T-Th 9:05
or
T-Th 11:15
in Olin 155

CS 1110: Introduction to Computing Using Python

Spring 2018

Grading

Academic Integrity

Please review our academic integrity policies. We have put some thought into the issues involved and take potential academic integrity issues seriously.

Course Grade Computation

Students Taking the Course for a Letter Grade

To determine your final course grade, at the end of the semester, we first calculate your raw numerical score based on points earned on assignments and exams, according to the following weights.

Final	30%
Prelims	30%
Prelim 1	15%
Prelim 2	15%
Assignments	40%

There will be 5 to 7 assignments, with the later assignments generally having greater weight than the earlier assignments. A possible weighting scheme in the case of 5 assignments is: A1: 4%, A2: 6%, A3: 10%, A4: 10%. A5:10%; the final scheme will be announced sometime during the semester.

Then, we make preliminary score-to-grade conversions. (We do not announce or determine grade cutoffs until semester end because we need to adjust for the difficulty of the exams and assignments each semester.)

Then, we consult your lab check-in rates. Up to two labs may be missed; if you have more unexcused absences than that, we reserve the right to reduce your course grade by the equivalent of a "level" (e.g., from B to B-).

Next, we reserve the right to make adjustments if other considerations enter in, such as if your performance gets better or worse as the course progresses; you faced special problems such as illness; we have insight from interacting with you as to how much you learned in the class apart from what you demonstrated on the homeworks and exams; and so on.

A typical distribution for final grades is 35% A, 40% B, 20% C, and 5% D or F. However, that is only a typical (average) distribution, and it is not what we necessarily expect. We tend to assign very few A+s, and reserve the right not to assign any. But, anyone who does A work will get an A, and you are all capable of doing that!

Students Taking the Course S/U

Unlike the policy in other semesters, all students in this course, including those taking it S/U, are expected to take all three exams (the two prelims and the final).

To receive an S, you need to receive a C- or better in the class according the computation described above for letter-grade students. This has the implication that missing more than two labs may result in moving from an S to a U.

Viewing Your Coursework Scores

You can see your exam and assignment grades on the CS Course Management System (CMS); lab checkoffs are recorded on the labs machine. See the labs page for more info.

Regrade Requests

If you feel that the graders have incorrectly graded an assignment, you may request a regrade via the Course Management System (CMS) — see the instructions here. Communication regarding regrade requests will be done only in writing: given the number of staff members involved in handling regrade requests, we need records of all discussions.

Procedures for requesting regrades of exams will be explained in lecture when the grades for the exams are released.

We want to give grades that accurately represent our assessment of your understanding of CS 1110 material. Hence, if you are given a lower score than you should have been, you should absolutely bring it to our attention via the mechanisms just described. However, we must explicitly mention an additional consequence of the importance of grade accuracy: if we notice that you have been assigned more points than you should have been, we are duty-bound to correct such scores downward to the correct value.