Assessments

Your overall course grade is made up of the following components:

• Practice Exercises: 18%
• Weekly assignments: 42%
• Midterm Project: 15%
• Final Project: 25%

Practice Exercises

Each week, there are activities in the lessons and practice exercises at the end of the lesson. Learning takes lots of practice, so you should complete all of these practice activities. Some of the practice exercises must be submitted, though you will not get quick feedback on your work unless you reach out on Discord or to the instructor directly (perhaps via office hours) for feedback. The purpose of the practices if for you to apply what you are learning and prove to yourself that you understand the concepts. It is very easy to convince yourself that you understand something when the correct answer is sitting right in front of you. By doing the exercises, you will be able to determine if you truly understand the material.

Practice tips

• It's good to look at other solutions, but only after you've tried solving a problem. If you come up with a solution that works, try to notice how someone else solved the same problem, and what you might do to revise your solution.
• It can be good to try solving the same problem a second time, after some days or weeks have passed. Has the problem gotten easier, now that you have solved it before?
• It's fun to solve problems with friends. If you have a solution you really like, you can share it with the squad or community. Remember to use spoiler tags so that you don't ruin the problem in case someone else wants to try it and this is only for practice exercises that are not graded.
• Practice should be challenging, but you shouldn't spend hours stuck on a problem without making progress. If you are stuck, take a break, ask for help, try another problem, and return to the problem later.
• Take a break! It's often helpful to walk around, drink water, eat a bite of food, then return to a problem refreshed. Some problems that seem impossible become very easy when approached with a fresh mind.

Weekly Assignments

Most weeks, you'll have a assignment to complete, usually as an individual, though it will be specified within the assignment description if you can work in a team. The assignment will bring together the skills you learn that week with the skills that you learned in prior weeks. The course topics and assignments build upon each other during the term. It is critically important that you stay caught up and complete all the assignments. If you skip an assignment, you will be at a disadvantage in future assignments.

On weeks that you have projects (midterm or final), you will not have an assignment to complete.

Projects

Approximately midway through the term and during the last two weeks of the term, you will be given a project. These projects are summative in nature--this is your opportunity to demonstrate to the instructor that you understand what you are doing. Note that these two projects make up a significant percentage of your final grade, so it is critical that you begin the projects early.