Grading Policies

Grade

Your grade is composed of the following components:

Grading Scale

All your grade components will be added up with the percentage weights indicated and result in a single number. This number will determine your letter grade, according to the following scales:

General Rules

• After grades are released for any homework set, quiz, or exam, you have two weeks in order to clarify any misgivings you may have about the grade you received. Once two weeks have passed, the assigned grade is considered accepted and no further complaints will be considered.

Registration

CS 357 is, unfortunately, too popular for its own good, leading to annoyances like waitlists and sections with controlled access.

Some of you have asked to take part in class activities despite not being officially registered for the class, and I am usually happy to make this possible. If you choose to make use of this, you will be held to the same standard as every other student that is officially registered for the class, and, at the discretion of the instructor, work you do as part of this 'unofficial' participation may be eligible for class credit if you later become officially registered.

However, please keep the following two things in mind:

1. While it is quite likely that spots will open up as the semester continues, I am unable to promise that this will happen.

2. As long as you are not officially signed up (check with the academic office in 1210 Siebel if you're not sure), you will not receive university credit for the work you are doing.

In particular being "enrolled" in the course on this site has no administrative significance to the university. What matters is enrollment as shown in the UIUC self-service application.

Online quizzes

There will be a small amount of pre-class material along with a short quiz before each class. All these quizzes (also the one on grading policies!) contribute a small amount to your grade.

These rules apply to the quizzes, unless otherwise stated:

• Pre-lecture material and associated quizzes will be posted 24 hours before the lecture at the latest. You will find links to this material on the class calendar page in the section for the upcoming lecture.

• Quizzes will usually allow three graded attempts.

  Of these, the one with the higher grade will count.

• We obviously can't keep you from looking up information while you're taking the quiz. To an extent, that's fine. Nonetheless, try to do as much of the quiz as you can from memory. You'll learn more.

• Please don't take these quizzes as a group, or speak with your peers about the answers.

• Each quiz has a deadline. Usually, that deadline will be the beginning of the next class. After that deadline has passed, you can still take the quiz for half-credit for three days. Once that period has passed, you will still be able to review your answers and the correct answer, but you will not be allowed to take the quiz again for credit. (You may repeat the quiz to practice, however.)

• There is no time limit on these quizzes other than the deadline. (I.e. if it takes you a day to complete the quiz, that's fine, as long as you click "End Session" and "Confirm" before the deadline.)

  If you do not submit your quiz before the deadline, it will automatically roll over to half-credit.

  After the half-credit deadline expires, you will lose the ability to make changes to your quiz. The current state of the quiz at that point will count as your submitted answer (for half credit).

• IMPORTANT: You must fully submit your entire quiz in order to receive credit. To do so, you must press the "Submit Assignment" button in the upper right corner. This is separate from submitting a final answer to a single question. Failure to submit the entire quiz, regardless of whether answers were saved for individual questions, will result in no credit.

Homework

Homework sets will be bi-weekly, alternating with examlets. These will be generally be long-form and require some coding as well as theory work. The due dates are shown on the start page of each homework set and in the class calendar.

[Edit: Added Oct 24 2016]

For homework sets that are split into Part 1 and Part 2, Part 1 will be worth 50% of the grade for that homework set, and Part 2 will be worth the other 50%. Part 1 will be be counted at 120% credit (i.e. up to 20% extra credit) if it is turned in by the early deadline (as shown in the class calendar).

[End Edit]

Late homework

• Homework submitted after the deadline will count for half of its original worth. This offer is good for up to one week after the original deadline. After that, no late work will be accepted.

• Solutions to the homework sets will be posted after the due date. If you are submitting homework for the half-credit due date, feel free to use the posted solutions in writing up your own solution. You may however not directly copy the sample solution. What you submit must still be written by you, not just copied.

Grading

You get exactly one submission per homework set. In particular, this means that:

• After you click "Submit Assignment" in the top right corner, you will not be able to make changes to your work.

• Unlike quizzes, homework sets expire automatically at (or soon after) the deadline. If you would like to make use of the half-credit opportunity, you must select "At deadline: Do not submit session for grading". Otherwise, the homework set will automatically be submitted at the deadline. This is particularly true if you have not worked on the homework set at all but wish to work on it during the half-credit period.

• We do not accept partial submissions on the homework. (e.g. we won't let you submit problem 1 and 2 before and 3, 4, 5 after the deadline.) There will also be no resubmissions of work already graded. If, between the posted solution and your graded work, you still have questions, feel free to raise those on Piazza or during the TA's office hours.

Collaboration on Homework

• You may discuss your approach (but not your code or your writeups) with your peers. All parts of each homework set must be your own work. You must have typed/written every part of your homework yourself. In some cases, code/pieces of work from elsewhere may be allowed--if so, this will be stated in the instructions. In that case, you must acknowledge the source.

• If we notice that your work has considerable overlap with someone else's (and we do check), the both of you should be ready to have an unpleasant conversation and face penalites as provided by campus rules regarding academic honesty.

Examlets and Final Exam

There will be an "examlet" every two weeks during the semester, along with a longer final exam. The examlets and the final will take place in a computer-based testing facility ("CBTF") in the basement of Grainger Library. The exams will be offered over a period of a few days. You must schedule an hour-long block within that time span in which to take the exam. You must schedule your exam using a self-service web site provided by the facility. Instructions will be given in the class calendar.

All examlets and the final are cumulative.

Taking Exams

• You will take your exams as scheduled with the CBTF, and only on the scheduled day and time. If a student does not take the exam (e.g. by not scheduling an appointment, by not reporting to the facility at the scheduled time, or by not performing the required work), the exam will be counted as a zero.

• There will be no exceptions to the exam scheduling policy except in cases of severe emergency (e.g., loss of life or limb). Examples of events that do not qualify as emergencies include (but are not limited to): transportation problems, conflict with work schedule, important family vacation, or computer problems. The policies of the facility apply during each exam for aspects such as late arrival and emergency closures.

• For any type of foreseeable absence, documentation must be received by the instructor at least one week before the exam to be acceptable, at which point the instructor will determine whether a make-up exam will be allowed.

  Make-up exams are not allowed without proper documentation as described above or for university-approved activities. Make-up exams are not allowed for any type of unexcused absences, including missing class to study for a test, oversleeping, not being ready to take the exam, or having to work at an outside job.

  For health-related or other absence because of an emergency, the instructor must be notified at least two hours prior to the exam to receive consideration for a make-up exam, but preferably as early as possible. An hour before the exam at the latest, the instructor will provide guidance on whether a make-up exam will be allowed.

• No aids other than a writing utensil and paper provided by the facility are allowed in exams. In particular: If you are seen near a phone, MP3 player or other digital device (turned on or not--it does not matter) during an exam, you will receive a grade of zero for the exam.

• Only exams taken in accordance with these rules will receive credit. Any deviation from these rules will lead to the exam in question being assinged a grade of zero.

Conflict exams

Since you will be allowed to take the exam at the exam center over a period of a few days, conflict exams will generally not be provided.

Accommodations

Please let me (Andreas) know as soon as you can if you need special accommodations (extra time etc.) on exams. Thanks! Send accommodations email now »

Extra credit opportunities

• Ask and answer good questions on Piazza. Every numerics-related question that an instructor marks as a good question/answer is worth 0.1 points on your final course grade, up to a maximum of 1 point.

• Turn in part 1 of the homework early. That way it's worth 120% instead of 100% of its grade.

• Do very well on exams. 100% on an exam is awarded even when you make a mistake on some questions. (See each exam's rules/start page for details on how many.) If you get more questions right than the 100% standard, those points are yours to keep.

Student responsibilities

Please read and understand the UIUC student code (link opens PDF).

In particular, make sure to read and understand Paragraph §1‑402. The rules there along with the rules in this tutorial form the foundation for making sure you and everyone else in the class receive a fair, transparent grade.