CS 241 Spring 2007 System Programming		Sections:	11-11:50am MWF 1404 Siebel Center for Computer Science

Grading Policy

Absence must be excused prior to exam unless a doctor's certificate or dean's approval is provided.

There will be TWO homeworks (each worth 4% of the grade). They will be posted on the web site "Homework and Machine Problems". Homework must be done by individual students, NOT in groups. Cheating will be penalized (first offense with 0 points for homework, second offense by assigning F for the course. Each student submits typed solution to the TAs via Compass program (http://compass.uiuc.edu) by 9am  on Monday. Students should consider the homework as an opportunity to prepare for midterm or final exams.

We will also post four 'shadow homeworks', two before the midterm and two after midterm. The shadow homeworks should serve as a resource for students to prepare for midterm and final exams. The shadow homeworks will not be graded. We will post first the problems and then week later we will post solutions. We strongly encourage you to go over the problems and work on them as part of the cs241 material preparation.

We will have two types of quizzes in class. The first type of quizzes will be the regular lecture quizzes. The goal is to examine students on their knowledge of the lecture material. Quizzes will be given using bubble sheets/pencils in class.

• There will be 12 pop quizzes (10 minutes each) in the lecture. The dates of the quizzes will not be announced in advance. The quizzes will be multiple choice questions similar to the self-evaluation Compass quiz of the previous week. Out of the 12 quizzes, 10 quizzes will be counted toward your final grade. You can either miss two quizzes or if you take all quizzes we will drop two quizzes with the lowest score from the overall grading, i.e., 10 quizzes will be counted, each 1% of the overall grade. You can improve your quiz score (the 10%) by taking also TWO survey quizzes, each counting 0.5%.

• After submission of each MP, there will be one MP quiz in class on Monday. We will have 9 MP quizzes, one for each completed machine problem, see below.   
• We will have 6 quizzes on short MPs, and each of these quizzes will count 2% per quiz.
• We will have 3 quizzes on three long MPs, and each of these quizzes will count 4% per quiz.

Machine Problems 18%

There will be NINE machine problems, each MP will be graded on the scale 0 to 100 points.

• The weight W of each MP in the overall grading is different due to different difficulty degree of each MP. The weight of each MP is as follows: SMP0 - 1%, SMP1 - 1%, SMP2 - 1%, SMP3 - 1%, SMP4 - 1%, SMP5 - 1% LMP1 - 4%, LMP2 - 4%, LMP3 - 4%.  SMPs will be 1 week long.  LMPs will be two weeks long. The points will be given for the submission, correct compilation of the code, and correct execution of the required tests.
• Machine problem solution must be handed in by 9am on Monday morning to TAs via Compass.
• There is no late penalty. It means by 9am Monday all points count, after 9am Monday 0 points count.
• If a religious holiday is observed by a student that interferes with getting the machine problem completed, they should let their TA know ahead of time.  Given the circumstances, we will try to accommodate such issues by issuing extensions as appropriate.
• Machine problems can be written collaboratively in pairs. Students are encouraged to find one lab partner for each MP. MPs are going to be designed with the assumption that two students work on each MP. Each pair submits only one solution. The pair of students can stay together for all MPs. However, if a student from a pair drops a course, the other student needs to find another lab partner. If a student wants to work alone, it is fine as long as the student feels confident to do the MP assignments alone. No assignment degradation will happen for an individual student. If a student wants to change a partner from one MP to another, it is fine as well.
• At the end of each MP, students will take a MP Quiz in the class and answer questions about the MP.  One of the questions asked will be what did each student work on for the MP. 
• It is strongly recommended that students be considerate, i.e., if they need to drop the class, then (1) inform their lab partner, and (2) drop the class after an MP is finished and before the next MP was assigned. DON'T LEAVE YOUR PARTNER CLOSE BEFORE THE DEADLINE OF AN MP, ESPECIALLY IF YOU PROMISED TO DO A CRUCIAL PART OF THE ASSIGNMENT.

To excuse the group from MPs we have to follow procedures which are outlined in the Code on Campus Affairs and/or Handbook of Policies and Regulations Applying to All Students.

Re-grading Policy [very important!]

After the grades for a quiz, homework, MP or exam are available, students have 1 week to request re-grading of the homework/MP/exam/Quiz. Once the 1 week re-grading period passes, students may ask for re-grading of this quiz/homework/MP/exam but the course staff may not be able to carry regrading out.

Cheating Policy

Your machine problems will be a result of group work (pair). Even in this case, the group is responsible for protecting their work. In the past, we have caught students cheating by copying solutions from other students without their knowledge. To avoid having your work copied without your knowledge, refrain from leaving source code prints lying around the lab, protect your files, don't give your passwords to anyone, and enter your passwords in a way that cannot be seen by others. Do not leave a login session active on an unattended workstation. Use xlock on the CSIL workstations if you must leave briefly, or use some similar measure (or log out!) in other labs; remember that it's a violation of the CSIL policy (and probably the other lab policies) to leave your workstation unattended for any extended period of time. Report any suspicious behavior to the lab sitters or the TAs.

Late Policy

Exams

Final Grades

Final grades are determined based on the Gaussian distribution of the final score (a weighted sum of the exams, MPs, homework and quizzes).   We will adjust scores so that a Grade B represents 75% of the material in mps, quizzes, homeworks, and exams correct.