Grades | Homework | Typesetting | Collaboration | Admissible Resources | SDS Accommodations

Grades

Your grade will based on weekly homework, two prelims, one final exam, section quizes, and participation in class and sections. Each of these components will be given a weight in the following ranges:

When final grades are computed, students who are on the cusp between grades by raw score, may be bumped up in letter grade based on active participation. For each student, we will determine the contribution of exams by choosing weights in the stated ranges (adding up to 75% or 70% respectively) that result in the best grade for the student.

• Prelim 1: 15 – 25%
• Prelim 2: 15 – 25%
• Final exam (cumulative): 30 – 40%

Passing 4820/5820: If the score computed above exceeds 50%, you are guaranteed a passing grade (C-).

Class Participation

We will Poll everywhere use this to answer polling questions during lecture. Please register with your Cornell netid on the system.

Homework

Homework is an essential part of the course. We will have weekly homework assignments. In general, homework assignments will be released Friday mornings (on Canvas) and due any time on the following Friday (submitted on the Gradescope Link on Canvas).

Late Homeworks

During the semester each student can have 6 late days. Grades from a late submission count only if you have late days left. You can use at most two late days per homework. The purpose of late days is to help handle unforseen circumstances such as illness, interviews, or conflicting deadlines that may prevent you from turning in your assignment on time. If an emergency situation arises for which late days will not be sufficient accommodation, contact an instructor as soon as possible.

Typesetting

We require problem sets to be typeset and submitted as a PDF. We encourage you to use LaTeX, as it is the de facto typesetting standard used in Computer Science and other mathematical/scientific disciplines. Overleaf is a fantastic resource for maintaining LaTeX projects. We recommend that you first develop your solutions in draft form, and then type your solution in a more polished manner. For some proofs, it may be helpful to include figures, which can be handdrawn or generated with tools like TikZ.

Collaboration

We encourage you to collaborate with your peers in the course to brainstorm ideas for solving the homework. You may talk with any students about the problems, but you must limit the set of significant collaborators (i.e. collaborations that go beyond high-level ideas, involving writing or drawing diagrams together) to at most two other students per homework. While you may collaborate to solve the problems, your solutions must be written up completely on your own. When writing up your solutions, include an acknowledgements of all of your significant collaborators.

Admissible Resources

The homework you submit should represent your own work. Do not submit solutions that you do not understand: you should be able to explain your solution, in your own words (without referencing your write-up). Inability to explain solutions you submitted as your own work may serve as evidence of a violation of Academic Integrity.
You are encouraged to only reference course materials in developing your solutions. If you choose to consult written sources beyond the course material and textbook (including Generative AI), you must cite each source clearly in your submission, if using Generative AI need to include the transcrip of your interaction. Do not solicit help from people outside of the class (beyond classmates and course staff).
Note: Exams and section quizes will be closed book, closed Internet, and closed Generative AI. As such, the staff recommends you use these tools sparingly, as a resource for learning, not as an integral part of solving homeworks.

SDS Accommodations

This course complies with the Cornell University policy and equal access laws to ensure that students with disabilities can access the same academic experience as their peers in this course. Requests for academic accommodations should be made during the first two weeks of the semester, except for unusual circumstances. Students must register with Student Disability Services to provide appropriate accommodations. If you have an SDS letter, documenting your accommodations, send an email to cs4820sp26@gmail.com. The Course Staff will then be in touch about how we can accommodate you in CS 4820/5820.