Coursework and Grading

These are the revised requirements for CS 131. Briefly:

• The only things required to be turned in are assignments and the final.
• Grading guidelines for future assignments will be scaled back, to focus on the main learning goals.
• At any time, you may opt to take this course Pass / No Credit. A “Pass” will satisfy the PLs requirement for your major.

More details are below.

Course elements

This course was original designed with several interlocking pieces, each intended to support your learning in a residential environment.

In a distributed, online environment, here is how these elements have changed:

• Class: We have videos for each each lecture, which you can watch on your own time.

• Warmups: Warmups will be available, but you are no longer required to turn them in.

• Labs: Labs will be available as usual. They are helpful for the assignment, but you are not required to turn them in. Partnering is no longer required for labs.

• Assignments: Assignments will be available as usual, and due on Sundays. Everyone gets a Euro for all the remaining assignments, regardless of how many Euros you have already used. If you need more time than that, please let us know, and we will work out an extension. You are no longer restricted to working on a maximum of 4 assignments with any one partner (you can work on as many assignments as you want with the same person).

• Self-reflections: Self-reflections are retroactively optional and no longer required. Completed self-reflections are bonus points. We may occasionally ask you for information about how things are going. We hope you will respond, and there will be bonus points for doing so.

• Quiz questions: Quiz questions are retroactively optional and no longer required. If you have added quiz questions for past lectures or decide to do so for future lectures, you get bonus points.

• Final exam: Currently we plan to hold a take-home final, as usual.

Grading policies

The grading policies have changed, and the College or Consortium may impose further changes in the future. Regardless of what happens, our goal is for all changes to be in your favor and to give you maximum flexibility and agency.

Here are the current details: You have the option to take this course for a letter grade or as Pass / No Credit (also called Credit / No Credit at other colleges). The choice is entirely yours, and you can change your preference at any time.

Pass / No Credit option

• If you had a passing grade (> 70%) in PLs before Spring BReak, then you’re in excellent shape to pass the course.
• The HMC registrar has said that “Pass” grades earned in Spring 2020 will satisfy degree requirements in cases where letter grades would normally be necessary.
  • This means that a “P” in this course will satisfy the PLs requirement for your major at Mudd.
  • If Mudd is your home campus, remember that you need a 2.000 overall GPA to graduate.
  • If Mudd is not your home campus, there may be other implications for taking a course P / NC instead of for a letter grade. Please check with your registrar.

Graded option

There are 1,860 total points available, distributed as follows:

Your final letter grade in CS 131 will be calculated based on your total number of points: