CS 3723/3721 Programming Languages
Grading Policy, Spring 2005

Factors Determining Grade (with tentative percentages)
1. Recitations (<= 15, none dropped): >= 45% (>= 3% each)
3. One in-class mid-term exam (no make-ups): >= 20%
4. Final exam (comprehensive): >= 30%
5. Attendance (< 15 recorded): <   3% (< 0.2% each)
Notes:
  1. Course Grade: I do not use a predetermined precentage of total points for each grade, but I determine the percentage at the end of the course based on my assessment of how hard the different parts of the course were. Generally, however, I draw the C/D line somewhere around 65-70% of total points.

  2. Recitations: Each recitation is described on a separate web page. All recitations will be counted for credit. As described in the page on submission of recitations (submission), recitations after the first due time are worth only 75% maximum, and recitations after the second due time are not counted. Recitations are not like homework in a math class, but they are an especially important part of this course, more like laboratories in an engineering class -- you must complete a majority of them to pass the course, and a student with perfect exams and no recitations will fail the course. The recitations cover material that is not adequately tested elsewhere.

  3. Exam Seating: I may use assigned seating for exams, either alphabetic or reverse alphabetic order, or some other assigned order. In general I don't give makeup exams, but just count the other course elements for greater credit.

  4. Final Exam: The final exam will be comprehensive, with greater emphasis on material after the mid-term exam.

  5. Attendance: Attendance may be monitored in ways yet to be determined. This should involve at most 15 class periods that will count for attendance.

  6. Recitation Grade: The recitation instructor and I will consult with one another about grades. It is possible to get different grades for the lab and for the course, but this is rare. In no case will a grade >= C be assigned to one part, with a grade < C to the other part.

  7. Grade Distributions: I do not provide information to students about the performance of other students. In particular, I do not give exam averages or distributions, since such information is irrelevant -- you are not competing with other students for a limited number of good grades, and a single course is too small a unit in which to expect a normal distribution of grades.

  8. Exam Grading: If you have questions about the grading of the mid-term exam, you should write your concerns on the exam itself, indicating each problem and the reasons for concern. Then I will regrade the entire exam. You are expected to list all concerns at one time, so that only one iteration is needed.

  9. What your grade will be: I do not answer questions of the form: "What grade do I need on the final to make X grade in the course?" There are too many variables for me to speculate in this way, and I can only recommend that you try hard, consistent with keeping good grades in other courses (and staying sane).

Revision date: 2005-01-21. (Please use ISO 8601, the International Standard Date and Time Notation.)