Philosophy 0540: Requirements
Performance on the mid-term examination, which will be due on 16 October, the final examination, held on TBA, and the six problem sets will contribute to determining a student's grade for the course. The grade itself will be determined by a variety of factors.
- The first and most important factor is that all of the problem sets must be completed and submitted for marking. Failure to submit all of the problem sets will automatically lead to a grade of NC. It is, quite simply, impossible to learn this material without doing a lot of problems, and students should plan to do a lot more problems than are actually assigned.
- We'll let you off once, if you do miss a problem set. But you will get no credit for that problem set, which will badly affect your overall score and have other consequences listed below. This should not be thought of as a 'freebie'.
- Please note that the requirement is that the problem sets should be "completed", and by that I mean that one has given them a proper effort. Simply turning in a piece of paper with a few random jottings does not count as completing a problem set.
- A presumptive grade will be determined by performance on the two exams, with twice as much weight being given to the final. Borderline cases will be decided by performance on the problem sets (and if you fail to turn in all the problem sets, you will automatically receive the lower grade). Exceptionally good or bad performance on the problem sets may move a grade up or down.
- If you turn in all the problem sets, then it is impossible to do worse in this class than you do on the final exam. That is: If you get an A on the final (and have turned in all the problem sets), you will get an A for the course; if you get a B on the final, you cannot get worse than a B for the course, though you might get an A if your mid-term and problem sets were good enough.
- Effort matters a lot. It is impossible to fail this class if you have given it what we regard as proper effort. That would mean such things as coming for help, if you need it, not to mention turning in all the problem sets.
Problem sets are due in class on the day specified, by 10am. Problem sets should be submitted on Canvas. (It's probably easiest to take photos of your problem set and submit those, but of course you are also welcome to type them up.) We will not accept late problem sets, as late sets make the graders' task much more difficult. On the other hand, we are quite prepared to grant extensions, so long as they are requested in advance, that is, by no later than 5pm the day before the problem set is due. (Such requests should be directed by email to the instructor, cc'ing your grader.) Extensions will not be granted after that time except in very unusual and unfortunate circumstancess.
Because we are so reasonable, exploitation of our reasonableness will be taken badly. Do not make a habit of asking for extensions. We will grant one, and maybe another, but that is about as far as we are prepared to go, unless you have some very good reason.
Students seeking accommodations due to a disability or medical condition should contact the
Office of Student and Employee Accessibility Services (SEAS). Students in need of short-term academic advice or support can contact one of the deans in the
Dean of the College's office. Students seeking psychological support services should contact
Counseling and Psychological Services.
The grading scale for the problem sets is described on the problem sets page. The assigned problems for each set can also be found there.