Assignments

Assignment 1, Assignment 1 Resource, Marking Guide (extended due date: 07/04/2008)

Assignment 2, comboform example code (due date: 23/04/2008)

Assignment 3, Assignment 3 Template, Marking Guide (due date: 14/05/2008)

Assignment 4, Assignment code and database file, Tutorial on safe PHP scripting (due date: 28/05/2008)

Assignment 4 (due date: 28/05/2008)

Assignment Due Dates

Assignment due dates are announced above and on the handout for the respective assignment.

Changes, such as extensions, may be announced here and/or by class e-mail.

Assignment Marking

All assignments carry equal weight, i.e., 3.75% of your final mark.

Each assignment will carry a specific number of points, typically 100 points. The difficulty of getting 100 points will be approximately the same as getting full assignment marks in assignments from 2005 or earlier. However, these points are not the same as your assignment marks this year. Getting 60 or more of the assignment points gives you full marks (3.75% of the total course marks) for the assignment. Scoring more points does not give you any extra marks, but it gives you a better preparation for test and exam. Assignment material will now feature more in test and exam than before.

Getting at least 30 of the points but less than 60 gives you 2% of the course marks. Getting at least 20 of the points but less than 30 gives you 1%. Getting fewer points gives you no marks.

Example Student A (a good student)

• Assignment 1: 90 out of 100 points: 3.75% of course marks
• Assignment 2: 100 out of 100 points: 3.75% of course marks
• Assignment 3: 75 out of 100 points: 3.75% of course marks
• Assignment 4: 70 out of 100 points: 3.75% of course marks
• Total: 15% of course marks (maximum achievable)

Example Student B (an average student)

• Assignment 1: 70 out of 100 points: 3.75% of course marks
• Assignment 2: 65 out of 100 points: 3.75% of course marks
• Assignment 3: 50 out of 100 points: 2% of course marks
• Assignment 4: 55 out of 100 points: 2% of course marks
• Total: 11.5% of course marks (way above pass mark)

Example Student C (a marginal student)

• Assignment 1: 55 out of 100 points: 2% of course marks
• Assignment 2: 65 out of 100 points: 3.75% of course marks
• Assignment 3: 50 out of 100 points: 2% of course marks
• Assignment 4: 25 out of 100 points: 1% of course marks
• Total: 8.75% of course marks (still on the safe side in assignments)

Example Student D (a disaster-plagued student)

• Assignment 1: 10 out of 100 points: 0% of course marks (compilation problem)
• Assignment 2: 62 out of 100 points: 3.75% of course marks (OK, this time it worked!)
• Assignment 3: 35 out of 100 points: 3% of course marks (little sister had measles)
• Assignment 4: 45 out of 100 points: 3% of course marks (got measles from sister)
• Total: 12.25% of course marks (probably still on the safe side in assignments)

Bottom line: As long as you show any effort in your assignments, you should be fine. You're very unlikely to miss out on marks because you couldn't get some detail in the specs to work. In the past, we've failed few if any students because of lack of assignment marks - what matters to us is that you attempt them and spend your time learning rather than arguing over a few missing marks.

Assignment marking complaints

334 assignments are traditional "traps" in the sense that it is relatively easy to lose a few marks because of differences in setup etc. The new assignment marking system was designed to do away with a lot of "small fry" complaints. For example, we try to automate marking now. Our marking application simply may not recognize alternative ways of doing things, which may cost you a few points without actually being a problem. So, ideally, you shouldn't need to complain even if you don't get full points, because in most cases this won't cost you any marks. It'll simply tell you that there was a discrepancy that may be worth investigating for deeper understanding.

That said, there will probably be cases in which you think you have been shortchanged, and no doubt some of them will be justified. Complaints should in the first instance be directed to the respective tutor in question.

If you already have 60% of the points for an assignment, i.e., we will not amend any points - these are just informational - or any marks. For anything less, we may amend the marks depending on the outcome of our review.

Frivolous marking complaints

In past years, we had large numbers of weak students ask for re-marking "because it was offered". In many of these cases, the assignment marking was absolutely correct. You must show us convincingly what we missed and where - a vague "I worked hard on this and deserve more marks" simply isn't enough. The person reviewing your request may at their sole discretion deduct 1% of coursework marks from your assignment marks if they consider your request frivolous. If your marks for this assignment were zero, this may result in negative marks.

Do not ask for a re-marking if you think that the number of points lost due to our mistake is less than the number of points needed for a higher mark.

If you think that you were probably marked correctly but you do not quite understand why you lost a particular point, you are more than welcome to ask, even if you have already full marks for the assignment. Remember that we want you to learn, but we don't want to waste our time.

Assignment handouts and other material

See above.

Assignment Dropbox

For all assignments it is necessary for you to submit part or all of it electronically. Unless your lecturer told you otherwise, this is done through the Web Dropbox.