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 examlet, 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

Previusly students have asked to take part in class activities despite not being officially registered for the class, and we are 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, we are 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:

• 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. 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 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 due every other week except for examlet weeks. These will, 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.

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.

• 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 softly avoid any misunderstanding, we reserve the right to file a FAIR allegation for any violation of the UIUC student code.

Examlets and Final Exam

There will be three examlets (i.e. midterms) during the semester, along with a longer final exam. The examlets and the final exam will take place in a computer-based testing facility ("CBTF") in the basement of Grainger Library. The examlets will be offered over a period of a few days. You must schedule an one-hour-long (final exam likely to be three-hour long) 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 examlets and the final are cumulative.

Taking Examlets

• You will take your examlets as scheduled with the CBTF. If you do not take the examlet (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 examlet will be counted as a zero.

• Please notify the instructor and course staff of any conflict with an exam time or absence as early as possible. We will try to be flexible about accomodating conflicts due to exceptional circumstances this semester, but it may not be possible to do so if exams are missed and we are not notified in a timely manner.

• No aids other than a writing utensil and paper provided by the facility are allowed in examlets. 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 examlet, you will receive a grade of zero for the examlet.

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

• 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.

Extra Credit Opportunities

If you are enrolled in the 3-credit hour section, you may complete the 4-credit hour homework problems for extra credit (amount will be specified in homework, and less than the 4-credit hour point value).

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. Please see also the Collaboration on Homework Section above.

Special Requests

We are usually willing to provide quiz and homework extensions or make other exceptions provided the a well-justified request is made in a timely manner. By far the best way to get a prompt response to such questions or other pesonal issues related to the class is to post a private message on Piazza.