My "senior seminar" for my undergraduate degree had the most ingenious grading system I've ever encountered, called the "cookie system". While working on your p

My "senior seminar" for my undergraduate degree had the most ingenious grading system I've ever encountered, called the "cookie system". While working on your paper throughout the semester you had to meet certain milestones. Each milestone was due at 6pm and there were the following grading rules: - if you reach the milestone before 6pm you gain one "cookie" - if you reach it after 6pm but before midnight, no cookie - you lose 1 cookie for each day it's late, starting at midnight the day after it was due - if you at any point during the semester reach a negative amount of cookies, you instantly fail the class - the final paper is graded pass/fail This has the advantage that it keeps students on track, but the final grade is just a result of their actual knowledge and the final paper. The first few milestones were trivial to meet so you get a little buffer if you're late for some reason. In my year not a single person failed due to lack of cookies either