Grading Policies

Grade guidelines

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:

Grade Acceptance and Complaint Period

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 three weeks have passed, the assigned grade is considered accepted and no further complaints will be considered.

Registration

CS 450 is popular and quite full!

Being "enrolled" in the course on the relate system 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 short quiz due before each class. All quizzes contribute a small amount to your grade. The intent of these quizzes is to remind you of the material covered in the prior lecture and to help you practice applying it. Each quiz is intended to be short.

These rules apply to the quizzes, unless otherwise stated:

• Quizzes will be posted 24 hours before the next lecture. 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.

• Please don't take these quizzes as a group, or speak with your peers about the answers. The same academic integrity policy as for homework applies, for further details see the Section of this document regarding Collaboration on Homework.

• Each quiz has a deadline. Generally, that deadline will be before 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 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, 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

There will be generally weekly longer-form homework sets over the course of the semester. One of these sets will be due every Friday, as shown in the class calendar. Homework sets due in exam weeks will be lighter than in other weeks.

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.

Homework will typically come out at the end of a week and be due the following Friday, as indicated in the class calendar. Each homework set will typically consist of a combination of coding and written responses.

• 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.

• 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 TAs' office hours.

• Homework sets submit themselves 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 will not 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.

• Code from demos as well as submissions/answers from previous semesters may not be used in coding problem submissions. Unless otherwise stated, you should submit code you have written from scratch.

• If we notice that your work has considerable overlap with someone else's or with old submissions or solutions (and we do check), you will receive a warning and be asked to resubmit on first violation. On the second violation, a zero will be given for the assignment and a FAIR allegation will be filed. While this policy is intended to avoid any misunderstanding, we reserve the right to file a FAIR allegation for any violation of the UIUC student code.

Midterms and Final Exam

There will be two midterm exams during the semester, along with a longer final exam. The midterms and the final exam will take place in a computer-based testing facility ("CBTF"). The midterms will be offered over a period of a few days. You must schedule an 1h50m (final exam likely to be longer) block within that time span in which to take the examlet. You must schedule your examlet using a self-service web site provided by the facility. Instructions will be given in the class calendar.

All midterms 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 you do 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 for a grade of 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 exams, 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 exams to receive consideration for a make-up exams, but preferably as early as possible. An hour before the exams at the latest, the instructor will provide guidance on whether a make-up exams 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 exams, you will receive a grade of zero for the exams.

• 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.

CBTF Policies

• This course uses the College of Engineering Computer-Based Testing Facility (CBTF) for its exams and its final exam: https://cbtf.engr.illinois.edu.

• The policies of the CBTF are the policies of this course, and academic integrity infractions related to the CBTF are infractions in this course.

• If you have accommodations identified by the Division of Rehabilitation-Education Services (DRES) for exams, please take your Letter of Accomodation (LOA) to the CBTF proctors in person before you make your first exam reservation. The proctors will advise you as to whether the CBTF provides your accommodations or whether you will need to make other arrangements with your instructor.

• Any problem with testing in the CBTF must be reported to CBTF staff at the time the problem occurs. If you do not inform a proctor of a problem during the test, then you forfeit all rights to redress.

Conflict exams

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

Student responsibilities

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

4th Credit Option

If you are enrolled in CS 450 for 4 credit hours, you will need to complete additional questions for several of the homework assignments. Registration for the section has been opened for undergraduates as well. The extra problems will be calculated as part of your total homework score.