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Grading
Grade Notification
Midterm Exam
Final Exam
Programming Projects
Extensions
Email Rules
Plagiarism
| 15% | Midterm exam |
| 25% | Final exam |
| 20% | Programming Project 1 |
| 20% | Programming Project 2 |
| 20% | Programming Project 3 |
I will not hand out letter grades during the course, just points. Your final grade will be determined by the total points you earn, weighted as shown above, and converted to a letter using this scale:
Undergraduate (4003-541-70)
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Graduate (4005-741-70)
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For the actual formulas used to calculate grades, see the Undergraduate Grade Calculator or the Graduate Grade Calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
I will record your grades for the programming projects and exams, as well as your final letter grade, in a grade file. Each student will have his or her own grade file. Each grade file will be encrypted with a different secret key for each student. The encrypted grade files will be posted on the course web site. Since no one can decrypt the grade file without the secret key, your personal grade information remains confidential despite being posted on the web site.
To decrypt your grade file, you will have to obtain the secret key from me, in person. Come to my office, show me your student ID, and I will give you your secret key. It is your responsibility to safeguard your secret key. If anyone else discovers what your secret key is, they will be able to decrypt and examine your grade file. Treat your secret key as you would your student ID, driver's license, or credit card. If you lose your secret key or suspect someone else has discovered it, see me, in person, to get a new secret key.
When I have finished grading each assignment, I will post an announcement on the What's New page that the grades are available.
For further information, see Encrypted Grades.
There will be a one-hour midterm exam in class on the date shown on the Course Schedule. The midterm will begin at the start of class. The midterm exam will be open book, open notes, open laptops, and will cover material from Modules 1 through 3 of the course. The midterm exam will involve numerical calculations; be sure to bring a calculator.
There will be two versions of the midterm exam, one for undergraduate students taking the course as section 4003-541-70 and one for graduate students taking the course as section 4005-741-70. The graduate version will include more questions and/or more difficult questions than the undergraduate version.
Absences: If you are absent from class on the date of the midterm exam, your midterm exam will receive a grade of zero unless on or before the date of the midterm exam you arrange with me to take the midterm exam at another time. I am normally willing to permit this only for absences due to illness or unforeseen personal emergency. However, if you feel you have a valid reason for your absence, please discuss it with me.
There will be a two-hour final exam during the Institute examination period, at a date and time to be announced. The final exam will be open book, open notes, open laptops. The final exam will cover material from the entire course. The final exam will involve numerical calculations; be sure to bring a calculator.
There will be two versions of the final exam, one for undergraduate students taking the course as section 4003-541-70 and one for graduate students taking the course as section 4005-741-70. The graduate version will include more questions and/or more difficult questions than the undergraduate version.
I will not hand back the final exam. To see how you did on the final exam, you may visit me in my office.
Absences: If you are absent from the final exam, your final exam will receive a grade of zero unless on or before the date of the final exam you arrange with me to take the final exam at another time. I am normally willing to permit this only for absences due to illness or unforeseen personal emergency. However, if you feel you have a valid reason for your absence, please discuss it with me.
Scheduling conflicts: If you have a final exam scheduling conflict, please refer to the RIT Institute Policies and Procedures Manual, Section D11.0, "Final Examination Policies." You must submit a written request for rescheduling to the head of your home department, with a copy to your instructor, by the last day of the 6th week of classes, Friday, 27-Jan-2006.
There will be three programming projects to be written in Java. Each project will be assigned on the date shown in the Course Schedule. Each project will be due at 11:59pm on the date shown in the Course Schedule. Each project will be submitted via email in the form of a Java archive (JAR) file. The date and time at which your email message arrives in my inbox will determine whether the project meets the deadline. Details of each project, including submission requirements, will be provided when each project is assigned.
The programming projects will give you the opportunity to add to the overlay network testbed studied in class. The first programming project will require you to implement a network layer routing algorithm. The second programming project will require you to analyze connectivity in a network of routers. The third programming project will require you to analyze queuing delays in a network of routers.
There will be two versions of each programming project, one for undergraduate students taking the course as section 4003-541-70 and one for graduate students taking the course as section 4005-741-70. For the undergraduate projects, the instructor will specify the design of the algorithm to be implemented. For the graduate projects, the graduate student will do a literature search to identify a research algorithm and will implement the chosen algorithm.
Late projects: I will not accept a late project unless you arrange with me for an extension. See below for my policy on extensions. A late project will receive a grade of zero.
Plagiarism: Each project must be entirely your own work. I will not tolerate plagiarism. See below for my policy on plagiarism.
The rules for extensions are:
| If you request an extension: | You will receive an extension of: |
| 3 days before the deadline date | 3 days |
| 2 days before the deadline date | 2 days |
| 1 day before the deadline date | 1 day |
| On the deadline date | 1 day |
| When asking for an extension, I would appreciate some basic courtesy. Too many students send me a rude message like "I need an extension." The polite way to ask for an extension is, "May I please have an extension for Project 1?" |
The intent of this policy is not to give everyone an automatic 3-day extension for every assignment. The intent of this policy is to accommodate students who plan and work ahead on the assignments but experience an unforeseen last-minute difficulty, and to penalize students who do not plan and work ahead. If you put off working on an assignment and get sick or suffer a computer breakdown at the last minute, I am not going to give you more time than stated above. You should have been working ahead so you would have been finished before the last minute.
If you receive an extension for an assignment and the extended deadline falls after the last day of classes, then at my discretion I may assign you a grade of Incomplete (I) for the course. The Incomplete grade will be changed after you have submitted the assignment and I have evaluated it.
I apply spam filtering on incoming email. To get your email past my spam filters and into my inbox:
I reply in a timely manner to all emails that get past my spam filters and into my inbox. Emails blocked by my spam filters go into a separate spam folder. I do not reply in a timely manner to emails in my spam folder.
It is your responsibility to format your emails so that they get past my spam filters. This includes assignment submissions and extension requests as well as general questions. If I have not responded to your email within one business day (i.e. not counting weekends), contact me again.
For further information, see "Contacting Me."
You may use any resources you wish to do the programming project assignments, including resources discussed in class and resources you find on your own. You may discuss the assignments at a general level with others in the class. However, each assignment you turn in must be entirely your own work. You are not allowed to collaborate with anyone else on any assignment. You are not allowed to use any current or past student's work in any way when working on your assignment.
I will not tolerate plagiarism. If in my judgment an assignment is not entirely your own work, you will receive a grade of zero for the assignment. There are only two exceptions:
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