Questions on the Grading of your Programs

• TAs grade your programs...CONTACT the TAs with Questions on Your Programs
  • The TAs are the ones who grade your programs.  Any questions you have on the grading of your programs need to be directed to the specific TA that actually graded your program.  If you are confused by any comments that the TA makes, then you need to contact that TA to ask them what their comments mean.  The instructor will not respond to such emails; again, you need to direct them to the TA who graded your program, as only they know how/why the grade is what it is.
  
  
• "How do I know which TA graded my program?"
  • Log into Webcourses
  • Click "Assignments" under the left side menu
  • Click the assignment in question
  • You should now be looking at your submission.
  • There will be a box called "Most Recent Comment"
  • The "Author" in that box is the TA who graded your assignment
  • You can cross reference that TA name with the list of TAs to get the TA's email.
  
  
• "Can I get POINTS back if there is a problem?"
  • Of course you can!
  • TAs are human and can make mistakes.  If there is a mistake, contact them and let them know.
  • BUT WAIT...make sure that you FIRST run your program using the SAME input file that the TAs use.  If your output is exactly the same as the output file on the website, then you can contact the TA with this information.
  
  
• "The TAs did not make a mistake.  I did.  But it is a TINY error that results in the whole program failing. Is there anything I can do?"
  • Long story short:  yes there is something you can do.
  • Unfortunately, with upwards of 300 students, TAs do not have the time to spend 45 minutes grading each program, searching for errors in your code.   As a result and to speed up the grading process, TAs grade by using an input file (sometimes quite extensive).  Although this input file is not the only criteria used in determining your grade, the unfortunate reality is that you can lose a lot of points by failing to correctly print the various test cases, even if that failure was a result of one small, encie-wencie error in your code.
  • So what can you do?
  • You an email the TAs with this information.
  • Tell them that your program worked with your input file, but that you confirmed that your program does fail with the grading input file.
  • This tells them that you at least checked your program with the grading input file.
  • Then tell them that you checked into why and found one specific line of code (for example) that is causing the failure.
  • For example, maybe it is a logical error, where you used a > instead of a <=.
  • Assuming it is something this simple, and assuming that you have checked that, by correcting this issue, the program works perfectly, then email the TA with this exact info.
  • Let them know where the error happened (what specific line), and let them know what to change.
  • The TA can then review your request.
  
  
• "How many points can I get back?"
  • Assuming you failed all test cases and were given a 50 (out of 100) for the grade, AND assuming that your error was similarly simple as the example shown above, then the TA would most likely give you upward of 30 (maybe even 40) points back, for a final grade of 80 to 90 (out of 100).
  
  

© 2012, Jonathan Cazalas