GRADING POLICY

Final Score Determination

• three exams: up to 25 points each, 75 points total
• 13 weekly HW assignments (weighted by your performance on follow-up quizzes): up to 5 points
• 10 weekly discussion session quizzes: up to 20 points
• HITT-based quizzes: up to 5 BONUS points

Exams

where f_E = (number of correctly answered questions) / (number of problems on the exam, i.e. 20)

Therefore, each exam will count up to maximum 25 points toward your final grade.

Should you have to miss any of the three exams for a legitimate and documented reason, one and only one make-up is possible. The make-up will be offered at the end of the semester; it will be a cumulative exam based on the entire course material.

Homework

• The schedule of 13 weekly homework assignments is given at Course Schedule.
  
  
• You must click the Submit Answer button for the system to record your response. The HW system will provide you with instant feedback on whether or not your answer is correct, and you will be permitted five tries (until the due date/time) to get the answer right, and receive credit. To be accepted, your answer should be within ±2% from the correct one. Do not round off numbers in the intermediate calculations to avoid the loss of the precision. Enter your final answer with at least three significant digits.
  
  
• The due date and time are on Mondays at 10:00 pm. You will not be able to submit your homework past the deadline, regardless of the reason (participation in various events, sickness, computer system freeze, loss of internet connection, etc.). No make-ups for the missed homework assignments are possible.
  
  
• Your scores for the homework assignments will be weighted by your performance on the follow-up quizzes (which will be based on the homework problems):

  [HW Weighted Score] = f_H x f_Q

  where f_H = (HW points) / (max HW points)
  and f_Q = (Quiz points) / (max Quiz points)

  If f_Q ≥ 0.9, then we will take [HW Weighted Score] = 1. In other words, if you demonstrate mastery of the homework content by scoring in the top 10% of your quiz score, it doesn't matter what your homework score was that week, even if it was zero. But do keep in mind that to do well on the quizzes and the exams, you should understand how to solve the homework problems!

• Some homework assignments do not have follow-up quizzes; for these assignment [HW Weighted Score] = f_H x 1

To provide some (10%) forgiveness for illnesses and other challenges that life may throw at you, this total score will be divided by 0.9 at the end of the semester.

[Final HW Score] = [ Sum of 13 HW Weighted Scores ] / ( 0.9 x 13 ) x 5.

If the score exceeds 5, it will be truncated at 5.

Why do we weigh the homework by your performance on quiz ? We believe this scheme strongly motivates students to do homework assignments by giving them an explicit "money value", but, at the same time, discourages cheating on homework assignments by devaluing raw HW points, should one fail to confirm his/her understanding of the material at the time of a follow-up quizzes.

Discussion section quizzes

If the score exceeds 20, it will be truncated at 20.

Make-ups for the missed quizzes are possible only if you have a legitimate and documented excuse. The decision on whether the excuse is acceptable or not will be made by one of the lecturers, not by your TA. Make-ups must be arranged with your TA no later than within one week after the missed quiz and the make-up quiz should be taken no later than within three weeks (unless there are very special circumstances). No make-ups will be allowed after that. No make-ups will be allowed during the last week of the course. Students can make up no more than 2 quizzes.

HITT quick quizzes

Letter Grade

Total minimal scores (out of 100 points) ensuring a particular letter-grade are shown below. None of the scores will be rounded. The scale is absolute and will not be adjusted to a curve; hence, there is no competition between students.