Gettysburg College Policy on Class Attendance and Absence

Assignments and Exams

There will be several assignments during the semester of various types -- theory (CS201-type), circuit design (CS221), and programming (CS111-type). Each assignment will be evaluated based on a number of criteria including design, correctness, clarity of explanation, documentation, and testing (as applicable).

In general, you are free to discuss the assignments with others and brainstorm high-level ideas but you must work out the details of the solution on your own and write your own code. You may consult on-line resources, as long as they contain only expository material; resources that contain solutions to the assigned (or very similar) problems, pseudocode, or code written in a programming language may not be consulted. If group work is allowed, this will be mentioned explicitly in the guidelines of the particular assignment.

Here is a set of guidelines of practices that are not allowed while working on the assignments and exams. This is not an exhaustive list -- talk to the instructor if you are unsure about the allowed level of collaboration:

• sending solutions to someone else (electronically, on paper, screen share, etc.); this is not allowed even if the intent is to share the solution only for reference (you are bound by this even after the course ends)

• asking someone else to share with you their solution; this includes asking someone who took the course in a previous semester

• searching for assignment solutions on-line; submitting solutions found on-line or someone else's solution as your own work; using generative AI tools (ChatGPT, etc.)

• looking at someone else's monitor or letting others look at your monitor in the lab, via screen share, etc

• submitting your own work from another course or from your previous attempt of the same course; even if you have worked on a similar assignment in the past, you should recreate your own solutions

• using electronic devices (mobile phones, smartwatches, calculators, computers, etc.) during the exams; these devices should be stored away during the exams

• note that each assignment is approximately 5% of the final grade; incomplete work will likely receive some partial credit, and therefore, it is not worth violating the above guidelines

Here are the relevant dates and how much each portion of your work will contribute to your final grade:

Programming Assignments	Sep 5, Sep 12, Sep 19, Sep 26, Oct 3, Oct 10 Oct 24, Oct 31, Nov 7, Nov 14, Dec 5, Dec 12	57%
Fourth Hour	weekly Sunday quizzes	2%
Exam 1	evening of Wed, Oct 16, at 7:00-8:30pm	20%
Exam 2	evening of Wed/Thu, Nov 21, at 7:00-8:30pm	20%
Final Project (Assignments 11&12)	Fri, Dec 13, at 8:30am (Assignment 12 due date)
Department Colloquia	attend at least 1 arrive on time, stay for entire talk, no phone/laptop use	1%

The exams will be closed-book, closed-notes, closed-neighbor, closed-electronic devices, etc. The work you turn in on the exams must represent solely the results of your own individual effort.

Note the dates of the exams carefully --- make-up exams will be given only under extreme circumstances provided that arrangements are made at least a week in advance.

Late Assignments

Late assignments will incur a 1% penalty for each late hour (or fraction thereof) for a maximum of 7%. Assignments that are more than 1 day late will not be accepted, but incomplete assignments will receive partial credit.

This is intended to give some flexibility and is meant to be used when much of the assignment has been completed. Note that there is no course staff on duty on Friday and it will not be possible to get help: ideally most of the major difficulties will have been discussed by Thursday.

Note that each assignment is approximately 5% of the final grade and incomplete work will likely receive some partial credit, so an individual assignment does not have significant negative impact.

Fourth Hour

This course meets the Fourth Hour requirement through weekly online quizzes due on Sundays by 11:59pm.

Grading

Grading for this course is based on the scale below. For borderline cases attendance, participation, and apparent trend of improvement during the semester may be taken into consideration.

93--100 A 90~93 A-

87~90 B+ 83~87 B 80~83 B-

77~80 C+ 73~77 C 70~73 C-

67~70 D+ 63~67 D 60~63 D-

0~60 F

Your final grade will be at most 10% higher than the lower of your overall exam and overall homework score. For example, if your overall exam score is D+ (68.5%), your final grade level will be at most C+ (78.5%).

You are expected to receive the equivalent of at least a C- on the final exam in order to pass the class.

Incompletes

Incompletes (or make-up exams) will be considered only when a serious family or personal emergency arises and all but a small portion of the work has been completed. (Incompletes will not be given for reasons such as a heavy course load.) Arrangements for the incomplete, including obtaining all required documentation, should be made as soon as possible.

Note that excessive absence will lead to a formal request to withdraw from the course.

Student Accessibility

Students needing special accommodation are encouraged to contact the Academic Advising Office as soon as possible so that all required documentation can be processed and all necessary arrangements can be made on time.

For more information on the support available at Gettysburg College see

Scholastic Conduct

Students at Gettysburg College are governed by the Honor Code. Failure to abide by the scholastic conduct expected on assignments or exams is a violation of the Honor Code tradition at Gettysburg College. It is your responsibility to read carefully the "Assignments" section of the syllabus which outlines the policy on assignments and exams. If you need help and are unsure about the expected level of collaboration, see the instructor for clarification and help with the assigned material.

For further general information on the Honor Code tradition at Gettysburg College see