Each section will roughly consist of the following:

2 days of lecture

4 days of lab (1-4 labs assigned)

1 day of review in which the homework is reviewed and the lab is reviewed and the section is reviewed (this should always be just before the testing day)

1 day for the quiz/looking ahead at the next section

Some sections may have differences, and if there is a need to spend more time on a section I will usually add time to a section. In addition, there will be days when guest speakers may be brought in, lectures may be given on advanced and unusual topics related to computer science, when students give special presentations, or when we focus on AP preparation.  We will also have days when we take the tests. This fluidity is also why schedules will rarely be posted with firm dates that are too far in the future (beyond obvious dates such as the AP exam). Dates may be moved back (including due dates), but they will almost never be moved forward.

The sections we will cover before the Advanced Placement Exam will include at least the following (unless otherwise noted, each chapter refers to Java Au Naturel):

Section 1 – Orientation to Computer Sciences (largely based on lecture and web notes)

Section 2 – Objects (Chapter 1)

Section 3 – Conditionals and Boolean Methods (Chapter 2)

Test 1

Section 4 – Loops And Patterns (Chapter 3)

Section 5 – Integers And For-Loops and Instance Variables (Chapter 4)

Section 6 – Class Methods and Class Variables (Chapter 5)

Test 2

Section 7 – Basic Data Types and Expressions (Chapter 6)

Section 8 – Arrays (Chapter 7)

Section 9 – Exceptions (Chapter 9)

Test 3

Section 10 – Interfaces and Abstract Classes (Chapter 11)

Section 11 – Files and Multidimensional Arrays (Chapter 12)

Section 12 – Sorting And Searching (Chapter 13)

Test 4

More sections will likely be added depending on how much time remains.

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Grading

    Homework for each section will at least initially be due on the review day before each quiz. (this may be revised to make more due dates breaking up the workload depending on your feedback) I am not grading you on correctness in your homework. I am grading you on how much effort you put into it. We will go over some answers in class on the review days before you hand in the assignments. So high scores on homeworks will go for those who put forward sincere effort in all of the problems assigned. Even though I am not grading necessarily on correctness the cheating policies of this class still very much apply here. Each homework will be worth 5 points each. (though I reserve the right to make it worth more if there is an especially large set of homework given)

    Quizzes will be given on the last day of each section. They will be worth 20 points each and will consist entirely of multiple choice questions with a possibility of short answers. Quizzes will generally be focused on the material covered by the respective section of the class.

    Tests will be given every 3 sections after the quiz (and after another review day) and will be worth 50 points. It will usually also consist of multiple choice questions with the possibility of short answers, and as the class goes on the possibility of longer answers much like what the AP will expect of you. Note: these will serve as the respective midterms/finals, etc and they will cover everything in the class up to that point.

    Labs will be worth at least 2 points and will most of the time be worth 5 points (the amount is based on how hard the lab is) each. Many labs will be spread over multiple days, and many labs can be completed at home. Some labs will allow people to work in teams of 2, and others will require people to work alone. Cheating policies apply very stringently to this. Due dates will be announced in advance.

    Extra Credit assignments, be they having students give presentations on topics or be they extra labs will be added to the raw point total. The amount given will vary based on what the assignment is. The cheating policies also apply here as well. In addition, to encourage students to speak up in class I will track which students volunteer to answer questions, and those who ask exceptional questions, prove to be very helpful to their peers, and other positive influences on the class and award participation points. These are then indexed such that the average student gets a 2% boost in their total number of points. If the class average is 20 participation points, and there has been a total of 100 raw points possible, the student gets 2 extra points added to their raw score from their class participation.

    The total number of points from each category is then divided them by the sum of the total number of lab points, homework points, quiz points and test points available.

    The resulting percentage is then graded as follows:

90-100+%	A
80-89.9%	B
70-79.9%	C
60-69.9%	D
< 60%	F

Note: I reserve the right to change any of this as the semester goes on, but no significant changes will be made such that it makes it harder to get a good grade. And as always I reserve the right to make individual assessments beyond the grading system.

last updated on 10/01/03
Copyright (C) 2003 Jim Casaburi