How the week works

A week in this course runs Thursday through the following Tuesday, across the weekend. The Schedule has the same thing as a table; this page is the longer version, with the reasons.

The two class meetings do different jobs

Thursday opens the week. Nothing is assumed: the reading has not been assigned yet and no assignment on this week’s material has gone out. Thursday is designed so you can follow it having done nothing in advance.

Tuesday closes it. By then you have had the reading and the weekend, so Tuesday is where the quiz goes and where the harder material lands.

That is the whole reason for the odd shape. A Monday-to-Friday week would put the two meetings back to back with the weekend after them, which is the wrong way round: the weekend is when there is time to read.

Readings

Due before the Tuesday class. Read ahead if you like — Thursday does not depend on them.

The quiz is the enforcement. If you did the reading it should be quick; if you did not, Tuesday will be harder than it needed to be.

Assignments

An assignment may go out on Thursday, and when one does it is due Wednesday — the day after the Tuesday class, so you get both meetings before the deadline.

Not every week issues one. Some weeks a later assignment picks up that week’s material instead, which is why the Schedule is the place to check rather than assuming a weekly rhythm.

Quizzes

In the weeks that have one, in the Tuesday class — and you get two attempts, one at the start and one towards the end. That is deliberate: the first measures what the reading gave you, the second measures what the class did. The higher score counts, so the second attempt can only help you.

Presentations

On the Thursday after an assignment was due, one or more students are picked at random to walk the class through their solution and take questions — on correctness and on style. It is graded on presence, not performance, and once in the term you may pass. See Assessment in the syllabus for the details.

Picked at random means every solution should be one you can explain.