Final Answer:
Students who have not seriously attempted to contribute to the section component of the course may have their final course grade lowered by up to 10%.
Explanation:
The section component contributes a specific percentage to the final course grade, let's assume it's 30%. If a student hasn't engaged in this component, they could potentially lose up to the entire 30% allotted for it. Considering the entire course is weighted at 100%, deducting 30% could reduce the overall grade by 30% of 30%, which is 9%. However, the penalty is usually capped to a certain extent, often up to 10% of the final course grade.
Let's consider a hypothetical scenario where a student's final course grade before the section component deduction is 85%. With a potential 9% deduction due to lack of contribution in the section, the new calculated grade becomes 76%. However, since the maximum penalty is 10%, the final deduction will be limited to that cap, bringing the grade down to 75%. This penalty acts as a significant motivator for students to actively participate in the section component while not excessively penalizing them to a point where their efforts in other course components become negligible.
In essence, while non-participation in the section component can impact the final grade significantly, educational institutions typically implement a reasonable cap to ensure that while consequences are felt, they remain proportionate to the overall course performance and encourage engagement in all facets of the learning experience.