CSE 131 / 501N (Fall 2013) Grading Policy

Your semester score is computed as the following weighted average:

Participation

Reading assignments are posted before each lecture. Using WUTexter, you can respond to questions at the beginning of each class.

Your score for this component is based on your responding to these questions.

You don't have to get every question right to earn a perfect participation score. However, you must show by your responses that you are prepared for class.

Quizzes

Quizzes will be given in your lab section meetings, the week after your work for a given module is due. We will automatically drop your lowest quiz grade. No make-up quizzes will be given.

Studios

You earn credit for studios simply by participation. The studios are an important component of how material is learned in this course. They are essentially a substitute for lecture, except that you learn actively by doing rather than by listening.

At the end of each studio session, you are cleared by a TA and your participation is automatically recorded.

• You are allowed one unexcused studio absence without penalty.
• Any excused absence can be made up with the TAs during their office hours. Prior permission is required from the instructor for the absence to be considered excused.
• Any other studio absence drops your overall studio score to zero, which essentially lowers your final grade in the course by one letter.

Exams

The course divides into thirds and an exam will be given after each third. The dates for these will be shown on the course calendar and syllabus.

Each module includes practice problems so you can prepare for the exams. Also, a review session will be conducted before each exam.

There is no comprehensive final exam for this course. However, the third exam will be given during the scheduled final exam period for this course.

Because of conflicts in scheduling evening exams for our course in Fall 2013, I will be dropping everybody's lowest exam score.

This means that your best 2 out of 3 exams will count for 30% of your course grade.

Labs

Each module of this course has a lab assignment. Most labs are graded by the demo you perform in front of a TA. The TA will inspect your code, watch your demo, and pass you on that lab assignment if both are satisfactory.

We reserve the right to inspect your labs for style, and to refuse credit for labs do not meet the style standards for this course. In such cases you may resubmit the work as a late lab (see below).

Labs are due as posted on the course calendar and syllabus.

We realize that you are taking other courses, and that you may occasionally need more time to complete a lab. You are given a certain number of late-lab coupons as described in the late policy, and these are spent automatically when you demo a lab after its regular deadline and before its late deadline.

Once you are out of coupons, no other late labs will count toward your lab score.

Your lab score is the fraction of labs you have completed as compared to those assigned. Thus, your lab score will be 100% if all labs are completed as described above.

Extensions

While the labs test your basic knowledge of the course material, the extensions serve both to reinforce each module specifically but also to integrate techinques between the modules.

Extensions are demonstrated like labs, with a TA evaluating both your code and its functionality. Please read the following carefully concerning how extension points are counted.

• Each extension is worth a certain number of points, as shown on the extension's page and in this table .
• Points for the extensions you successfully demo accumulate and count towards your extension score, subject to the constraints articulated below. If you meet the contraints, let's call the associated points valid.
• Your fractional (or percentage) score for extensions, overall, is simply the sum of your valid extension points, taken out of 100.
• Valid points in excess of 100 still count toward your extension score, thus effectively earning you extra points that count toward your overall grade, in proportion to the weight given to your extension score.

  For example, if extensions count 25% toward your overall course score, then each 4 points over 100 that you earn in valid extension points adds one point to your overall course score.

• The validity of your extension points is associated with turning in a certain number of points by deadlines that are shown on the course calendar.
• The calendar will divide your extension points into n groups. If we number the deadlines 1, 2, …, n, then i/n points are due at the i^th deadline.

  For example, if there are 3 deadlines, 1/3 of your points are due at the first deadline, 2/3 are due by the second deadline, and all of your points are due by the third deadline.

• Important! At each deadline, the maximum number of points you can earn is limited by how many you have at that deadline. Each deadline i limits the total points you can earn for extensions to n/i the points you have at the i^th deadline.

  Continuing the example, you will be awarded no more than 3 times the points you have at your first deadline, 3/2 the points you have at your second deadline, and 3/3 the points you have at the third deadline.

• No valid points can be earned after the final deadline.

Extensions can be submitted at any of the following times:

• At the time you demo/submit the module related to the extension.
• During any of the extensions fests that are held during the semester. These are shown on the course calendar and syllabus.

How are grades assigned?