COMP2300 Assessment 2007

Assessment Scheme

(c.f. the scheme for 2006)

update as discussed in lecture 26/04/07 (motivated by overall MSE performance)

The assessment for COMP2300 in 2007 will be in the following parts:

Tutorial/laboratory mark: 10\%
- This will include 5 computer assessed laboratory exercises, plus a mark allocated by your tutor on your tutorial preparation, attendance, and participation in discussions.
Assignments: 30%, total of three ~~, weighting of each subject to minor adjustments~~ :
- Assignment 1: 12% (released week 2, due end week 5)
- Assignment 2: ~~12%~~ 10% (released week 5, due end week 9)
- Assignment 3: ~~12%~~ 8% (released week 9, due end week 12)
Examinations 60%
- Mid-semester exam: 20%
  - This is a 1 hour written exam, to be held during a lecture slot (Thu week 7 - confirmed)
    The two questions of this exam will be independently redeemable in the final exam. That is, the final exam will have an extra two optional questions of the same weight and content as in the MSE. For either of these questions, if the mark scored exceeds that of the corresponding question scored in the orignal MSE, that mark will be used to compute the final score for the MSE. An extra hour's time will be given in the final exam to accomodate this.
- Final examination: 40%
  - This will be a 2+1 hour written exam held at the end of semester during the normal examination period. One A4 page of notes {\small (both sides, printed or hand written)} is permitted; a calculator is not permitted.

These components are then added to give your final mark. This may then be scaled to give your overall course mark and grade.

Note:

Any changes to the assessment scheme will be announced and discussed in lectures and posted to this web page.
If there are no changes to the proposed scheme by the end of week 2 (Friday 2 March 2007), it will be the scheme that will be used.
The Tute/Lab mark will be calculated as follows. There will be 6 assessable lab exercises worth 1% each; the best 5 of these will be summed (total of 5%). The best 5 out of a selection of 7 Tute/Lab participation marks will be summed (and divided by 3, total of 5%). TuteLab02 will be excluded from the selection (purely a lab exercise), as will one towards the end of the semester.

Extensions and Late Penalties for Assignments

In general, there will be no extensions for assignments, the exception being for illness serious enough to keep you in bed, supported by a medical certificate. Other similarly un-foreseeable and serious circumstances may be considered (if similarly verified). Work and sporting commitments are not normally sufficient grounds. If you think you have grounds for an extension, you should notify the course coordinator as soon as possible and provide written evidence in support of your case (e.g. medical certificate). The course coordinator will then decide whether to grant and extension and inform you as soon as practicable.

Extensions may be granted to a date that is not more than 1 week from the nominal deadline.

Without an explicit extension from the course co-ordinator, late assignments will be penalised at the rate specified on the assignment document.

Plagiarism in Assignments

You should read the chapter in the Department of Computer Science Student Handbook that discusses assessment (Chapter 6, pages 17-25), particularly the sections headed Misconduct in examinations (which also applies to assignments and other forms of assessment) and Guidelines for assignments.

Files you have found on the Internet should not be submitted as your work; but your documents may include URL links to external documents. You should avoid copying or closely paraphrasing material from documents that you find, including those of your friends (it's plagiarism) or textbooks. If you feel it necessary to include material from some other document, then it should be clearly identified as such, identifiable as quoted material by layout or quotation marks, and proper attribution made. Be aware that automated tools to detect plagiarism exist (e.g. Glatt or JPlag ) and will be used.

All assignment submissions will be compared electronically, with any that are suspiciously similar being investigated by the lecturer. If such similarities cannot be satisfactorily explained, appropriate action (see the penalties mentioned in the handbook) will be taken.

Collecting Marked Work and Remark Policy

Marked assessment can be collected from your tutorial/laboratory classes, generally 2 weeks after its hand-in date. Uncollected assessment will be kept by your tutor until the end of semester, after which it will be available from the department office.

You can check the marks we have recorded for you progressively throughout the semester. You can do this through StReaMS

From the date that your assignment marks are released electronically, you have a period of two weeks in which to question your mark. After this period your mark will be final. Release of your assignment marks will be announced on the course web site and in lectures.

If you are unhappy about the marking of an assignment, first discuss this with your tutor. If you were unable to resolve this with your tutor, the matter can be brought up with the course co-ordinator, who will discuss the matter with you. If, after that, you request a remark, the policy is as follows:

The disputed assignment will be remarked in its entirety by a different tutor. No extra material or explanations may be supplied by the student for the remark.
The remarking will be done in a time frame convenient to the DCS.
The new mark will be final, and may be lower or higher than, or the same as, the original mark.

Special Consideration and Special / Supplementary Exams

If you miss the examination, or wish to request a Special Examination or Special Consideration for an examination, please see Carol Edmondson's page on the subject. From there, there are links to on-line forms (these include a section to be filled out by a medical practitioner, where medical reasons are the grounds for the application).

If you are feeling unwell on the day of an examination, you can consider taking the exam and then applying for Special Consideration. Note that it normally takes fairly severe symptoms before your performance will be significantly affected (and that only for a sufficiently serious condition will a Special Examination be granted, should you decide not to take the exam then).

Supplementary exams will be awarded only to those students who have a final mark of AT LEAST 45/100 but less than 50/100.

Last modified: Thu Apr 26 17:44:19 EST 2007