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Syllabus

Marking

Assignments

Schedule

There are three components to the course marking.

Students must pass the final to pass the course.

Students must complete at least 3 of the 4 assignments to pass the course.

I (Shermer) am the final arbiter of what constitutes "passing" on the final and whether or not an assignment is "completed".

I weight student scores as above and total them at the end of the term. I then look at the totals, divide those into groups at any obvious dividing lines (and then at some less obvious ones) and assign each group of totals a letter-based mark. I typically take my overall impression of the quality of the work and exam performance into account; if the class seems to be doing well, the marks are on the higher side. If they're not doing so well, the marks are on the lower side.

So DO NOT assume that marks of x% correspond to some letter grade of Y, for any x and Y. To know how you're doing, find your relative place in the class by examining performance statistics (grade distributions) from courses.cs.sfu.ca. Then listen to see if I say I think the class is lagging or really getting it.

Assignments will be marked by running your submissions against a suite of tests, and possibly doing random spot checks in your code. We do not reveal the test suite while you are working on the assignment; you must code to the specification and not the tests.

Assignments are due at 11:59pm on the due date; midnight or later is considered late. Assignments are accepted late at a 10% per weekday penalty for up to 5 weekdays (1 week). Any student who finds themselves unable to meet an assignment deadline should make an appointment to see me to discuss their standing in the course and if there are any remedies available.