C S 429 Computer Organization and Architecture

Subsection 7.1 Details of Assessment

Subsection 7.2 Late Submissions and Missed Assignments

You will have a total of six slip days in whole-day increments (that is, 1 minute to 24 hours late = 1 slip day, etc.) to use throughout the semester to extend your programming assignment deadlines. The maximum number of slip days that you can use for an assignment will be specifed in its handout document. Slip days are to account for unexpected life circumstances and emergencies. Use your slip days wisely. If you use all your slip days and are unable to turn in your assignment on time for any reason then you will receive a 0 for that assignment.

Any slip days that you have left over at the end of the semester will be converted into points that will be added to your course total. The conversion will be 0.5 points per day.

Without a verified excuse, there are no make-up opportunities for the assignments and/or exams. A verified excuse is a formal communication from Student Emergency Services to the instructor certifying that you have presented documentation of an emergency situation for which such accommodation may be warranted. Do not communicate directly, or share health records, doctor's notes, or other PII, with the instructional staff on this issue.

Subsection 7.3 Regrade Requests

The grade you receive on an exam, a quiz, an assignment, or as your final grade is not the starting point for a negotiation; it is your grade unless a specific error has been made. Do not come to the teaching team to ask for a better grade because you want one or you feel you deserve it. Unless we have made a mistake in grading your work (i.e., you have a correct answer that was marked wrong, or your score was added incorrectly), your grade is final. Errors can certainly be made in grading, especially when many students are involved. This is one reason why we employ auto-grading for almost everything. But keep in mind that errors can be made either in your favor or not. So, it is possible that if you ask to have a piece of work re-graded your grade will go down rather than up.

If you believe your work was graded incorrectly, you may submit a regrade request to the teaching team.

For quizzes, if a concrete error has been made in your grade, please send the TA that graded your assignment an email with your request to regrade your quiz. Please use the format described in Emails.

You must submit a regrade request to the teaching team within one week of the date the grade became available on Canvas. Your complaint must contain details explaining why your work was graded incorrectly. (For example, it is not sufficient to submit a note that says ”regrade question 3”.) Grade change requests that do not meet these requirements will not be considered.

For exam grades, regrade requests must be submitted to me during my office hours. Any regrade request must be received by the given deadline. Your request must include an explanation of why your answer was not graded according to the given rubric. Complaints not following this format will not be considered, nor will complaints that argue the rubric (see below about which grade discussions are inappropriate).

Note that the following grade discussions are not appropriate:

• “I know my answer was wrong, but I deserve more partial credit points.”

  When we grade, we make decisions about how many points to give for various kinds of wrong answers. This is never a clear cut decision. The important thing is that we make some decision and then implement it fairly for everyone. It is completely unfair to come back later and give one person more points just because they ask. We won’t do it.

• “I don’t like my final grade. It will ruin my life for the following reason: … Therefore you should give me a better one.”

  Class grades reflect only one thing: how well you did in the class. Your grade is not a reflection of who you are. Your grades will not ruin your life.

• “I don’t like my final grade. I am desperate. Isn’t there some sort of extra credit thing I could do?”

  Any answer other than “No” to this question would be completely unfair to other students in the class unless they were all offered this option. That would be equivalent to saying that the semester isn’t over and everyone can keep trying. We’re not going to do this. Final grades are final.

• “I am on the border of the next letter grade. Can you bump me up?”

  The answer will always be “No”. Regrade requests are not given priority over any current grading, and so a response to your request may be delayed.

Subsection 7.4 Final Grades

To summarize, your final grade will comprise of the following assessments

Final grades will be assigned according to the following cutoff criteria:

Subsection 7.5 Academic Integrity Expectations

The University and the Department are committed to preserving the reputation of your UT degree. To guarantee that every degree means what it says it means, we must enforce a strict policy on academic honesty: Every piece of work that you turn in with your name on it must be yours. Students who violate University rules on scholastic dishonesty in assignments or exams are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of a lowered or 0 grade on an assignment or exam, failure in the course, and/or dismissal from the University. Since such dishonesty harms the individual, all students, and the integrity of the University, policies on academic dishonesty will be strictly enforced. For further information, please visit the Student Conduct and Academic Integrity website at https://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/contact.

Changing your exam answers after they have been graded, copying answers during exams, or plagiarizing the work of others (classmates or from the internet) will be considered academic dishonesty and will not be tolerated. You may not search for solution to problems given in the class on the internet. Moreover, you may not copy these solutions or be inspired by them and claim they are your own work. Plagiarism detection software will be used on the programs submitted in this class.