CS3000: Summary of Assessment
See the grading, policies, logistics page for a more detailed description, especially of the motivation behind particular choices, the why behind the what that is listed here. It also contains basic tips on LaTeX, classroom environment and academic integrity expectations, DRC and accessibility information.
Grading and Assessment
- Each problem's solution is one of:
- [unsatisfactory, somewhat satisfactory, almost/nearly satisfactory, completely satisfactory]
- in letter grades these are roughly: [F/D, C, B, A]
- numerically, there are: [0, 2, 3, 4]
- simpler problems may only use [unsatisfactory, satisfactory] or [0, 4]. A correct/incorrect situation.
- These are determined based solely on how satisfactorily the solution meets correctness+clarity standards/problem specific requirements. If your solution is correct and it is clear, then you meed the requirements and will get a completely satisfactory.
- Collection of problems (a quiz/a problem set) will separately specify how the scores of all problems are aggregated to a single value for a particular bundle. This will be some slight variation on: sum of numerical values divided by number of problems. This is slightly adjusted based on expected problem difficulty and learning outcomes. Sometimes it is easier to describe this using thresholds (see quizzes section below for an example).
- Course grade will be a weighted average of grades in quizzes, problem sets, exams and so on.
- The TAs and instructor will focus on providing very detailed constructive feedback.
- If you do not know how to solve something, then explain what the problem asks for (in your own words) and how far you got (what is your first instinct approach, where you got stuck, what do you need to know to proceed, etc.). This will result in a somewhat satisfactory assessment while an incorrect
word vomitessay will always result in an unsatisfactory.
Letter grade to numerical equivalent follows university guidelines: University Grading System.
| Letter | Score | Satisfactoriness | Alternate explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| A+ | 4.333 | Outstandingly Satisfactory | solved extra credits problems |
| A | 4.000 | Completely Satisfactory | meets requirements/standards |
| A– | 3.667 | ||
| B+ | 3.333 | ||
| B | 3.000 | Nearly Satisfactory | almost meets requirements/standards |
| B– | 2.667 | ||
| C+ | 2.333 | ||
| C | 2.000 | Somewhat Satisfactory | somewhat meets requirements/standards |
| C– | 1.667 | ||
| D+ | 1.333 | ||
| D | 1.000 | Unsatisfactory | does not meet requirements/standards |
| D– | 0.667 | ||
| F | 0.000 | Failure/(Very) Unsatisfactory | does not meet requirements/standards |
Quizzes
- There will be one graded quiz on each Friday (7 in total), conducted on Canvas, time limited to 15-30 minutes. The lowest score on the quizzes will be dropped, so best 6 are graded.
- Most likely, they will consist of 3 multiple choice questions (as in multiple choices might be correct) and two (very) short answer questions. Each is either correct or incorrect.
A quiz's grade is determined based on how many are correct (non-zero score), here's a tentative grading scheme:
A if >= 5/5, B if >= 4/5, C if >= 3/5, D >= 2/5, F otherwise.
Problem Sets
- There will be 6 problem sets; see the Syllabus and Schedule page for release/due dates. The lowest score on these problem sets will be dropped, so best 5 are graded.
- All problem sets will be submitted through Gradescope as a PDF and must be typeset in LaTeX (see the section on the grading, policies, logistics page for details about LaTeX).
- The thresholds/aggregation scheme will be provided alongside each problem set.
- In case of severe discrepancy in instructor estimated difficulty vs. actual difficulty of a problem, the thresholds may be slightly adjusted (to benefit the student).
- It is likely that problem sets will have too many questions but there will be no expectation of every problem being solved. However, we suggest that you try all problems as it will provide more opportunities for building your problem solving skills.
- We urge you to attempt working out all of the problems by yourself first; but collaborating with other students in the class on homework problems is fine. In fact, discussion of ideas and strategies (but not solutions themselves) is highly encouraged. In all cases, you must write up your own solutions, in your own words. Furthermore, if you do collaborate on any problem, you must clearly list all collaborators in your submission. The TAs and I reserve the right to ask you explain your solutions.
- We will allow submitting up to 24 hours late; there are no penalties the first three times, after that your grade drops by 1 point/letter (eg. 3.83 -> 2.83). Beyond 24 hours, we won't accept any submissions. Failure to submit gets you a 0 (will be the lowest score that is dropped).
- Problem sets will also contain certain problems (2-3 at most), which will be marked for collaboration, meant for the collaborative notes (see below).
There will be no graded programming problems but students are encouraged to attempt the problems listed in the recommended programming problems page.
Exams
- Both exams will be open notes (two A4/US letter sized paper sheets => 4 pages/sides).
- Three of four pages will be typeset and provided by the instructor (with inputs from everyone). The last page is for individual additions that the student wishes.
Participation and collaborative notes
5% of the grade is at instructor's discretion based on participation in class. This is informally "graded" and is more a "did the Instructor/TAs/students notice your participation" rather than "do X and do Y to get the 5%".
- Speaking up (asking and answering questions) in class, recitations, on online discussions counts as participation.
- You are also collectively responsible for creating scribe notes. These are notes based on the lectures that are conducted. Students can volunteer or the instructor can randomly assign students to lectures. You can use any resources (that you properly cite) while creating the scribe notes but they must be written in your own words.
- Additionally, every problem set will contain certain problems marked for collaboration whose solutions must also be written up by the class by the problem set deadline.
Collaboration will happen on a private github repo via separate branches and pull requests and what not. Instructor/TAs will sync repo contents to overleaf so that everyone has access to the combined and compiled PDF. Github repo is used to determine contributions (participation/engagement) and the overleaf is for the better UI/UX experience for the LaTeX \(\longrightarrow\) PDF pipeline.
The open notes to be used in exams will primarily come from this collaboratively created content. Writing quality notes will prove useful for exam prep and ensures that this endeavor doesn't disappear into a void.
Course grade
The course grade will be a weighted average using the weights shown below.
| Total | 100% |
|---|---|
| 5 Problem Sets | 35% |
| 6 Quizzes | 15% |
| 1 Midterm Exam | 15% |
| 1 Final Exam | 30% |
| Participation | 5% |