Section 7 How Will I Know How I Am Doing in the Class?
Subsection 7.1 Details of Assessment
Programming Assignments..
The four programming assignments (CI, MM, AC, SE) are jointly worth [FILL: Fa26 grading weight for programming assignments — no percentage-weight breakdown is given on the Fa26 Canvas page] of your grade. The individual assignments count [FILL: per-assignment grading weights — not given on the Fa26 Canvas page] respectively. Multi-week assignments generally have weekly deliverables.
Quizzes..
There will be a quiz during your discussion section almost every Friday of the semester, for a total of eleven quizzes. Quizzes are timed; you will have 15 minutes to complete each quiz. You must take the quiz in person during the discussion section for your unique ID. There will be no alternate mode or make-up opportunities for taking quizzes for any reason whatsoever. The quiz will have multiple-choice questions. The quiz is individual, single-attempt, open-book, open-notes, and open-internet. You cannot post the questions of the quiz on any forum. You are not allowed to collaborate or communicate with others on the quizzes. Any indication of collaboration will be reported as academic dishonesty.
The lowest four of your quiz scores will be dropped. You will automatically receive a zero for any quiz that you miss for any reason. The quizzes are collectively worth [FILL: Fa26 grading weight for quizzes — not given on the Fa26 Canvas page] of your grade.
Midterm and Final Exams..
There will be two midterm exams during the semester: Exam 0x1, due Friday, October 9, 2026, 11:59pm, and Exam 0x2, due Friday, October 30, 2026, 11:59pm. Both are held in the evening (not during the normal lecture hour). [FILL: exact clock start time and room for Exam 0x1 and Exam 0x2 are not stated on the Fa26 Canvas page]. These exams are timed (two hours each). There will be no alternate mode or make-up opportunities without a verified excuse. The exams are individual, single-attempt, closed-book, and limited-notes. They are paper-and-pencil exams. Calculators are allowed. You cannot post the questions of the exam on any forum. You are not allowed to collaborate or communicate with others on the exam. Any indication of collaboration will be dealt with as academic dishonesty.
There will be a final exam, Exam 0x3, due Thursday, December 10, 2026, 11:59pm, within the Fall 2026 final exam period (December 10–16, 2026), along with the corresponding makeup exam. [FILL: exact clock start time, room, and whether Exam 0x3 is the registrar-scheduled unified final are not stated on the Fa26 Canvas page]. The exam is timed (two hours). You must take the exam in person during the time scheduled by the registrar’s office, or in the makeup timeslot in case of a verified conflict with another final. There will be no alternate mode or make-up opportunities without a verified excuse. The exam is individual, single-attempt, closed-book, and limited-notes. It is a paper-and-pencil exam. Calculators are allowed.
Each exam is worth [FILL: Fa26 grading weight — not given on the Fa26 Canvas page]; exams are collectively worth [FILL: Fa26 grading weight — not given on the Fa26 Canvas page] of your grade.
Course Evaluation Survey (CES)..
Completing the Course Evaluation Survey (CES) and submitting a screenshot indicating this is worth [FILL: Fa26 grading weight — not given on the Fa26 Canvas page] of your grade. The CES completion deadline is Wednesday, December 9, 2026, 11:59pm.
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 specified 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. You must report your slip-day usage via the "Slip Days" item on Canvas, due Monday, December 7, 2026, 11:59pm.
There are no make-up opportunities for the assignments and/or exams without a verified excuse. 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 in grading. 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 be made in grading either in your favor or not. 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 your instructor an email with your request to regrade your quiz. Please use the format described in Emails. You must submit a regrade request within one week of the date the grade became available on Canvas. Your request must contain details explaining why your work was graded incorrectly. Grade change requests that do not meet these requirements will not be considered.
For exam grades, regrade requests must be submitted via a private post on Ed Discussion 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.
Inappropriate grade discussions..
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“I know my answer was wrong, but I deserve more partial credit points.”
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“I don’t like my final grade. It will ruin my life. Therefore you should give me a better one.”
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“I am desperate. Isn’t there some sort of extra credit thing I could do?”
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“I am on the border of the next letter grade. Can you bump me up?”
Subsection 7.4 Final Grades
All grade components are calculated on an absolute basis. There is no curving of scores.
| Category | % of Final Grade |
| Programming Assignments | [FILL: not given on the Fa26 Canvas page] |
| Quizzes | [FILL: not given on the Fa26 Canvas page] |
| Midterm Exams | [FILL: not given on the Fa26 Canvas page] |
| Final Exam | [FILL: not given on the Fa26 Canvas page] |
| Miscellaneous | [FILL: not given on the Fa26 Canvas page] |
Final grades will be assigned according to the following cutoff criteria:
| Final Score x | Letter Grade |
| 92.5 <= x | A |
| 90.0 <= x < 92.5 | A- |
| 85.0 <= x < 90.0 | B+ |
| 80.0 <= x < 85.0 | B |
| 75.0 <= x < 80.0 | B- |
| 70.0 <= x < 75.0 | C+ |
| 65.0 <= x < 70.0 | C |
| 60.0 <= x < 65.0 | C- |
| 55.0 <= x < 60.0 | D+ |
| 50.0 <= x < 55.0 | D |
| 45.0 <= x < 50.0 | D- |
| x < 45.0 | F |
Grades will be computed to a precision of two decimal digits. A final grade that is less than 0.05 below a grade cutoff will be automatically bumped up. No other “bump-up” requests will be considered.
Additional requirements to pass..
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A non-zero score is required on all labs. A zero will be given if no submission is made or if the UT Honor Code or UTCS Academic Integrity policy is violated.
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Mastery requirement: proficiency in C coding and the Linux toolchain (CLTP) on a Pass/Fail basis (up to three attempts; no AI tools permitted).
Subsection 7.5 Use of AI Tools
You will not use AI tools (e.g., but not limited to, ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude) for examinations, quizzes, and the C/Linux toolchain proficiency assessment. On labs where you are explicitly permitted to use AI tools, you will:
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follow UT rules on AI usage Links to an external site.
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follow the UT Honor Code Links to an external site. (e.g. asking ChatGPT to "summarize" a friend’s code is still considered plagiarism); and
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cite AI usage by filling out the mandatory AI use survey for the lab so that we can gauge how AI tools are being adopted by students and to plan for how we address them in future semesters. Your answers to the AI use survey will not affect your grade. Failure to properly cite AI usage will be considered academic dishonesty. Contact the instructional staff if you have any questions on what is considered AI usage.
Remember that you are ultimately responsible for the assignment, whether or not you use an AI tool. In other words, if a program you turn in does not compile or pass the test cases, that is still your problem.
Subsection 7.6 Student Conduct and Academic Integrity violations
The minimum penalty for any student suspected of cheating is a referral to Student Conduct and Academic Integrity (SCAI) in the Office of the Dean of Students, who will investigate the incident and impose penalties. Repeat or flagrant violations may result in failing the course. For further information, please visit Student Conduct and Academic Integrity and University Catalog Chapter 11. Student Conduct and Academic Integrity.
