Grading
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Assignments and Exams
Refer to these pages for information on grading schemes: exercises, projects, and exams.

Academic Integrity
Respect academic integrity! Please review the Code and notes for CS100 here.

Core vs Bonus Points
There are 2 kinds of points that you can earn for completing course work:

  • bonus: points that exceed assignment/exam requirements
  • core: everything else, i.e., "required" material on assignments and exams
    • Bonus Points
    You can receive bonus points that can improve your course grade from the following sources:
  • Some exercises, projects, and exams might award bonus points for additional and/or exemplary work.
  • Remaining points from dropped assignments and exams will contribute to your bonus points.
    • So, doing all the work benefits you in two ways:
  • You learn the material!
  • You get more points!
    • How do bonus points work?
  • We will scale bonus points from these sources after determining your letter grade based on your raw numerical score.
  • We do not consider bonus points until after assigning all letter grades so that we avoid distorting the class curve.
  • Bonus points can raise your letter grade about a third of a grade, e.g., C+ to B- but not B+ to A+.
    • Course Grade Computation
    We calculate your raw numerical score based on core points for assignments and exams. The CS100 assignments and exams have the following distribution that help determine your grade:
     
    Exercises (E)  =  10%
    Projects  (P)  =  20%
    Prelim 1  (T1)  =  10%
    Prelim 2  (T2)  =  20%
    Prelim 3  (T3)  =  20%
    Final     (F)  =  30%

    Therefore, your course grade has the following formula:

    Grade = 0.1*E + 0.2*P + 0.1*T1 + 0.2*T2 + 0.2*T3 + 0.3*F - 0.1*min(T1, T2, T3, F)

    We drop part of your lowest exam score using the min operation in the Grade formula.

    Example: Given the following averages in terms of percentages E=95, P=85, T1=78, T2=80, T3=92, F=87 the student would receive a numerical grade of 87. In this example, Prelim 1 has the lowest exam score. Since Prelim 1 is worth only 10%, its score is dropped entirely in this example.

    Letter Grades
    We base letter grades upon the overall distribution of raw numerical scores. After assigning your letter grade, we will raise your grade if you have earned sufficient bonus points, as discussed above. Further, we reserve the right to make adjustments both up and down based on our knowledge of each student and their situation.

    Regrades
    If you feel that the graders have incorrectly graded an exam or assignment, you must:

  • Go to Carpenter Lab.
  • Fill out a regrade request form.
  • Attach the exam or assignment to the form.
  • Submit the regrade request to a consultant in Carpenter.
    • Please note the CS100 policies:
  • We photocopy a random number of exams after grading.
  • You must submit your request within one week after we return your graded work.
  • We regrade the entire submission from scratch.
  • Your grade may go up or down.
    • You can retrieve the regraded material in Carpenter about 1 week after you submit your request.

    Posted Grades
    Scores will be posted just inside the Carpenter Lab by either student ID or a 4-digit code that you give to us. It is your  responsibility to verify that our records are correct. If you find an error, please contact the course administrator, Laurie Buck, during her office hours.

    Exam Conflicts
    You must take every exam! CS100 does not offer alternative tests. If you still have a conflict, contact the course administrator, Laurie Buck, during her office hours to make arrangements for taking the taking the exam.  Contact her two weeks before the exam.


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