Assignments
Assignments introduce or reinforce material via exercises, readings, questions, and/or videos.
The deadlines shown below are automatically converted to your timezone, based on the browser settings of the device viewing this page. In Gradescope, the assignments’ deadlines are always shown in Eastern Time (U.S.).
Remember that if you accidentally “Submit” your assignment before you’ve answered all of the questions, you can simply click “Resubmit” at the bottom right in Gradescope to reopen the assignment for continued editing. You may do this as often as you’d like, up until the deadline.
Many questions on the assignments in this course are out of 4 points. When you receive your feedback on these assignments, these scores translate as follows:
- 4 is reserved for exceptional answers that demonstrate a full understanding of the material in a manner that exceeds the course’s expectations, which may sometimes involve external research. Please note that this does not necessarily mean a long answer; indeed, an overly long answer that introduces irrelevant information is not likely to receive a 4. Rather, a 4 is awarded to a thorough and well thought-out and prepared answer that focuses on the subject of the question being presented. Only a few 4s at most will be awarded per question. A score of 4 should be interpreted as having received, in a manner of speaking, a “bonus point.”
- 3 is awarded for a strong answer that demonstrates understanding of the material in a manner consistent with the course’s expectations. A score of 3 should be considered your benchmark for success. and should not, per the above, be interpreted as having “lost a point.”
- 2 is awarded for a good answer that suggests likely understanding of the material, but is lacking in a minor way that does not fully demonstrate that understanding.
- 1 is awarded for a poor to fair answer that either demonstrates partial understanding of the material or otherwise contains an error that suggests a misunderstanding of a key detail.
- 0 is given to answers that are incorrect, exceedingly brief, or blank.
Grades in this course should not be converted to percentages and assumed to be accurate, because they will not be. A 3 out of 4 on a question, as indicated above, is a “benchmark for success,” and not a 75% (C). The course does not have pre-determined cutoffs for final grades. Beyond what is stated here, the course does not provide further detail about grade conversions.