Course specific policies

(See also the section that applies to all my courses.)

Attendance

I may not take attendance every time we meet. However, I expect all students to attend classes regularly and be prepared to actively involve in the learning process. I need to observe your performance in class to give you a meaningful participation grade.

Grading

The semester grade will consist of the following components. The weights are approximate within a few percentage points. In other words, I may reassign a few points from one component to another if it becomes necessary and only if it is in the interest of the class.

First exam	10%
Second exam	20%
Third exam	30%
Term project	30%
Participation and presentation	10%

All the exams are objective type exams. The second and the third exams will have 20% of the questions from the previous materials. The coverage of each exam depends on how the course progresses. I will announce the coverage of each exam at least one week before it is scheduled. Typically, the exams contain 50, 75, and 100 questions respectively.

Additionally, I will ask you to evaluate the contribution of each team member on the group projects. These will be confidential evaluations and the collective grades that each group member receives may affect the allocation of the group grades. A group may receive, say 90 on their research project. The peer evaluation may result in one member receiving, say 93, and another 87. These numbers of course are purely hypothetical here and the result depends on the collective wisdom of the group. So, don't slack off!