Problem sets (0%): There will be six problem sets. Please note the following:

• No grades: The problem sets are to help you practice problems and will not be graded. However, solving problem sets will be useful: you may see similar questions in exams and quizzes.
• Collaboration encouraged: You are strongly encouraged to collaborate with other students on solving the problem sets. This is perhaps one of the best ways to learn and discuss computer networking concepts.
• Discussions during office hours and over Piazza: The TAs will discuss solutions with you in their office hours, or over Piazza. Feel free to ask any questions regarding problem sets.
• Solutions: We will release the solutions to all the problem sets within a week of releasing the problem set. The idea here is to give you enough time to try and work out the solutions (hopefully in collaboration with other students) and then check your solutions against those in the problem sets.

Projects (0%): There will be four projects. Please note the following:

• No grades: The projects are to help you practice programming networks, and will not be graded. However, solving projects will be useful: you may see similar questions in exams and quizzes.
• Collaboration encouraged: You are strongly encouraged to collaborate with other students on solving the projects. This is perhaps one of the best ways to learn and discuss computer networks programming.
• Discussions during office hours and over Piazza: The TAs will discuss solutions with you in their office hours, or over Piazza. Feel free to ask any questions regarding projects.
• Solutions: We will release the solutions to all the projects within a week of releasing the project. The idea here is to give you enough time to try and work out the solutions (hopefully in collaboration with other students) and then check your solutions against those in the projects.

In-class surprise quizzes (20%): There will be several in-class surprise quizzes. Please note the following:

• No announcement: The whole point of having surprise quizzes is to have you review the material on a regular basis. Thus, the quizzes can happen any day and at any point during the lecture.
• Unknown number of quizzes: There may be a quiz every lecture, or there may be no quiz at all. All quizzes will contribute equally to this component of your grade.
• Closed book: All quizzes are closed-book and closed-notes.
• If anyone is found cheating during a quiz, both the copy-ers and the copy-ees will get a straight F grade -- yes, its your responsibility to ensure that nobody can see your solutions. See the academic integrity section below.

Update: We expected to have 5 quizzes. Since we have had only 2 quizzes so far, we will pro-rate the quiz weight for final grade to anywhere between 0% to 8% (rest will be for prelim and final), and take the one that gets you the best grade.

Prelim exam (30%): There will be one prelim in the course. Please note the following:

• The prelim is on 03/26. Please let us know as soon as possible if you have a conflict.
• The prelim will cover material from lectures, quizzes, projects and problem sets until 03/17. So, nothing in the prelim will be based on material covered after 03/17.
• The prelim is closed-book and closed-notes.
• If anyone is found cheating in the prelim, both the copy-ers and the copy-ees will get a straight F grade -- yes, its your responsibility to ensure that nobody can see your solutions. See the academic integrity section below.

Update: We expected the prelim to contribute to 30% weight of your final grade. However, we understand that students are going through rough times, and no single weighting mechanism will be the best for every student. To provide maximum flexibility, we will use your prelim to contribute to your final grade anywhere between 20% to 75% (rest will be for quizzes and finals), and take the one that gets you the best grade.

Final exam (45%): Please note the following:

• The final is on 05/11. Please let us know as soon as possible if you have a conflict.
• The final will cover material from lectures, quizzes, projects and problem sets.
• The final is closed-book and closed-notes.
• If anyone is found cheating in the final, both the copy-ers and the copy-ees will get a straight F grade -- yes, its your responsibility to ensure that nobody can see your solutions. See the academic integrity section below.

Update: We expected the final to contribute to 45% weight of your course grade. However, we understand that students are going through rough times, and no single weighting mechanism will be the best for every student. To provide maximum flexibility, we will use your final to contribute to your course grade anywhere between 20% to 75% (rest will be for quizzes and prelim), and take the one that gets you the best grade.

Course evaluations (5%): If you fill out the course evaluations, you get the entire 5% marks.

Update: We expected the final to contribute to 45% weight of your course grade. However, we understand that students are going through rough times, and no single weighting mechanism will be the best for every student. To provide maximum flexibility, we will use your final to contribute to your course grade anywhere between 20% to 80% (rest will be for quizzes and prelim), and take the one that gets you the best grade.

Lets understand a bit more Let your quiz marks be q, your prelim marks be p and your final marks be f (all scaled to 100%). Then, let α, β, and γ be such that 0 ≤ α ≤ 0.08, 0.20 ≤ β ≤ 0.75, and 0.20 ≤ γ ≤ 0.75, and α + β + γ = 1. Then, we will choose the values of α, β, and γ that will satisfy the above equations and maximize α*q + β*p + γ*f. Hence, if you do your best in the finals, that would contribute the most to your grade and if you do your best in the prelim, that will contribute the most to your grade. The only way to get a bad grade is to do bad in *all* exams :-) And, I trust all of you will be able to avoid that situation!

Make up project: Announced in the class after the prelims.

Update: Since we are already providing maximum possible flexibility (as discussed above), there will be no make-up projects.