TopThree Layers of Skill and Knowledge
Each topic in this module will be annotated as either Basic [B], Core [C], or Advanced [A], roughly indicating the level of difficulty in comprehending the respective topic. This categorization is meant to help students plan their efforts in achieving their grade objective. This annotation scheme will also be applied to final exam questions, with the following guidelines:
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Answering perfectly all the questions marked as Basic [B], without answering any core or advanced questions will guarantee a grade of B-.
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Answering perfectly all the questions marked as Basic [B] and Core [C], without answering any advanced questions, will guarantee a grade of A-.
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Answering perfectly all questions will guarantee a grade of A+.
In general, students should make sure that they understand basic topics very well before progressing to the core ones, which should be a further stepping stone towards the understanding of advanced topics. In studying for the exam, the difficulty level information could be used as a guideliine on what to spend more time focussing on.
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For instance, suppose your grade objective is B+. Then, you should feel free to skip some of the advanced topics, but focus more thoroughly on the basic and core ones.
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Or, let's say that your grade objective is B-. Then, you should feel free to skip all advanced topics, and maybe some of the core ones, but focus thoroughly on the basic topics.
Assessment has two components: Effort and Knowledge.
Effort: 50%
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Homework: capped at 45%
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Tutorial participation: capped at 10%
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Forum participation: capped at 5%
This category of assessment rewards the effort spent in acquiring knowledge, giving slow learners a fair chance to attain a grade that is ultimately reflective of their knowledge. There will be 8 homework sets, each with several problems that students may attempt. The total weightage of all the problems will be 80 marks. However, the homework marks are capped at 45. Students may choose how many solutions they want to submit. While all marks shall be recorded, in the final calculation of the continual assessment, marks in excess of 45 shall be forfeited. Similarly, tutorial marks are capped at 10. A student may earn a recorded mark that is higher than 10, but in the final calculation of the continual assessment, all tutorial marks in excess of 10 shall be forfeited. Finally, we shall reward good forum participation. Posts that help clear doubts of fellow students regarding the material taught in class shall be rewarded depending on their quality. Again, all marks shall be recorded, but all marks in excess of 5 shall be forfeited. On top of all individual forfeitures, there is yet another general one, at 50%, for all the continual assessment items.
While students may want to strategize in picking the homework problems to solve, and the tutorial questions to present, in order to maximize their continual assessment marks, we would like to emphasize that each homework problem and each tutorial exercise has been chosen to illustrate a certain aspect of the material taught, and the ability to solve them is very likely to improve performance in the final exam. The capping scheme serves to allow students who get partial marks rather than full marks in their assessment to still have a chance at a good final grade, as long as they eventually acquire the knowledge and understanding expected of a student taking this module.
Contest: Since the more hardworking students are likely to have more marks forfeited, and all forfeited marks are still recorded, we shall have the following contest: " who has most marks forfeited wins!". In the last lecture, we shall publish the hierarchy of forfeited marks and the winner and the first 5 runner-ups will receive chocolate prizes!!!
Knowledge: 50% (reward quality of knowledge acquired, rather than effort spent in acquiring it)
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Final exam: 50% (26 NOV 2012 Evening)
The exam is open book.