Then attend class and take your own notes. Afterwards, you should review the textbook and all available notes (your own, class summary, and PDF transcript) as much as necessary to understand the material; test yourself, for instance, by working out the examples in the text. Now you are ready to do the homework as a final test of your understanding, and you should start on it immediately, so that you are ready to ask questions in class and for any quiz on the material that has already been covered in class.
This approach actually saves time over the whole semester, since it is easier to do the homework right after studying the material and it also reinforces the lecture better. And realize that in a university course, it is your own job to show your work and determine if anything is unclear to you! During a regular semester, you should expect to spend at least three hours of your own time per week for every credit hour of the course.
Please note that assignments are due in class, at the beginning of class to be precise. No guarantee can be given for assignments turned in at any other time and/or place. Unless stated otherwise, no late assignments will be accepted; in that case, a sufficient number of assignment scores will be dropped in order to avoid penalizing infrequent absences.
Some formal notes: Assemble your assignments in professional style, properly ordered, each problem clearly labeled, using sufficiently large and clear lettering, etc. Please leave sufficient margins and other spaces for comments and feedback. You must show work for credit. This means that you have to give enough details such that another person with a similar background as yourself can reproduce your answers. This criterion is the guiding principle for grading.
| Score above | 90% | 80% | 65% | 50% | otherwise |
| Letter grade | A | B | C | D | F |
Please note that the syllabus is subject to change by announcement, in particular the number and types of exams, the weight distribution, or the grading scale. If there is a class cancellation for reasons beyond our control, e.g., due to snow fall, assignments are generally due in the next following class meeting; similarly, exams are considered automatically rescheduled for the next class in such situations.
If you miss any major graded component of the course, such as tests, discuss your options with me. There will generally need to be a make-up. However, while the coverage will be the same as the original, due to variability in exam designs, I cannot positively guaranteee that the difficulty level will be exactly the same. If you miss the final exam, you should contact me as soon as possible to discuss your options; please understand that I may not wait until I hear from you, so as not to delay the announcement of their grades to other students.
Submission of any work (including computer code, on-line quizzes, etc.) implies your representation that you produced it without any illegitimate help. If you make use of any information from any source, you must include proper references to sources, e.g., to books, articles, software, webpages, individuals, etc., including to the textbook. This provides for proper training how to write in the sciences and is a vital issue of academic integrity. Failures to properly cite all sources used constitutes plagiarism and a serious violation of academic integrity as defined in the UMBC webpage on Academic Integrity at https://aetp.umbc.edu/ai. You are encouraged to review the codes and policies there. If a violation is observed, you can expect me to pursue the matter to the full extent of the policy, including but not necessarily limited to issuing a failing grade for academic misconduct. The right is reserved to check a picture identification during exams. You may also be asked to explain your solution to assignments or exams to me orally and/or to show me intermediate results, for instance, raw computer output. You must retain your assignments until the end of the semester, or all credit will be removed from the associated grading category.
I apologize for these drastic measures, but past experiences have forced me to add various details to the previous paragraph. Please, remember that I am charged with enforcing academic integrity in order to preserve the quality and reputation of your education, grades, and degree at this university. When in doubt about anything or if you have any questions, feel free to contact me. I can only accept e-mail that clearly identifies the sender by full name and that has a meaningful subject line. Notice that mail without name or subject might also be deleted by spam filtering software.