# CSE 6040 - Global Reminders & Important Information

This post summarizes important information already given out via the syllabus or pinned Piazza posts. Nothing here is new, but you should review everything and make sure you understand it. **This information is important and directly affects your grades, so that's why we're making this post**. *We will not make exceptions due to not knowing something in this post, so please read it and ask if something isn't clear.*

## Sources of Information

### Syllabus, schedule, current information (Piazza)

* Syllabus ([link](https://hackmd.io/@richie/Hkmi3JF3P))
* Schedule ([link](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vStJtHNdpHIEggZqTa_4aqxZjGsff9rUPQq5EehhtbAJh_MLzqA6mXym9ZxF6mBUrSZDdXFqjDBG4XE/pubhtml?gid=421259020&single=true))
* Piazza pinned posts (index post: @1334)

### The best way to stay up to date in the class
All students need to plan on regularly checking the pinned posts section of piazza, *or at the very least, enable e-mail notifications*. The 'weekly reminder' posts every Monday morning are good reminders about upcoming deadlines.

## Test rules and procedures

Before you take any exam, you are responsible for reading the two corresponding pinned piazza posts:
1. FAQ & Errata (midterm 1: @1336)
2. Proctoring Rules, Piazza Use, Grading Rules (midterm 1: @849)

These posts contain rules concerning grading and other policies we strictly enforce. They also contain important troubleshooting steps + screenshots that will help you identify errors and resolve them. Following these steps is faster than making a private post and waiting for a reply, so please follow those steps and then contact us if you still need help.

### Grading on tests

**The final arbiter of credit is the autograder and whether your submission passes its checks.** That means you should submit after every exercise to confirm you get the points you are expecting. Time for submitting every exercise is built into the test time limit, so you are not penalized for doing so. *We will not manually give credit unless it's a platform error, and there is no partial credit aside from what's built in already.*

### Submit frequently!

In addition to locking in your points, submitting also saves a copy of your work with a timestamp that certifies when the work was completed. We will not provide credit if you failed to **submit often**. **Please submit at least every exercise!**

### Troubleshooting steps

This is copied directly from the pinned midterm posts, so please make sure you fully understand it.

**General slowness or Kernel is unresponsive**: Most issues are derived from errors in your code (infinite loops, inefficient data processing, etc.), but in all cases, you should try the commands in the kernel menu and see if a kernel restart helps. If you still have issues, you should **1) save your work locally**, and **2) refresh the page**. That will reload your session on a new server which may resolve the issue.

**Slow scrolling or unresponsive browser**: Log onto edX from a *different* browser and go to the exam. Do not close proctoring while you are doing this. It will keep running, and your new browser will detect this and grant you access to the exam. Your new browser should be lag free. Note: 'new browser' means a different browser, not a new window of the same browser. So if you are using Chrome, go login wiht Firefox or Edge.

## Piazza Conduct

### Getting help during an exam:
If the troubleshooting steps didn't help or you have an issue not covered, then make a **private Piazza post**. As part of your post, you need to include:

* Detailed description of the problem
* Screenshots
* What troubleshooting steps you've tried
* Timeline of issues (when did they start, when did you try troubleshooting steps, when did you contact us)

If you make a piazza post without the information above, we'll need to ask for it before we can help you. The longer it takes us to get the information and the less detailed you are, the longer it will take us to help you out.

**Timing:** Issues need to be reported to us as soon as they happen. We can't guarantee a prompt response, but as long as you document them, we will do our best to help out even after the fact. **If you wait until more than 30 minutes after your test ends, it's significantly harder for us to help you.**

### No response?

Please do not make multiple posts regarding your issues. We got a huge amount of posts, and duplicate posts only add to confusion and delay our response to both you and other students.

If the issue is concerning your test: Please wait for a reply up to 12 hours. If you never got a reply, make a new post and **reference the old post**.

For other issues: Please wait for a reply up to 24 hours. If you never got a reply, make a new post and **reference the old post.**

### Private vs. Public posts

**If you're unsure if the post should be public or private, default to private. However, we will be regularly converting private posts to public posts if we believe they fall under the following criteria:**

Public posts:
* Anything with solutions released (notebooks, tests, practice midterm questions)
* General advice/study questions

Private posts:
* Very specific questions that won't benefit other students. Once solutions are released, all questions about that notebook, practice midterm, or test should be asked publicly. Even if it contains your code, it should be asked publicly. The TA's will still assist in answering it, but fellow students may be able to help (and it will probably help them as well).
* Individual issues such as grading, medical issues, etc.

## Optional (but very good) reading

Jen's tips for staying on top of homework (@2540)