Grading Policies
Grade guidelines
Your grade is composed of the following components:
Percentage | Component |
---|---|
10 | Online quizzes |
25 | Homework |
20 | Midterm 1 |
20 | Midterm 2 |
25 | Final |
Grading Scale
Your total score for the course will be determined from the table above. The total score will determine your letter grade, according to the following scale:
Grade | Point Range |
---|---|
A+ | [97, 100) |
A | [93, 97) |
A- | [90, 93) |
B+ | [87, 90) |
B | [83, 87) |
B- | [80, 83) |
C+ | [77, 80) |
C | [73, 77) |
C- | [70, 73) |
D+ | [67, 70) |
D | [63, 67) |
D- | [60, 63) |
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 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 many of the lectures (not all lectures will have an associated quiz). All quizzes contribute a small amount to your grade (above). The intent of these quizzes is to help familiarize yourself with the material covered in the previous and upcoming lecture. Each quiz is intended to be short.
These rules apply to the quizzes, unless otherwise stated:
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Quizzes will be posted at least 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.
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Quizzes will usually allow three graded attempts.
Of these, the one with the higher grade will count.
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Please don't take these quizzes as a group, or collaborate with your peers on the answers.
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Each quiz has a deadline. Generally, that deadline will be before the beginning of the posted lecture. 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.)
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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).
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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:
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After you click "Submit Assignment" in the top right corner, you will not be able to make changes to your work.
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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 chat or during TA office hours.
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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.
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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 chat or during TA office hours.
Collaboration on Homework
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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.
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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.
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If we notice that your work has considerable overlap with someone else's or with old submissions or solutions (and we do check), it will be considered for an automatic zero and for filing to FAIR. 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 final exam. The midterms and the final exam will by proctored through the computer-based testing facility ("CBTF").
All midterms and the final are cumulative.
Taking exams
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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.
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There will be no exceptions to the exam scheduling policy except in cases of severe emergency. Examples of events that do not qualify as emergencies include (but are not limited to): transportation problems, conflict with work schedule, important family vacation, etc.
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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.
CBTF Policies
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This course uses the College of Engineering Computer-Based Testing Facility (CBTF) for its exams and its final exam: https://cbtf.engr.illinois.edu.
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The policies of the CBTF are the policies of this course, and academic integrity infractions related to the CBTF are infractions in this course.
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If you have accommodations identified by the Division of Rehabilitation-Education Services (DRES) for exams, please coordinate with the instructor.
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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.
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.