This page is for a prior offering of CS 3330. It is not up-to-date.
This course has its own gradebook page where feedback on labs and homeworks can be found. Quiz grades can be seen on the quiz page.
Grading is one of the aspects of a course that instructors enjoy even less than students. Still, we are stuck with them, so here goes.
| Portion of course | Percentage of Final Grade |
|---|---|
| Quizzes | 10% |
| Exam 1 | 15% |
| Exam 2 | 15% |
| Final Exam | 20% |
| Homework + Labs | 40% |
Your final grade is computed based on the percentage of points you have earned and is designed to match the GPA value of each letter. For some reason, that is not a linear scale: for example, A- − B+ = 0.4 grade points while B+ − B = 0.3 grade points. For some even more obscure reason, the most common grading scale I have seen is also not linear but differently spaced than the grade points. Following is a scale spaced like the grade point scale:
| You get | if you score | Which is worth |
|---|---|---|
| A+ | near the top | 4.0 |
| A | ≥ 93% | 4.0 |
| A− | ≥ 90% | 3.7 |
| B+ | ≥ 86% | 3.3 |
| B | ≥ 83% | 3.0 |
| B− | ≥ 80% | 2.7 |
| C+ | ≥ 76% | 2.3 |
| C | ≥ 73% | 2.0 |
| C− | ≥ 70% | 1.7 |
| D+ | ≥ 66% | 1.3 |
| D | ≥ 63% | 1.0 |
| D− | ≥ 60% | 0.7 |
| F | otherwise |
We do not round grades. 92.99% is not ≥ 93% and is thus an A−, not an A.
We do not curve grades: if you all fail, you all fail; if you all ace, you all ace. However, rubrics for assignments are not linear: instead, we determine how well we expect a passing student to perform and assign a per-assignment rubric to match. This is common practice for homework in CS; it is less common for exams. Our exams might feel unusually difficult as a consequence; CS 3330 has not yet had a student get all questions on a final exam correct since these format exams were introduced, though we have had students hit the full credit
mark on my final exam rubric.
Late homework submissions will receive a 10% penalty up to 48 hours late, and a 15% penalty up to 72 hours late, and will not be accepted past that time. Late quizzes will not be accepted, but approximately 10% of quiz scores will be dropped (exact math is not quite that clean since different quizzes are worth different numbers of points, but we’ll approximate 10% as closely as we can). Late labs will usually not be accepted. Exams makeups will be handled case-by-case as needed.
If we believe you have cheated, we may apply an arbitrarily harsh grade penalty up to and including an F in the course. This penalty is independent of (and potentially in addition to) any findings of the University Honor System.
If you need any kind of special accommodations, including but not limited to disability, learning needs, or personal circumstances, please contact us as soon as you are aware of these needs. We aim to be as accommodating and fair as possible.
If you are not sure if your situation warrants special attention, ask us.