Contents may differ from the current or most recent offering of the course.
Skip to: Course Components, Marks, Return Policy, Mark Appeals, Academic Dishonesty, Academic Integrity, Intellectual Property
Course Components
The primary components of the course are lectures, assignments, and exams, and the policies and procedures for each of these are outlined on their respective pages. There are also tutorials, some materials for which are posted on the Tutorials page.
This website will be the primary means of communication and distribution of materials for the course. A broader forum for course-related communication will be Piazza, as discussed on the resources page. Textbooks used in the course are also listed on that page, although the primary source for information will be the lectures.
Marks
| Final Exam | 50% |
| Midterm | 25% |
| 5 Assignments | 25% (5% Each) |
Students must pass the weighted exam mark in order to pass the course.
Return Policy
Assignments: There will be an announcement on the course website and Piazza when marking for an assignment is available for MarkUs viewing.
Midterm exam: When marking is complete, an individualized link is emailed to each student's WatIAM address. Through this link the student has access to their midterm pages and the marks and comments added to each by the grader.
Final Exams: Final exams are not returned. Students wishing to view their final exam may do so by contacting the Instructional Support Coordinator, Karen Anderson, at after the final exam period is over.
Mark Appeals
We take great care to ensure that all marks are recorded properly in our database. Nevertheless, please ensure that your mark was recorded properly by regularly checking your record in the grade lookup system. Any discrepancies should be reported immediately to the instructional support assistant.
All mark appeals (for assignments and midterm) must be made within 2 weeks of the date of initial return to the class or assignment marking availability or before the final exam, whichever is earlier. Note that as a result of closer scrutiny of your work, marks may go up or down.
- For assignments:
- Review all available material before appealing your mark. This includes model solutions or marking schemes (if provided), marking and comments (annotations) in MarkUs and common errors posted under Assignments.
- Appeal your mark by emailing the instructional support assistant at
cs240 at uwaterloo.ca with subject:
CS240 A0x Remark Request
with the Assignment number filled in appropriately. - Only if the appeal was not satisfactorily explained and resolved by the instructional support assistant, bring your case to the instructor (this should happen rarely).
- For midterm:
- Review the post mortem of common errors posted under Exams before appealing your mark.
- Remark requests must be sent from your uwaterloo email (so we can
confirm you are who you say you are and for confidentiality) and go to
cs240 at uwaterloo.ca with subject:
CS240 Midterm Remark Request
and a description of the perceived marking error for each question you want re-marked (we will not look at just "please re-mark this" or "I think this was marked incorrectly" without a good reason -- for example, state why you think it was marked incorrectly).
Note that we may re-examine questions other than those requested for re-mark to make sure there are no other marking errors. Marking errors may raise or lower your mark or result in no overall change. - For consistency and fairness, all remarks will be handled together after the deadline, which is two weeks from release of marking and post mortem posting, whichever is later.
Final Exam -- Failure to Write
In the Faculty of Mathematics, students who fail to write a final exam [of
a Math Faculty course] are given either a DNW (Did Not Write) or an INC
(incomplete).
A DNW is equal to a 32 and is a failing grade. An INC is
essentially permission to complete the course at a later date, usually by
writing the final exam with the next term's CS240 class or with the CS240
class of the term after that.
Whether or not you are given an INC is strongly dependent on your
performance during the term. A student with a medical reason may not be
granted an INC because they have not performed sufficiently well during the
academic term.
An INC will be granted ONLY if there is a strong reason for missing the exam
(generally a serious medical issue verified by a doctor's note) AND a
satisfactory performance during the term (both assignments and midterm).
Academic Dishonesty
All work in CS240 is to be done individually and be your own work. Cheating includes not only copying the work of another person (or letting another student copy your work), but also excessive collaboration. Such cases will be dealt with severely. We will follow the cheating policy of the Math Faculty, which means a grade of 0 on the assignment you cheated on, and a deduction of 5% from your course grade. You will also be reported to the Academic Integrity Officer, Faculty of Mathematics.
Academic Integrity
Academic Integrity: In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility.
Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70 (Student Petitions and Grievances), Section 4. When in doubt please be certain to contact the department's administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.
Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing an academic offence, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about 'rules' for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course instructor, academic advisor, or the undergraduate Associate Dean. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71 (Student Discipline). For typical penalties check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.
Appeals: A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70 (Student Petitions and Grievances), other than a petition, or Policy 71 (Student Discipline) may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes he/she has a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72 (Student Appeals).
Intellectual Property
Students should be aware that this course contains the intellectual property of their instructor, TA, and/or the University of Waterloo. Intellectual property includes items such as:
- Lecture content, spoken and written (and any audio/video recording thereof);
- Lecture handouts, presentations, and other materials prepared for the course (e.g., PowerPoint slides);
- Questions or solution sets from various types of assessments (e.g., assignments, quizzes, tests, final exams); and
- Work protected by copyright (e.g., any work authored by the instructor or TA or used by the instructor or TA with permission of the copyright owner).
Course materials and the intellectual property contained therein, are used to enhance a student's educational experience. However, sharing this intellectual property without the intellectual property owner's permission is a violation of intellectual property rights. For this reason, it is necessary to ask the instructor, TA and/or the University of Waterloo for permission before uploading and sharing the intellectual property of others online (e.g., to an online repository). Permission from an instructor, TA or the University is also necessary before sharing the intellectual property of others from completed courses with students taking the same/similar courses in subsequent terms/years. In many cases, instructors might be happy to allow distribution of certain materials. However, doing so without expressed permission is considered a violation of intellectual property rights.
Please alert the instructor if you become aware of intellectual property belonging to others (past or present) circulating, either through the student body or online. The intellectual property rights owner deserves to know (and may have already given their consent).