Paper and pencil exams will not be administered this quarter.

Instead, we will use a combination of summative assessments in the form of exercises and homeworks (some of which may include written or theoretical problems in addition to practical problems) as well as oral assessments (i.e., Code Interviews to demonstrate code communication skills as outlined below).

Code Interviews¶

Much of this introductory language is directly inspired by the interview policies in CSE 163.

Code interviews are a live form of assessments in this course. Rather than evaluating only your submitted program code, we treat your submission as a starting point for a conversation. These interviews are designed to assess your fluency in programming concepts such as writing, reading, debugging, and communicating code. As a software engineer, articulating your ideas and decision-making is just as important as writing functional code.

We will conduct three rounds of code interviews this quarter, corresponding to assignments HW3, HW6, and HW7. Interviews will be held within the three school days following each assignment’s initial deadline. For example, since the initial deadline for these assignments are on Fridays, then interviews will occur on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of the following week. This timeline accommodates students who submit on time or by the late deadline.

Interviews will primarily be conducted by TAs. During interview weeks, TAs will host additional in-person drop-in sessions to facilitate the process. Each interview will be brief—approximately 5 minutes and will be one-on-one. TAs will review your homework submission in advance and prepare one or two focused questions related to your submission.

Examples of possible interview questions include:

• “Can you explain what this function does in plain English?”
• “What was your design process for this function?”
• “What debugging strategies did you use, and what issues did you encounter?”

Note: This list is illustrative, not exhaustive. Actual prompts may vary.

Evaluation¶

Your responses will be evaluated using the following four-point scale:

• 3 points – Excellent explanation of your implementation, demonstrated through thoughtful and accurate responses.

• 2 points – Fair explanation of your implementation, with some minor inaccuracies or vagueness.

• 1 point – Attempted to answer, but the response reflected flawed reasoning or significant misunderstanding.

• 0 points – Did not attempt to answer or failed to schedule an interview.

Grades will be posted after all interviews for the assignment have been completed. Students may ask for feedback on their interview via a private post on Ed.

Interview retakes are not permitted. Each student has one opportunity per interview.

Scheduling Logistics¶

To help TAs prepare and keep scheduling organized, students must sign up for code interview slots in advance. Specifically, you should sign up by the end of the day before your intended interview. For example, if you plan to interview on Monday, please sign up by Sunday night. This allows TAs time to preview your submission earlier in the day ahead of the interview.

More details on how to sign up will be posted to the course discussion board during interview weeks.

If you miss or need to cancel your interview on the day of, you must make a private post on Ed at least one hour before your scheduled time to notify the staff. To minimize scheduling hassles, you will only be allowed one opportunity to reschedule your interview later that week. If you miss a Wednesday slot, you’ll have the option to do the interview by attending in-person office hours on Friday instead.

Students who miss all available interview slots and/or do not communicate their scheduling conflicts in a timely manner will not be offered a makeup opportunity. To be extra clear: if you can’t attend your scheduled interview, you must notify the staff on Ed at least one hour before the interview begins. Messages sent right before the start time, during, or after the interview are considered too late. Please communicate proactively to avoid missing your chance to participate.

Scheduling Accommodations¶

We understand that unforeseen circumstances may arise, and we are committed to providing reasonable accommodations.

If you are:

• Unable to attend in-person during the offered slots
• Miss your scheduled interview due to illness, emergency, etc.
• Unavailable for synchronous participation during all interview sessions

Please contact Chloe as soon as possible via a private post on Ed or email. In these cases Chloe may conduct your interview via Zoom at a mutually agreed-upon time. Please make sure to explain the reason behind the need for a virtual interview in your request. The virtual interview request will be considered at Chloe’s discretion.

Regardless, please make your best effort to participate during the scheduled interview slots!