Consolidated Conglomerates Industries Corporation, Inc., has offered him a $3000 bonus if he earns a high enough overall GPA and he's now failed to meet that goal. So he does not get the bonus.
Fil cannot keep up on the co-payments for his medical treatments (never mind the gruesome details, which are none of your business anyway). He sickens, loses his job, is abandoned by his partner, and dies alone in a ditch.
But you can avoid Fil's fate and the Abysmal Quagmire of Unenhanced Grading.